Parking Decals Needed For Access

Outdoor recreationists planning summer outings or festivities in the water or woods will need an Access Stewardship Decal - faded or not - on motor vehicles parked on Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife access sites.

Many who picked up a decal earlier this season ($10, or free with a state fishing or hunting license) discovered the red ink on the sticker fades quickly. But even if it fades to blank white, the decal is still valid and department enforcement officers are honoring it during their patrols, agency officials said.

“We’ve had hundreds of calls and e-mails about this problem statewide,” said licensing division manager Bruce Crawford. “We’ve been reimbursed by the contract printer for the ink problem, but we’re not recalling or reissuing decals to avoid even more confusion.”

If the decal fades, leave it intact on the vehicle, he said.

Enforcement officers will recognize it as a valid decal.

The decal is required at the department’s 625 water access sites and wildlife areas, including about one-third of the public boat launches in Washington. The $10 fee, collected from those who do not purchase a hunting or fishing license, helps cover the cost of maintaining the sites.

Silver Lake Fishing Derby

The Silver Lake Fishing Derby, sponsored annually by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1435 and based out of Picnic Pines Resort, is set for Saturday.

Cash prizes will be awarded for largest rainbow or brown trout, longest five fish limit, heaviest five fish limit, and largest scrap fish.

The entry fee is $10. Info: 891-5654.

Hunting permits on sale

Idaho hunting permits that did not sell in the recent controlled hunt drawings will go on sale Saturday at 9 a.m. where the state’s hunting licenses are sold.

A total for 2,220 permits are available for deer hunts, mostly in hunts for antlerless deer or in youth hunts, plus 1,082 antlerless elk permits and 312 wild turkey permits. No antelope permits were left.

Spotted owl still in trouble

Endangered salmon may have pushed the spotted owl off the front page, but the birds are continuing to disappear from Northwest forests.

While the population decline over the past five years has slowed from 4.5 percent a year to 3.9 percent, that is still a far cry from the 1 per cent a year decline projected in the Northwest Forest Plan.

In some areas, such as the forests near Glendale, Ore., the spotted owl population may be stable. But in others, like Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, the population is plummeting to reflect the bird’s significant decline, an alarming development to forest activists.

In 7.4 million acres of federal land in California, Oregon and Washington logging is prohibited in stands older than 80 years and allowed in younger stands only if the post-logging forest will be better habitat for the owl.

“We don’t expect to see the types of changes habitat-wise with this plan for 30, 50 and upwards of 80 years,” says Joe Lint, a Bureau of Land Management biologist. “We’re hoping that in 80 years, 100 years, 120 years, some of these stands are going to come online as habitat.”

Charter goes overboard

A Westport charter boat captain and two deckhands each face $1,596 in fines after they were cited for numerous fishing violations during a charter trip off the Washington coast Sunday.

During a routine boarding of the 43-foot Lady Dee, marine enforcement officers from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) found 11 wild coho salmon, one undersized chinook salmon and evidence that some of the 15 anglers aboard the vessel had been using barbed hooks.

WDFW Sgt. Mike Cenci called the violations the “most egregious disregard for fishing rules” he’s seen this year, noting that the charter industry as a whole is generally very observant of fishing rules. Last year, 97 percent of all charter boats boarded were found to be in compliance with state law.

Cenci said WDFW will not release the name of the vessel owner or the two crew members until they respond formally to their citations. The 15 customers aboard the vessel were not cited, Cenci said.