Julie Titone

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

There are fewer PCBs in Spokane River fish than previously thought, according to results of a 1994 study. Levels of the dangerous chemical compounds found in samples taken last year were only half as high as those found in a 1993 study, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

Research needed to guide Northwest salmon recovery efforts could suffer because of a budget cut being considered in Congress. A 10 percent decrease in this year's National Biological Service budget is among cutbacks that the House of Representatives is expected to vote on March 15. It was approved last week by the House Appropriations Committee. The biological service does plant and animal research for the Interior Department. Agency officials said the proposed cutback could force the closure of all or most of four major research centers in Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Lafayette, La.

While the summer level of Lake Pend Oreille won't be dropped as Sandpoint-area residents feared, the wintertime level remains open to question. The winter lake level will be discussed at a public meeting at 10 a.m. March 18 in the Sandpoint Community Center.

The government is about to pull the plug on the Northwest's reliable hydropower supply, say utility company managers. In drought years, they claim, power outages could result when water is stored to help endangered salmon rather than released through dam powerhouses. "In some years, it would be impossible to buy enough replacement power to make up the deficit; blackouts or curtailments would result," said industry spokesman Al Wright.

Hazel Bauman listens as local legislators respond to questions from the audience at Saturday's legislative forum at Sorensen Elementary. The forum was sponsored by the school's Parent Teacher Organization to give constituents a chance to ask their elected officials about school issues. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

The government is about to pull the plug on the Northwest's reliable hydropower supply, say utility company managers. In drought years, they claim, power outages could result when water is stored to help endangered salmon rather than released through dam powerhouses. "In some years, it would be impossible to buy enough replacement power to make up the deficit; blackouts or curtailments would result," said industry spokesman Al Wright.

A Sanders Beach couple has extended their front yard too close to the shoreline. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

(For the record, Wednesday, February 15, 1995): Greg Brown is leading the effort to pass the Idaho Black Bear Initiative. His last name was incorrect in a story on Page B3 in Tuesday's Idaho Spokesman-Review.

The Northwest Power Planning Council voted Thursday to listen once again to the scientific arguments behind its plan to save Columbia Basin salmon runs. They did so to educate new council members about the complex issue, and to satisfy those who oppose parts of the recovery plan.

The zinc in Lake Coeur d'Alene is helping to keep it free of ugly algae, according to research summarized here Wednesday. Zinc, which in high enough amounts is harmful to humans, exceeds federal levels for plant and animal life in the lake.

Loggers worry about jobs, nature-lovers about fish, and highway districts about road maintenance. Lots of people are fretting about a proposed rule to limit activity around small streams on Idaho's state and private lands. Others object to another possible change in forest practice rules, which would require state permits for burning logging slash.

Mike Beckwith checks the Enaville gauge on the North Fork. Photo by Julir Titone/The Spokesman-Review