In brief: Anti-wolf group starts billboard campaign

A newly organized anti-wolf group says it’s targeting Spokane with a billboard campaign to highlight its concerns about the increasing number of wolves in Washington State.

Four billboards featuring a snarling wolf are being put up, according to Washington Residents Against Wolves, a group that says in a media release that it’s promoting “sound management of the predator.”

Billboards are up at Lincoln Road and Division Street and Lincoln Road and Market Street.

“The aim of the billboard campaign is to encourage people to ask more questions about what having wolves in Washington really means,” said Luke Hedquist, WARAW member.

“People need to consider the challenges associated with wolves. Wolves can and will attack people, livestock will be killed and maimed, private property will be compromised and local economies will be impacted. We want to make sure people thoroughly understand the issue, so we started by trying to get people’s attention with the billboards.

“As the elk and other ungulates are impacted by wolves, we will see fewer animals for other predators like cougar and bear, a decline in the number of animals available to hunt and significant impacts to local economies as hunters go elsewhere.”

Cyclocross races at Riverside Park

The USA-cycling sanctioned cyclocross state championships are taking place in Spokane this weekend at Riverside State Park. Cyclists from around the state will be competing in tough weather and all-terrain conditions.

The event starts Saturday with the Riverside Rumble, Round 4 of the Washington State Bicycle Association Cyclocross (WSBA CX) Series. The WSBA Championships follow the next day.

Cyclocross is unlike any other cycling discipline. Races occur in autumn and winter and consist of several laps on a course featuring anything from pavement to wooden trails to mud. Some obstacles require riders to dismount and carry their bikes.

Cyclocross is considered by many to be the fastest growing cycling sport in the nation. In Washington, there are at least five distinct CX series that attract thousands of people to parks and other outdoor venues every year.

This is the first year WSBA has managed an entire CX racing series. On Dec. 6 and 7, riders from around the nation will descend on Tacoma for two days of internationally sanctioned races in the Waves For Water Cyclocross Collaboration. 

Dredging to begin in Snake River

Dredging in the Snake River at the ports of Lewiston and Clarkston could begin as early as mid-December.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Walla Walla District says it’s awarded a $6.7 million contract for maintenance dredging of the lower Snake River federal navigation channel and associated berthing areas at the two ports near the Idaho-Washington border.

The contract was awarded to American Construction Co., Inc., of Tacoma.

The maintenance dredging is planned for the “winter in-water work window,” Dec. 15 to Feb. 28, when salmonid fish are less likely to be present in the river.

Dredging is the only effective short-term tool available for maintaining the federal navigation channel to authorized dimensions of 250 feet wide by 14 feet deep at minimum operating pool, Corps officials say.

The Corps plans to use the dredged material to create shallow-water habitat for juvenile salmon at Snake River mile 116, located just upstream of Knoxway Canyon and 23 miles downstream of Clarkston.

Asotin bighorn rams illegally shot

Two trophy class bighorn rams were illegally killed up Asotin Creek on the Asotin Creek Wildlife area last weekend.  

“One was shot and wounded and we just found it (Tuesday),” said Paul Mosman, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police sergeant in Clarkston. He said the ram probably died Saturday or Sunday and was possibly seen Nov. 12 with an injured shoulder. 

“The second ram had a radio collar and the only thing we found was the collar cut off and thrown in the brush,” he said.

Tips on the cases can be made to Officer Matt Sabo, (509) 780-9843 or to Mosman, (509) 710-5707.

Only one permit for bighorn sheep was offered this year for this coveted area.

A third ram was killed in the same vicinity last weekend by a Nez Perce tribal hunter exercising his tribal hunting rights, Mosman said.

Hot springs trail opens in Olympics

Olympic National Park has reopened a road and trailhead leading to Olympic Hot Springs.

Olympic Hot Springs Road and the Boulder Creek Trailhead had been closed for three years while workers dismantled the Glines Canyon Dam on the Elwha River.

The trail leads 2.5 miles to the undeveloped springs, where nudity is common.

The park says the hot springs underwent ecosystem restoration during the closure. Camping is allowed only in designated areas.