WINTER SPORTS -- A mistake last week in my report on Washington Fish and Wildlife enforcement activities is stirring up rumors we need to nip in the bud.

Eight snowmobilers were cited last week in the Buck Creek area of Pend Oreille County for going into private timber company land closed to motorized vehicles.

The story in the Sunday Outdoors section (and earlier in this blog) incorrectly stated they were in a caribou protection zone.

The caribou recovery zone is along the Selkirk Mountains in Idaho and down the ridges from The Salmo-Priest Wilderness south into the upper LeClerc Creek drainage in Washington.  The Colville National Forest and Idaho Panhandle National Forest have clear boundaries for this zone, which essentially tries to keep out disturbance in an area that caribou eventually could use.

The snowmobilers cited in Buck Creek area were a case in the larger problem of motorized groups disregarding signs and going on to private land where motorized travel is restricted.

Sorry for the confusion on an important topic for sportsmen to address.