Outdoor Briefs

Fires burn more than just timber.

State wildlife biologists toured areas around Entiat and Chelan last week and issued a grim prognosis for the large herd of mule deer that winters there.

Up to 70 percent of the habitat the animals depend on for food and shelter during the cold months appears to have been wiped out, said John Musser of the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wenatchee field office.

That means up to 3,500 of the estimated herd of 5,000 face starvation.

The agency is gearing for a winter feeding operation, ordering “deer chow” and having special feeders constructed. They’re also likely to hold a special hunt to cull the herd. It could cost more than $130,000 to attempt to feed all the deer, and the population would still be too high for the natural food supply to support next season.

“That habitat is not going to come back in a year,” Musser said. “We feel it’s much better to salvage some of those deer (through a hunt) than watch them starve to death or get killed on the highway.”

A similar hunt after the 1988 Dinkleman fire drew protests from animal rights groups.

Priest Lake popular this year

Recreation use at Priest Lake has been heavier than usual in the past few weeks in part because of forest fires in central Washington.

Forest Service officials say many people who had planned vacations in the Lake Chelan and Okanogan areas headed to Priest Lake instead.

That’s not good news for Forest Service recreation crews, who have installed 14 toilets at unimproved campsites on the lake’s islands, in the upper third of the main lake and at Upper Priest Lake. About 7,000 gallons of human waste is pumped from these toilets each summer.

Officials say and other 32 toilets would be needed to adequately handle the sites that are currently being used for camping around the lakes.

To meet federal guidelines for accessibility and because most of the materials would have to be transported by boat, the outhouses would cost $7,000-$10,000 apiece, officials said.

Surplus trout stock lakes

About 30,000 surplus rainbow trout from a private hatchery were stocked in two Eastern Washington lakes recently.

The Troutlodge hatchery of Soap Lake donated the 6-inch Kamloops rainbows to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department.

The fish were stocked in Deer Lake in Stevens County and in Spectacle Lake in Okanogan County.

The fish should be of catchable size by fall, biologists say. Deer Lake is open to fishing through Oct. 31. Spectacle Lake, however, is closed and will not open until March 1.

Hillary to speak at Banff

Sir Edmund Hillary, renown for his first ascent of Mount Everest and subsequent humanitarian efforts, will be the featured speaker at the 19th annual Banff Festival of Mountain Films on Nov. 5.

The festival, which features the year’s best films involving mountains, kayaks, paragliding and wildlife, runs Nov. 4-6 at the Banff Centre. Info: (403) 762-7440.

Utility boosts geese

Thirteen islands that Douglas County PUD created in its Wells Dam reservoir during the past decade have been a boon to Canada geese.

Last year, 75-100 pairs of geese nested on the islands, producing 650 goslings, according to Jim McGee, PUD wildlife biologist.

At the outset of the program, goslings were transferred to the reservoir from Okanogan River areas. Somewhat like salmon returning to the river in which they were raised, the birds returned to where they learned to fly, McGee said.

The islands were created on the silt and sand humps that existed prior to the creation of Lake Pateros behind Wells Dam.

The PUD spent $300,000 to pile an armor of rock around each island to prevent erosion, McGee said.

The largest island is about 10 acres. The smallest is little larger than the room of a house.

Ban horses from parks?

Cancellation of a contract with a horse-riding concessionaire has horsemen unnecessarily concerned about the future of horseback riding in Glacier National Park, officials said.

The contract was cancelled because of poor service, said Steve Frye, Glacier’s chief ranger. A temporary operator has been employed until a new concessionaire is selected.

“The Park Service is perhaps the heaviest user of stock to support our trail and maintenance programs,” Frye said.

Nevertheless, the Backcountry Horsemen of Washington have been alarmed by a bill introduced by Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Arkansas) which would ban horses from national parks.

Frye said he has not heard of any pending restrictions on the use of horses at Glacier.