Field reports: Conservation Futures comment period ends

PUBLIC LANDS – The period ended this week for the public to comment on 36 properties totaling about 4,700 acres nominated for inclusion in the Spokane County Conservation Futures Program.

Nominations are accepted every few years in the program to protect natural areas and open spaces from development. Acquisitions are funded by a voter-approved property tax.

An advisory committee is reviewing the comments and will make recommendations to be considered by Spokane County Commissioners in December.

The program gets about $1.7 million in annual tax revenues, said John Bottelli, assistant Parks Department director, noting that time between nomination rounds typically ranges from 3-5 years.

“That means the program could spend $6-8 million purchasing properties from the new list before moving on to another round,” he said. “That’s not to mention the potential for leveraging additional funds through grants and other opportunities such as creative purchasing strategies.”

Since its inception in 1994, the Conservation Futures Program has secured 24 properties totaling 5,057 acres.

See details on existing lands and a slide show on 2010 nominations online at www.spokanecounty.org/parks/

Rich Landers

Pheasant releases start this week

HUNTING – The second of four releases of pen-raised pheasants is scheduled for this week in Eastern Washington.

The 28 release sites sites are detailed on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website.

The first birds were released prior to the youth upland bird hunting weekend in September.

About 16,300 rooster pheasants will be released this fall, down from 21,700 last year.

The birds are raised at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center Game Farm in Connell.

The release, usually scheduled for December, will be eliminated this year, said agency upland bird specialist Joey McCanna.

The Washington Legislature authorized the agency to reduce the amount of money it spends on releasing pen-raised birds over the next four years and put the money into upland bird habitat development, he said.

  Rich Landers

Hunting groups call for wolf action

WILDLIFE – Eight hunting and wildlife conservation groups this week called for changes in laws that will allow state management of wolves. They also called for restraint among hunters who have threatened to poach wolves in answer to the deadlock on wolf management brought on by lawsuits.

“Wolves need to be controlled and we must continue toward that goal in an orderly fashion,” said a statement issued last week by the Boone and Crockett Club, Mule Deer Foundation, Pope and Young Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International, Wild Sheep Foundation and Wildlife Management Institute.

Federal and state managers have tried to formalize state management of wolves three times in seven years, “but each effort struck down either because the law was fuzzy on how it could happen or too strict about why it cannot,” they said.

“It is self-defeating to blame or antagonize federal and state officials,” they said. “They agree with us on what needs to happen and we need their help.”

The Obama Administration has appealed the recent federal court ruling. States have petitioned for management authority. Montana, Wyoming and Idaho lawmakers are exploring solutions.

“Finally, as we seek hard commitments from government, we also need to draw a hard line for ourselves: we are sportsmen, not wolf-haters,” the group said. “Statements on the Internet about poaching wolves are an affront to the American conservation ethic.

“Illegal killing is wrong, self-defeating, and exactly opposite of how sportsmen created conservation and the privilege of ethical hunting in the first place.”

Rich Landers