Field reports: Trout expert speaks about Pend Oreille

FISHING – The Lake Pend Oreille Fishery Recovery Task Force and Idaho Fish and Game Department will update the status of trout and kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille at the annual “State of the Lake” public meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. at Ponderay Events Center by the Bonner Mall north of Sandpoint. 

Wisconsin-based lake trout expert Mike Hansen will offer his perspective on the program to control lake trout and restore the Pend Oreille kokanee fishery. 

Presentations will summarize 2011 predator removal, including lake trout netting, telemetry, Angler Incentive Program and response of the lake’s fishery to recovery efforts. 

Info: (208) 769-1414. 

Rich Landers

Fishing film benefit for wild steelhead

FISHING – A Spokane showing of “Connect,” by Confluence Films, will be shown on Wednesday as a benefit for the Wild Steelhead Coalition and efforts to protect Columbia River wild steelhead.

The film features six international fishing locations, 12 anglers, 10 fish species and one angry croc.

The 2011 Fly Fishing Film Tour featured a clip of Connect, but the full feature film will be shown Wednesday at The Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln St. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show starts at 7.

Tickets: $5 at the door.

Info: Josh Mills, jmills81@hotmail.com or contact Silver Bow Fly Shop, 924-9998.

Rich Landers

Author to discuss Grizzly Manifesto

WILDLIFE – Canadian conservation author Jeff Gailus will present a program based on his book “The Grizzly Manifesto” at Gonzaga University on Wednesday, sponsored by the university’s Environmental Studies Speaker Series.

The program will start at 7 p.m., in the Jepson Center’s Wolff Auditorium. Gailus plans to discuss the future of grizzly bears in the USA and Canada.

Gailus has studied grizzlies from Yellowstone National Park through the Canadian Rockies to the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area in northern British Columbia.

The free event, open to the public, is titled, “A Grizzly Tale of Two Countries: Grizzly Bear Management and Recovery across the Medicine Line.”

Rich Landers

Cabela’s plans store near Yakima

GEAR – Cabela’s announced Thursday it plans to open an “outpost” store by this fall in the Yakima Valley.

The Sidney, Neb., company said the store at Union Gap would be its first under a smaller “Cabela’s Outpost Store” format.

The 40,000-square-foot store compares with 125,000 square feet of showroom space at the Post Falls Cabela’s store.

Cabela’s currently has 34 stores with plans to open eight more in the next two years.

The Union Gap store will be the third in Washington. A store in Lacey, near Olympia, opened in 2007, and a store on the Tulalip Indian Reservation, near Everett, is under construction.

Rich Landers

Fee hike planned for BLM sites

BOATING – The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is proposing recreation fee increases for sites around Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Daily boat launch fees at Blackwell Island and Mineral Ridge would increase from $4 to $6 and season passes would increase from $30 to $40.

Tent camping fees at Mica Bay Boater Park, Killarney Lake Recreation Site, Huckleberry Campground and Windy Bay Boater Park would rise from $8 to $10 a night.

Trailer camping fees at Huckleberry Campground along the St. Joe River are proposed to increase from $15 to $18 a night.

No fee increases have been proposed for U.S. Forest Service sites in the area.

The proposals will be considered by BLM’s District Resource Advisory Council on Wednesday at the BLM office, 3815 Schreiber Way.

Info: (208) 769-5004.

Rich Landers

Boy shoots friend on rabbit hunt

HUNTING – A 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the face by a 13-year-old companion last week as they hunted rabbits near Wilbur, Wash.

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife incident report, when the boys saw a rabbit run into an irrigation pipe, they each went to a different end.

One boy looked in the pipe, saw the rabbit and shot it. But a fragment of the .22-caliber bullet continued through the pipe – and struck the face of the boy kneeling and looking into the other end.

“The bullet struck the victim near the top of his nose, entered his sinus cavity, and actually hit and bounced off of his C-1 neck vertebra,” the report says.

The victim will need surgery but should be OK, officers said. His parents told officers the incident came a few millimeters from being lethal.

Rich Landers

Hunting rules vote set for April

CORRECTION – The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on 2012-2014 hunting season proposals April 13-14 in Olympia.

The March 9-10 meeting in Moses Lake will be the last opportunity for public comment on the proposals at a commission meeting.

Rich Landers’ Thursday outdoors column misstated the date of the vote.

To see the most recent post of proposals as well as the final supplement of hunting proposals to be posted later this week, go to bit.ly/qZ6EMZ.

Bhutan trek show

TRAVEL – Spokane mountaineer John Roskelley will present a program on trekking in Bhutan on Wednesday, 6 p.m., at the Community Building, 35 W. Main.

Donations benefit Save Mt. Spokane Coalition.

RSVP: aswan@landscouncil.org.