Field reports: Elk group grants $211,400 to Idaho

WILDLIFE – The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation awarded $211,400 in grants that will fund more than a dozen habitat enhancement, research and hunting heritage projects in Idaho, including $50,000 for wolf management.

The grants will be directed to projects on 15,676 acres spread across Ada, Bear Lake, Blaine, Boise, Bonneville, Boundary, Camas, Caribou, Clearwater, Elmore, Franklin, Idaho, Owyhee, Teton and Twin Falls counties, officials said.

Statewide grants include $50,000 to assist Idaho in funding a wolf-tracking expert to locate undocumented wolf packs.

The money is raised by foundation volunteers at local fundraising banquets and events.

North Idaho projects funded this year include prescribed burning in the Deer Creek drainage, a tributary of the Moyie River, and elk research in the Clearwater Basin.

Restrictions don’t apply to entire Spokane River

FISHING – Drought-related emergency fishing restrictions that took effect Saturday prohibit fishing from 2 p.m.-midnight on numerous rivers in the state.

On the Spokane River, the restricted stretch runs from the upstream boundary at Plese Flats day use area in Riverside State Park upriver to the Idaho boundary.

Spokane River tributaries are restricted if they flow into the main river from the State Route 25 Bridge at Lake Roosevelt upstream to the Monroe Street Dam. That includes the Little Spokane River.

The main stem Spokane River downstream from Plese Flats, including Lake Spokane, is not involved in the restrictions.

See regulations details: tinyurl.com/fishrule7

Tiger trout record officially confirmed

FISHING – An 18.49-pound tiger trout caught in Bonaparte Lake near Tonasket on May 5 was officially confirmed this week as a Washington state record by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Kelly Flaherty, 53, of Priest River, Idaho, caught the trout measuring 32.5 inches while bait fishing with a worm and egg at the Okanogan County lake.

A tiger trout is a cross between a brown trout and brook trout. The hybrid is a sterile trout that’s fond of eating forage fish.  Tigers are stocked in lakes where they can help control prolific sunfish, perch and other forage fish.

The record exceeds the previous tiger trout record from Roses Lake by 3.45 pounds.

Tribes’ netting boat vandalized at Brewster

FISHING – The purse seine boat used by the Colville Confederated Tribes to net salmon at the mouth of the Okanogan River was vandalized on Tuesday, tribal officials said.

The Dream Catcher was moored at Mosquito Park near Brewster.

The boat is used to collect chinook broodstock for salmon production at the new Chief Joseph Hatchery. It’s also used to selectively harvest hatchery salmon for tribal consumption.

The brood fish collected on the boat produce the 2.9 million salmon yearlings the hatchery releases for returns that fishermen enjoy throughout the Columbia system, said Randall Friedlander, the tribes’ fish and wildlife director.

 A reward is offered in the case. Call (509) 634-2472.