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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Julie Titone

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

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News >  Nation/World

Chenoweth Tries To Give Fisheries Service The Boot

The National Marine Fisheries Service will get out of the salmon-protection business in Idaho if U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth has her way. "NMFS has been one of the most obstinate, ineffective agencies for land management," the Idaho Republican told reporters in Boise on Friday. Activities such as logging, mining and grazing can harm streams where salmon spawn. The fisheries service has responsibility for fish habitat under the Endangered Species Act.
News >  Idaho

Chinook Remains Found On Boat Ramp Could Be Federal Crime If Salmon Were Wild Out Of The Clearwater River

Idaho wildlife officials are puzzling over the remains of three salmon, found in a garbage sack on a Clearwater River boat ramp. They were apparently fall-run chinook. If they were wild fish taken from the Clearwater, then a federal crime has been committed. They would be among the rarest of the endangered Snake River chinook. "If the fish were poached from the Clearwater River, why would someone put them where they were found? Most criminals try to hide evidence," said conservation officer Matt Erickson of the state Fish and Game Department.

News >  Spokane

Utilities Block Experiment To Raise Lake Levels

An experiment designed to save Lake Pend Oreille's kokanee population has been scuttled by five utilities that own dams downstream. Among them is the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District, whose manager suggested last week that marina profits and property values, not science, are behind the proposed test. Idaho state biologists wanted the experiment to begin this fall.
News >  Idaho

Dam Operators Scuttle Plan To Aid Pend Oreille Kokanee

Lake Pend Oreille will not be kept at a higher level this winter, foiling an experiment to save kokanee salmon. Sandpoint-area anglers and business owners had hoped the water would be kept 3 feet higher to help the lake's most important sport fish.
News >  Idaho

Grizzly Captured After Raiding Town’s Garbage

The capture of a grizzly bear caused excitement Thursday at the Nordman Bar and Store, near the upper end of Priest Lake. Although a few grizzlies roam the nearby Selkirk Mountains, it's unusual for them to show up at lower elevations. "It's really remarkable," said Lisa Votava, who owns the bar with her husband, Randy. "Our back yard was made protected grizzly territory a few years ago, but we never expected to see one."
News >  Idaho

Fish Panel Rips Usfs Over Trout Federal Government Blamed For Damaged Spawning Areas

Like a fishing line bearing too much weight, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission snapped last week. The U.S. Forest Service got lashed in the process. After telling anglers this month that they can no longer keep bull trout caught in Lake Pend Oreille, the commissioners sent a strongly worded letter to Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas. They complained that damaged spawning streams on federal land, and not overharvest, are to blame for declining numbers of the native trout.
News >  Idaho

Corps Noncommittal On Lake Pend Oreille Level Higher Level At Pend Oreille Would Help Dwindling Kokanee

Like an hourglass draining away time, the level of Lake Pend Oreille is dropping toward a deadline for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By Nov. 1, the lake will be about three feet above its normal wintertime level. That's where it should stay, according to the Northwest Power Planning Council, which has approved a lake-level experiment to help the lake's dwindling kokanee population. The corps, which controls Albeni Falls Dam and thus the lake level, isn't saying what it will do.
News >  Spokane

Hearing To Review Application For Minimum Priest River Flows

The state of Idaho wants an "insurance policy" to make sure there's always enough water in the Priest River to protect fish and wildlife. The Water Resource Board is seeking a minimum streamflow for 21 miles of the river. A public hearing on the application will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 5 at the city hall in Priest River, 209 High St. The board wants at least 688 cubic feet per second flowing in the river from Oct. 1 through July 31. It wants at least 418 cfs each August and September.

Ailment Detected In Nw Waterways

A fly fisherman works a stretch of Montana's Madison River where whirling disease has decimated rainbow trout populations. Photo by Andy Anderson
News >  Nation/World

Forest Service Balks At Saving Stand Of Cedars

The U.S. Forest Service has decided that the cost of saving a grove of ancient cedar trees is too high. Both the timber industry and environmentalists are urging the agency to reconsider and work out a land swap that would keep chain saws away from the 520 acres at Upper Priest Lake. "Anybody with two eyes over the age of 6 would have to realize this is an ecologically unique place. It's also very accessible," said Ken Kohli, spokesman for the Intermountain Forest Industry Association.
News >  Nation/World

B.C. Stops Spewing Slag Into Columbia One Smelter Had Been Dumping 400 Tons Of Waste Into River Every Day For 65 Years

1. Hot slag is carried to furnaces, where heavy metals are removed. 2. Graham Kenyon 3. Steam rises from a trough carring slag from the Cominco smelter in Trial, British Columbia, to the Columbia River. The anti-pollution steps are "rather belated good news," says WSU researcher Ed Broch. Photo by Kristy MacDonald/The Spokesman-Review