Sportsmen flock to fund-raisers
Volunteers with a passion for elk, ducks and turkeys are once again busy organizing Inland Northwest fundraising dinners and auctions to boost wildlife conservation projects.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Mule Deer Foundation and the National Wild Turkey Federation are particularly active, raising millions of dollars and supplying volunteer labor to improve habitat for these and other wildlife species.
The Missoula-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has spearheaded habitat conservation programs in the Blue Mountains as well as a huge initiative to protect habitat for elk and other wildlife on private timber company lands being eyed for development in the Yakima Region.
On Saturday, the Inland Empire Chapter of Safari Club International will hold one of the largest fundraisers in the region starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Red Lion Grand Hotel in Spokane. (Ticket info: (509) 466-3899 or(509) 220-3004.)
For details on local banquets around the region, go online:
•Ducks Unlimited: www.ducks.org
•Mule Deer Foundation: www.muledeer.org
•National Wild Turkey Federation: www.nwtf.org
•Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation: www.rmef.org
Rich Landers
OFF-ROAD VEHICLES
Grant County funded
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has received a grant of $200,000 from Washington’s the Non-highway and Off-road Vehicles Program, Education and Enforcement category.
The county requested the funding for two full-time deputies to patrol the off-road vehicle areas and educate users in the field, at special events and in training. The deputies will spend most of their time in the Beverly and Moses Lake Sand Dunes, office officials said.
Grant County plans to contribute another $210,600 in cash, equipment, labor and materials.
Staff and wire reports
Bicycling
‘Captain Bike’ dies
Sheldon Brown, a Massachusetts bike shop employee known for sharing his vast cycling knowledge online, died last Sunday. He was 63.
Brown, known as “Captain Bike,” posted hundreds of articles, ranging from basic glossary terms to do-it-yourself repair tips, on his Web site www.sheldonbrown.com. He would answer as many as 500 to 1,000 emails per day from cyclists seeking advice, according to Gary Boulanger, an editor for cycling news site bikeradar.com.
FISHING
Find steelhead in the wilderness
When the ice beaks up on the roadless reaches of Idaho’s Salmon River in February, all hell breaks loose for steelhead anglers, and there’s no more heavenly spot to base an early-spring metalhead mission than the Shepp Ranch.
The ranch has other diversions in other months, but the lodge is devoted to spring steelheading February 29-March 31. Cost with guided fishing is $270 a day with a two-day minimum.
Info: (801) 573-6096; www.sheppranch.com.
Rich Landers