Field Reports

NATIONAL FORESTS

Roadless hearing in CdA

The Kootenai and Shoshone county commissioners are holding a public hearing Tuesday to gather comments on future management of roadless areas in national forests of North Idaho.

The meeting is set to start at 6 p.m. at the Kootenai County Administration Building, 451 Government Way, in Coeur d’Alene.

Commissioners say the comments will help them make recommendations that Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne wants by the end of the year. Kempthorne plans to submit a state petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggesting changes to the status of roadless areas on the 10 national forests in Idaho.

Idaho was one of the first states to legally contest the Clinton-era roadless rule that banned most development on 58.5 million acres of previously unprotected roadless areas within the 191 million acre national forest system.

The Bush administration rescinded the Clinton rule and adopted a new rule in May 2004 that gives states until late 2006 to ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, to either prohibit or allow road building on roadless forest areas.

The rule covers some of the most pristine federal land in 38 states and Puerto Rico. Ninety-seven percent of it is in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The Clinton roadless area rule was put into effect following more than a year of public hearings and support from about 90 percent of the recorded comment from about 2 million citizens and groups.

The Clinton rule affected 9.3 million roadless forest acres in the Idaho, the most in the lower 48 states. Kempthorne has already said he would ask the Forest Service to open millions of acres of forest in Idaho.

Several other Western governors, including those from Oregon, New Mexico and Washington, disagree with the Bush plan, noting among other things that it puts an unwanted financial burden on the states for managing federal lands.

WILDLIFE REFUGES

Trails at LPO Refuge

Two new trails have been proposed for the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Colville.

The projects would include a 1.2-mile wildlife viewing and environmental education trail around McDowell Marsh and a 3.3-mile trail to Mill Butte, refuge officials said.

Boardwalks, photography blinds and toilets are among the planned amenities.

Info: (509) 684-8384.

Rich Landers

WILDLIFE

Roadkill feeds hungry

Volunteers from the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council are serving “meals from wheels” at the Union Gospel Mission.

Three dozen members have volunteered to respond to calls from law enforcement or state agencies and use their skills at field dressing and skinning to salvage big-game animals killed in collisions with vehicles.

“We’re happy to see the meat go to a good cause and the mission cooks appreciate having the extra protein to feed the needy,” said Jim Kujala, council volunteer coordinator.

So far this winter season, the trend is toward bigger critters than the bumper crops from previous years. Along with more than 50 deer collected from area roadways, the volunteers also have picked up three elk and at least five moose from the fringes of Spokane.

“The four quarters of one of the moose weighed 550 pounds,” Kujala said. “In a lot of cases we can salvage almost all of the meat, but one five-point bull elk hit north of Steptoe on Highway 195 was in too bad a shape to be salvaged. I don’t think the car was salvageable, either.”

Rich Landers

FISHING

Columbia salmon forecast

The preliminary forecast for fall chinook salmon returning to the Columbia River next year is below 500,000 for the first time since 2000, Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife departments report.

The number of immature 2-year-old fall chinook, known as jacks, bound for the Columbia’s Hanford Reach as well as the Snake, Yakima and Deschutes rivers last summer was the lowest since 1996 for the biggest component of the run, so-called upriver brights.

The jack count at Bonneville Dam this year was 17,000, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officials said. In the past five years, the jack returns have averaged 45,000. The return of jacks help predict the return of 3-year-old fish the following year.

The forecasts released last week will be updated in February after more information is collected.

Offering no solid reason for the predicted decline in returns, Cindy LeFleur, department fisheries manager in Vancouver, said, “Salmon runs are cyclical; there are ups and downs.”

The preliminary outlook for 2006 expects a return of less than 200,000 upriver brights to the mouth of the Columbia. The count this year was 295,700.

Coho returns are expected to be about the same as this year, but 2006 spring chinook returns are expected to be 5 to 25 percent smaller.

The steelhead return is expected to be similar to recent years. The final tally this year at Bonneville was 295,800.

Staff and wire reports

HUNTING

Uniform elk hunt sought

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission is recommending a statewide, five-week general elk season for rifles in an effort to increase the number of elk harvested and cut down on the number of damage hunts.

This and other proposals will be released for public comment in January.

John McDunn, a hunter from Helena, supported the proposal. “People are locking up their land, shooting the bulls during the general season and then asking FWP for help in taking care of the cows later,” McDunn said. “And that’s just wrong.”

Associated Press