Field reports: Oregon lawmakers ban hunting with drones

HUNTING – An Oregon bill banning the use of drones in hunting is on Gov. Kate Brown’s desk.

The state Senate backed the bill unanimously last week after the House approved it last month without opposition.

Sporting groups that requested the bill say using drones is an affront to the hunting principle of a fair chase.

Other states that formally declared use of drones in hunting illegal last year include Alaska, Colorado and Montana.

Idaho and Washington officials say drones are covered under current regulations that prohibit the use of aircraft to hunt, to harass hunters or to disturb wildlife.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a sportmen’s lobby group, says eight states have enacted drone bans.

In Washington, Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have said that wording the state’s existing laws restricting the use of aircraft and electronic devices already prohibits the use of drones.

Meeting to update trout restoration

FISHING – Restoring native westslope cutthroat trout to more waters in the Pend Oreille River Basin of northeast Washington will be discussed at a public meeting on Monday, 6 p.m., at the Cusick American Legion, 105 E. Timber St., in Cusick.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Kalispel Tribe of Indians Natural Resources Department staff will lead the discussion. 

On April 28, the state and tribe held a meeting to summarize results of a seven-year project to remove non-native fish species and restore native westslope cutthroat trout in Cee Cee Ah Creek, a tributary of the Pend Oreille River on the Colville National Forest in Pend Oreille County.

Restoration work is being considered on other streams in the drainage, including Smalle Creek, a tributary of Calispell Creek.

Court won’t block cormorant control plan

WILDLIFE – A judge has refused to block a plan to shoot more than 10,000 double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River estuary, the Associated Press reports.

The plan was released earlier this year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It wants to stop cormorants from eating millions of baby salmon.

Conservation groups sought a preliminary injunction. They say hydroelectric dams – not cormorants – are the main threat to salmon. The groups filed suit in April against the Corps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Wildlife Services agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Rainier tourism adds $57.7M to economy

PARKS – A study done for the National Park Service finds that tourism at Mount Rainier contributed nearly $58 million to the local economy, including direct spending of more than $45 million.

The report says the spending supported almost 600 jobs in the area, not including the employment of park staff or concessionaires. Mount Rainier National Park had about 100 permanent staff and 175 seasonal jobs.

The economic impact of the park could be even more this year. Due to an unseasonably warm spring and low snowpack, visitation is up by 50 percent over this period in 2014.