Drivers Should Try To Eliminate Roadkill Season

FROM SPORTS page C3 (Friday, January 31, 1997): Correction Rich Landers’ Thursday column included a mistake in the E-mail address for sending comments to Gov. Gary Locke. The address is governor.locke@governor.wa.gov/ The phone number for the governor’s Spokane office is 456-4417.

(From Sports, February 6, 1997:) Last week, Rich Landers erred in saying that the Mica Peak unit was eliminated from the late archery deer hunt.

Hunting deer with rifles won’t begin until fall. But this is the peak of the season for killing deer with fenders.

Motorists are taking a heavy toll on big game pushed to the lowlands by deep snow.

Last year, state Department of Transportation workers from the Colville District collected 39 deer carcasses off highways north of Deer Park in November and December.

This year they collected 84 carcasses during the same period.

The figures do not include injured deer that crawled away from the highway before succumbing.

“People have suggested putting up more deer-crossing signs,” said DOT spokesman Al Gilson. “But we already have too many signs on the highways. People don’t pay any attention to them.”

That’s probably true. But there must be some way to encourage motorists to be more wary of wintering deer.

Maybe we could start a program similar to the old Montana practice of putting a white cross along the highway where a fatality occurred.

I can picture little silhouettes of whitetail bucks with their feet sticking up in the air.

The best idea would be the simplest and cheapest to employ. All it would take is a change of state rules that require DOT to pick up and bury deer carcasses.

A few hundred bloated deer along our highways would be an effective way to remind all drivers of the danger high night speeds pose to ourselves and our wildlife.

Heavily West Side: Gov. Gary Locke is known to be politically left. But he also leans considerably West.

A newspaper story this week noted Locke has all but ignored this region in the makeup of his new cabinet, loading it with Western Washington appointments.

That’s not surprising. Few East-Siders would willingly move to Gridlock Sound.

But the bias from west of the Cascades is more detectable in whom the governor names to commissions, in which the appointees can do their business without uprooting their home.

On Jan. 14, in one of his last actions as governor, Mike Lowry appointed three new members to the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission: Joan Thomas and Mickey Fearn are from Seattle and Joe Taller is from Olympia.

That leaves the seven-member commission with a lopsided composition of five West-Siders. Only Clyde Anderson of Spokane and Jack Shreve of Wenatchee are from the East Side.

The question is: Will Locke tolerate such an imbalance? He has the power to withdraw those appointments and make his own.

A closer balance is critical. The commission deals with land and issues dear to us, including land exchanges in Riverside State Park, natural areas at Mount Spokane, grooming at snowmobile and crosscountry ski trails, and boat launching at popular fisheries.

Locke should be asked to rescind Lowry’s appointment of a Seattleite to fill the expired term of Anne Cox, a former Spokane resident who lives in the Tri-Cities. Cox was willing to serve another term.

No one can describe Cox as anything less than a stellar commissioner in terms of her interest and commitment to parks issues.

The Cascades are a political barrier, but we can’t afford to let them become an iron curtain. Besides the Parks Commission, Locke will be able to make up to four appointments on the nine-member Fish and Wildlife Commission this year.

So far, telephones and e-mail still reach from here to Olympia. The governor’s phone number is (360) 902-4136. The E-mail address is governor.locke@governor.wat.gov.

Grim hunt forecast: Washington’s 1997-98 hunting regulations pamphlet has arrived at license dealers amid serious concern that fall hunting seasons in portions of the state could be a bust.

The nasty winter appears to be inflicting a serious blow to the region’s deer.

Steve Zender, state biologist in Chewelah, already is suggesting the number of deer permits could be dramatically reduced from last year.

“Hunters who are studying the new pamphlet and deciding which units to apply for should remember the tag quotas listed are for last year,” said Madonna Luers, Fish and Wildlife Department spokeswoman. “There could be big cutbacks in permit levels throughout Eastern Washington for this fall.”

The permit quotas will be set at the state Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting April 18-19 in Longview. The deadline to apply for special big-game hunting permits is May. 2.

Special weapons muzzled: Certainly the fall season will be a disappointment for muzzleloaders who found success since 1993 during the separate late deer season they enjoyed in the Cheney and Roosevelt units.

And some archers will be crushed to see they have no late hunt near Mica Peak.

Apparently this was an oversight, since Fish and Wildlife Department officials were having trouble figuring it out themselves Wednesday.

Discussions during season-setting meetings centered around the dismal luck most hunters had in gaining access to private lands in these units, even though many landowners have complained about damage caused by deer and elk.

What makes this more puzzling is that modern rifle hunters were given a new later-than-normal whitetail buck season in units 127-142 from Nov. 3-23. This includes the Mica Peak, Cheney and Roosevelt units.

Since modern rifle hunting doesn’t require the special skill of muzzleloading and archery, this season’s setup almost assures that most landowners in these areas near Spokane will limit hunting to family and close friends.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review