Field reports: Activities focus on Ice Age Floods
WILD LANDS – Publication of new guidebooks is revving interest in cataclysmic floods that swept through North Idaho and Eastern Washington some 15,000 years ago.
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute is sponsoring a variety of activities, including lectures, bus tours, guided hikes and even a bike tour to show people how the landscape was shaped.
Thursday, 7 p.m. – “Washington’s Channeled Scablands – A Visual Tour” – free by area author John Soennichsen at Eastern Washington University JFK Library in Cheney.
May 4, 7 p.m. – “Missoula Floods, Glaciers, and Early People and Explorers in Northeast Washington,” program by author and geology professor Gene Kiver and Spokane author/historian Jack Nesbit at Spokane Community College, Lair Auditorium, Building 6.
May 5 , 7:30 a.m. – Full-day deluxe bus tour from Spokane to the Pend Oreille Valley, led Gene Kiver, Jack Nisbet and Bruce Bjornstad.
May 12-13 : Two separate geology hikes will be led in the Grand Coulee area, May 12 at Steamboat Rock, May 13 at Umatilla Rock.
Register for bus tour and hikes online under Cheney-Spokane Chapter at iafi.org.
Info: (509) 235-4251, or email lindakl@centurytel.net.
Bear-baiting charges filed in Methow case
A Pierce County man has been charged with nearly 40 counts involving baiting and killing black bears at his Okanogan County cabin.
James Erickson, 52, of Eatonville, Wash., faces charges of using bait to lure bears, unlawful big-game hunting, unlawful transport, spotlighting and possession of stolen property among other things.
Sgt. James Brown, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department police for Okanogan County, told Northwest Sportsman magazine Erickson had hauled restaurant scraps and salmon to his property in the Methow Valley’s Rendezvous area.
Baiting bears was banned by a statewide initiative in 1996.
Brown said officers had received tips for years indicating Erickson had invited Western Washington residents, who used the camp for big-game violations.
The state is making the case using images acquired through a search warrant from a trail cam Erickson had put up. Photos show Erickson and family members putting out bait.
Several bears were shot from the porch of Erickson’s cabin, Brown said.
Monthly free fly-fishing clinics scheduled
FISHING – Swede’s Fly Shop, 1611 N. Ash St. in Spokane, is joining the Orvis Co. in a free series of basic fly fishing and fly-tying clinics.
Fly Fishing 101 classes will be offered 10 a.m.-noon on the first Saturday of each month starting May 5 through Oct. 6, said shop owner Allen Peterson
Basic fly-tying sessions will be offered on the same days, noon-4 p.m.
The 101 course involves rigging rods and casting instruction.
Discount coupons and free membership into fly-fishing groups also are offered. Info: 323-0500.
Foundation gives $51K for gray wolf control
WILDLIFE –The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has donated $51,000 for government efforts to control the gray wolf population in Montana.
The conservation and hunting group says money will be paid to Wildlife Services, a branch of the U.S. Agriculture Department that responds to wolf attacks on livestock.
The elk foundation says the money will help pay to remove problem wolves, radio-collar wolves from packs not currently being monitored and other purposes.
Wolves in the Northern Rockies were removed from the endangered species list last year under an order from Congress.
At least 1,774 wolves roam parts of five states in the region, federal reports say.