Field reports: National parks attract record visitation in 2015

PUBLIC LANDS – More than 305 million people visited national parks in 2015, an increase of 12 million from the visitation record set the previous year.

“The increasing popularity of our national parks comes as we are actively reaching out to new audiences and inviting them to explore the depth and breadth of the national park system,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said.

NPS, which is celebrating its centennial year in 2016, oversees 409 parks across 84 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories.

To cope with increasing numbers of people, park visitors can:

Plan their trips to avoid peak crowds by visiting the most popular parks in spring and fall.

Visit or be active in the park early or late in the day.

Use shuttles available in some parks, including Yosemite, Glacier and Acadia.

Make more use of walking trails that ease visitors from congestion in most parks.

Make campground reservations in advance at www.recreation.gov.

“Even with record-breaking visitation, visitors can still find quiet places in the parks for those willing to seek them out,” Jarvis said. “I can take you to Yosemite Valley on the Fourth of July and within five minutes get you to a place where you are all alone.”

PUD eyes fish passage

FISHING – The Grant County PUD

has hit its fish passage targets for yearling chinook and sockeye getting past Columbia River Dams. But “steelhead is our problem child,” PUD project specialist Curt Dotson said.

Studies have shown that predators, specifically terns, have the biggest impact on steelhead numbers, Dotson said. Terns are picky eaters and almost exclusively prefer steelhead, according to the data.

Terns took up residence at Goose Island in Potholes Reservoir and at Crescent Island near Tri-Cities. Both sites are administered by federal agencies, not the PUD, but the agencies worked on ways to force the terns to move, and it worked.

“The bad news is they went somewhere and they didn’t go far enough,” Dotson said.

The birds moved to a spot near John Day Dam and islands in Banks Lake and Lake Lenore. When tern populations reach certain levels, federal and state agencies are required to take measures to move them on, Dotson said. The current plan is to build islands in southern Oregon and northern California to attract the birds, he said.

Outdoor programs slated

CLUBS – Outdoors-related free programs of note this week include:

Birding the Pribilofs – program by Kris Buchler on exploring a remote nesting seabird and Asian vagrant birding hot spot in the Bering Sea, for Coeur d’Alene Audubon Society, 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lutheran Church of the Master, 4800 Ramsey Rd.

Citizen science – Spokane Audubon members Jim and Bea Harrison present opportunities to help researchers such as working for the Smithsonian banding neotropical migrants, staffing hawk watch stations, monitoring dead pelagic birds on the Washington Coast and more, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Riverview Retirement Community Building, 2117 E. North Crescent Ave.

Fly fishing – Advanced Chironomid Fishing Techniques by author and stillwater specialist Phil Rowley, for Spokane Fly Fishers, 7 p.m. Wednesday, St. Francis School, 1104 W. Heroy Ave.