In brief: E. coli detected in campground water supply

E. coli bacteria has been discovered in the drinking water supply at the U.S. Forest Service’s Bell Bay Campground, which is four miles north of Harrison on Lake Coeur d’Alene. 

Forest Service officials have notified guests who recently stayed at the campground if contact information was available. No reports of illness have been received.

While the campground remains open, the drinking water system has been shut down while the Forest Service and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality investigate the source of contamination.  

Contact the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District at (208) 769-3000 or DEQ’s Coeur d’Alene Regional Office at (208) 769-1422 with questions.

Valley Partners to distribute food

Spokane Valley Partners has been selected by Feed the Children Inc. to distribute two semitrucks full of food and personal care boxes to 800 people on Thursday. The distribution will begin at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the nonprofit, located at 10814 E. Broadway Ave.

Low-income clients of Spokane Valley Partners arriving to pick up the boxes must have a voucher, which can be picked up at Valley Partners or by calling (509) 927-1153. People will be assigned a time to pick up their boxes when they receive a voucher.

Feed the Children is a nonprofit based in Oklahoma City that donates food and items around the country.

Dam removal exposes bone

PORT ANGELES, Wash. – A hiker found a human bone on the bottom of Lake Aldwell, which was exposed earlier this year by the removal of the Elwha Dam.

Archaeologists for Olympic National Park and the Elwha Tribe determined it was not an ancient Indian and turned it over to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials said a cadaver dog indicated there may be more human remains near where the bone was found May 15 by a hiker. The Peninsula Daily News reported investigators are digging up the site, which is about a mile south of the Highway 101 bridge on the Elwha River.

They are also comparing a DNA test with the profile of Karen Tucker, who was reported missing in 1991.

Wolf pups born as kill order weighed

While judges on the Oregon Court of Appeals consider whether to authorize state biologists to kill two wolves for preying on livestock, the Imnaha pack has been going about its business, producing four pups this spring.

At least two and perhaps all four of the packs in northeastern Oregon have produced pups this year, bringing Oregon much closer to a milestone in restoring the predators wiped out to protect livestock.

But the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is still a long way from winning over ranchers to the idea of more wolves, largely because of ranchers’ frustrations over the lawsuit from conservation groups.

The groups sued after the department issued a kill order last fall for two Imnaha wolves for killing cattle. The order has been suspended while the groups’ challenge is heard in court.