Julie Titone

Crew member Jennifer Bershers holds a fire hose during Thursday's inspection of "The Coeur d'Alene" cruise boat at the Coeur d'Alene Resort. Photo by Julie Titone/The Spokesman-Review

Objections raised by the Kalispel Indians could alter or even scuttle an experiment to save Lake Pend Oreille's most popular sport fish. The tribe's concern came as a surprise to Sandpoint area residents who are worried about losing their kokanee.

Within a week or so, the amount of Kootenai River water flowing past Bonners Ferry, Idaho, will more than double to help endangered sturgeon. More water is being released from behind Libby Dam in Montana in hopes it will prompt the giant fish to spawn. The sturgeon haven't reproduced in 20 years since the dam was built and bottled up spring floods. "We haven't put out this amount of water in a long time," Wayne Wagoner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday. State and federal biologists have asked the corps for several years to release more water in the spring. But the corps and the Bonneville Power Administration have balked, citing drought and the need to keep water behind the dam for winter power generation.

Officially, the Northwest Power Planning Council has completed a strategy to help restore dwindling salmon populations. Even if that were true - political haggling makes the fate of that strategy questionable - the council would not be able to ignore salmon recovery efforts and focus entirely on ways to restore other native fish.

There are no "wild and scenic" stretches of river in the national Wild and Scenic River System. Instead, sections are designated wild or scenic or recreational. Each offers a different level of protection. Which is why the U.S. Forest Service will hear plenty of complaints about its plans to add 20 north-central Idaho rivers and creeks to the system. Environmentalists want more "wild" miles of river, meaning no roads or other development for a quarter-mile on either side.

It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue: Colt Killed Creek. But that new name for White Sand Creek is likely to make people curious about the name's origin, which is why Lalia Boone - the matriarch of Idaho place names - lobbied for the change. It was granted back in 1988. But "Colt Killed" has yet to appear on a government map.

The federal government doesn't have enough evidence to say that bull trout are becoming extinct in the Northwest. That's the conclusion of two scientists hired by the timber industry. They surveyed state records and released their report this week, one month before a possible endangered species listing.

(From For the Record, Tuesday, May 9, 1995): Steve Kelly, of Friends of the Wild Swan, no longer is a leader in the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. His affiliation was misstated in a Friday article about bull trout.

Higher-than-average snowfall in 1994-'95 ended an eight-year dry spell for much of the Northwest. One exception was the Coeur d'Alene-Spokane river basin, where mountain snowpacks were at 84 percent of normal at the end of April.

Two changes are under way in Kootenai County's successful program of putting recycling bins at schools. One is temporary, one permanent. During May only, residents can drop their old telephone directories into the bins. Schools will get $30 per ton of directories, plus win cash prizes of up to $500 for collecting the most pounds, said recycling coordinator Jill Bowes.

1. Many people don't recognize knapweed when they see it. Photo by Julie Titone/The Spokesman-Review 2. Roon Zook spreads fertilizer on Blackwell Island in Coeur d'Alene as part of a progressive attack. Photo by Associated Press

Tour boats on Lake Coeur d'Alene will be getting some safety tips next month from the Coast Guard. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Trapped spring chinook salmon and steelhead await release into the Snake River. Photo by Julie Titone/The Spokesman-Review

A five-lane boat launch and a nature trail. But no overnight camping. Those are the hallmarks of a proposal to develop Blackwell Island, unveiled Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

As endangered Snake River chinook were moving toward the ocean Wednesday, federal fish managers asked that more water be spilled from behind Dworshak Dam to speed up the salmon migration. They got a third of what they requested.

The Forest Service says they can't afford to maintain the stream flow gauge housed in the round building on Wolf Lodge Creek because of budget cuts. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The Panhandle Health District is recommending that people who ate recently at Rustler's Roost on Sherman Avenue be immunized against a contagious disease. A food handler there was diagnosed with hepatitis A on Tuesday, said environmental health specialist Steve McMillan.

By June, the U.S. Forest Service expects to have in place a temporary plan to protect bull trout. Some environmentalists think the Inland Native Fish Strategy is a lastminute effort to avoid an endangered species listing for the big trout. Timber industry officials worry it will be as restrictive as PACFISH, a plan to protect salmon spawning streams that limits nearby logging.

Idaho is about to get an official new salmon policy. It will be as different from the old one as a chinook is from a shellfish.

For a second time this year, taxpayers have been stuck with the cost of removing barrels of toxic waste dumped on federal land in North Idaho. The latest disposal bills could add up to $25,000, said David Fortier, hazardous materials coordinator for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. That's what it could cost to deal with eight barrels found on bureau land north of Wallace in March.

FOR THE RECORD CORRECTION: Tundra swans die in significant numbers every year in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin. The type of swan was reported incorrectly in a story in Sunday's newspaper. The correction was published on Monday, April 3, 1995.

A TV talk show about incompetent doctors kept Roger Evans' phone ringing last Friday. Evans directs emergency services for Kootenai Medical Center. He reassured callers that no, KMC does not contract with any of the three national companies targeted by "Donahue" for allegedly providing inept physicians to hospital emergency rooms.

Residents here can beautify their city, and their own view, by investing only a little TLC. People willing to water and otherwise care for a tree can "adopt" one for planting in the public right-ofway, according to urban forest coordinator Karen Hinson.

Dick Russell will soon have to abandon his cabin on Bartoo Island. Russell was supposed to leave in 1986, but had to stay in order to use up $8,000 in credit for fee overpayments. Photo by Julie Titone/The Spokesman-Review