1994 The Year In Review: Outdoors

MILESTONES

* Canaan Valley in West Virginia becomes America’s 500th national wildlife refuge.

* Steve Matthews and Terri Rengstorff open Peak Adventures, North Idaho’s first commercial snowcat skiing operation out of Cataldo. They also stand out as the first North Idaho backcountry guides who do their work on snowboards.

* A Wisconsin hunter bid $100,000 for a Washington bighorn sheep permit, the first ever to be offered for auction by the state. An Arizona hunter bid a record $310,000 for the bighorn permit auctioned by Montana.

* First-time bowhunters, regardless of age, were required to complete a hunter-education course before they could buy an archery license in Idaho.

* An eventual ban on using lead for fishing sinkers was announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

* About 2,200 foot-long tiger muskies were released into Newman Lake to create a trophy fishery while checking the overpopulated bluegills.

* Yellowstone National Park began charging for an angling license, ending a tradition of free fishing.

* Idaho hunters were required to salvage the meat of black bears.

* Oregon voters banned the use of bait and hounds for hunting bears and cougars.

TRANSITION

Hired: Bob Turner, former Fisheries director, named director of Washington’s new Fish and Wildlife Department.

Retired: Jack McNeel, Idaho Fish and Game Department information and education officer, after 31 years with agency.

Promoted: Dinah Demers, first woman named as Washington Fish and Wildlife i Department Spokane regional wildlife manager.

Sold out: Wally and Mirna Beamer, after 20 years of jet-boat service in Hells Canyon.

Died: Joe King, 75, Spokane’s master fly tyer.

Died: Clayton G. Francis, 99, Western Washington creator of Tide Tables and Dot’s Fishing Guide.

Died: Ed Zern, 83, Field & Stream magazine writer for more than 30 years, famous for his column Exit Laughing.

Listed: Kootenai River sturgeon, endangered.

Downlisted: Bald eagle status changed from endangered to threatened.

Enlarged: Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, from six members to nine.

New Management: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resumed control of the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, which had been managed by Washington state wildlife agencies since 1965.

ANNIVERSARIES

* 50th, Smokey Bear

* 40th, Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association

* 30th, Mount Spokane Ski Patrol ski swap

* 30th, Schweitzer Ski Area

* 20th, Boldt Decision assuring Indian tribes 50 percent of Washington’s anadromous fish

* 20th, Endangered Species Act

* 10th, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

FOR THE RECORD

* Todd Huston, 33, an amputee from California, climbs the highest elevation in all 50 states in 67 days.

* Idaho mackinaw, 43 pounds, 9 ounces, caught by Joe Eversole of Ponderay, the largest fish ever recorded from Lake Pend Oreille.

* Washington tiger muskie, 19 pounds, 13 ounces, by Steve Engler in Mayfield Lake.

* Washington kokanee, 5.47 pounds, by Don Growt of White Swan in Lake Roosevelt.

*Idaho flathead catfish, 58 pounds, 8 ounces, by Jessy Newberry from Brownlee Reservoir.

* Washington sablefish, 30 pounds, out of Westport.

OUT & ABOUT

* The Global Positioning System, which allows hand-held units to tap satellites for navigational purposes, began replacing everything from compasses to LORAN-C, the direction-finding workhorse of fishing vessels.

* Green thinking invaded outdoor marketing. Patagonia sold sweaters made out of recycled plastic pop bottles, Fishing line companies tried recycling monofilament fishing line. Storm Manufacturing stopped using cadmium-plated hooks because of the degradation the chemical process caused the environment.