Field Reports: Boat ramp plan evolves at Heller Bar
FISHING – Plans to improve the boat launching area at Heller Bar on the Snake River are taking shape this month with revisions that should placate angler concerns about interference with a good shoreline fishing area.
Fishermen were alarmed in September when they saw Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife surveyors scoping out the possibility of putting a new ramp upstream from the existing ramp and downstream from the mouth of the Grande Ronde River in a stretch that’s ideal for wade angling.
The $325,000 project, first proposed in 2012, would add a second boat ramp as well as upgrading the entire area, said Bob Dice, Blue Mountains Wildlife Area Complex manager in Clarkston.
“We looked at launch sites upstream and, from an engineering perspective, it would have been difficult to place a new ramp up there considering water depth, current flow and the risk of the thing being buried with sediment from the Grande Ronde River,” he said.
Dice also factored in comments from bank fishermen who were not fond of the upstream ramp site option.
“The best location for a successful installation is next to the existing ramp on the downstream side,” he said this week. “We didn’t want to disturb or alter the upstream side where boats and rafts pull up to the beach.”
Tentative plans call for repairing the upstream side of the existing ramp to allow vehicles to pull onto the ramp from the beach. “That will allow one-way travel for vehicles loading rafts or supplies for power boats,” he said. “As it is now, if they pull down there, they have to turn around to get off the beach, which causes some issues.
“We will be required to install an ADA parking spot near the top of the ramp for a vehicle with a trailer and one for a vehicle only. We felt there would be sufficient room to do this and there is a couple of things we can do to improve the paved area at the top of the ramps for better vehicle flow.
“The rest of the access site will get a new gravel surface, new signs, a new informational kiosk and potentially some new fire rings at areas where folks traditionally camp.”
Agency engineers say construction likely will begin in early 2017 after required permits are secured.
Wolf derby challenged
HUNTING – Environmental groups filed lawsuits Tuesday in Idaho and Washington, D.C., seeking to force federal officials to reveal reasons behind allowing a wolf- and coyote-shooting contest in parts of Idaho.
The lawsuits contend the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is violating the Freedom of Information Act by withholding records sought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project.
Steve Alder of Idaho for Wildlife said the group isn’t holding its Predator Hunting Contest this winter because hunters were unable to kill any wolves the previous two winters.
“We don’t care about lawsuits, but we failed miserably at harvesting a wolf,” Alder said. “There’s no point getting sponsorships and doing this and that and not being able to get a wolf.”
The group overcame lawsuits to hold the events on private land and U.S. Forest Service land the past two winters.
The latest lawsuits concern Freedom of Information Act requests made on Dec. 1, 2014, and on July 31, 2015.
Meg Townsend, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the lawsuits will move forward even though the derby is off for this winter.
“It could happen next year, or any number of years in the future,” she said. “And without this information we’ve requested from the BLM, it’s very difficult to know how they would regulate these wildlife-killing contests.”
She also said the remote and rugged area in east-central Idaho is considered key for a sustainable wolf population in the state.
“We would like to know why wolves are being allowed to be killed in this important habitat, and why the BLM has pushed this decision underground,” Townsend said.
The BLM didn’t immediately have a comment on the litigation.
The previous predator derbies both faced lawsuits. The first event was allowed on public Forest Service land outside Salmon, Idaho, after a federal judge ruled organizers didn’t need to get a special permit from the agency.
The group secured a permit from the BLM for the following winter and greatly expanded the area of the hunt. However, that federal agency withdrew the permit following two lawsuits filed by seven environmental groups, including one from Oregon concerned that killing wolves in Idaho would prevent the animals from expanding into that state.
The cancellation didn’t mention the lawsuits but said modifications to derby rules made by the pro-hunting group left it unclear if the permit could still apply without further analysis.
Alder at the time rejected the explanation, saying the agency couldn’t withstand the criticism and looked to blame someone else.
Alder said the difficulty hunting rarely seen wolves led to the decision to not hold the event this winter. However, he said a wolf started howling nearby while he was camping with his son during an archery elk hunt in September.
“It was kind of neat to hear one howling in the middle of the night,” he said. “I’m talking within 100 yards. It sounds hypocritical – they’re beautiful animals and I love to hear them – but I wish they weren’t on the landscape.”
The contest last year offered a $1,000 prize each for whoever killed the most wolves and coyotes. About 100 hunters killed 30 coyotes but no wolves.