Field Reports

CONSERVATION

Bass, Peacock to speak

The conservation community has been raising its profile by bringing national-class personalities to the Inland Northwest.

Jim Furnish, former deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service, was in Coeur d’Alene recently to address the Kootenai Environment Alliance. Furnish was instrumental in creating roadless area conservation policy and forest planning regulations under the Clinton administration.

Rick Bass, author of “Wild to the Heart,” “The Ninemile Wolves,” “The Book of the Yaak,” and 18 other books will be the keynote speaker at the Conservation Northwest dinner and auction Nov. 2 at the Davenport Hotel.

The talk is entitled, “Landscape and Imagination.” Bass plans to talk, “in part, about the relationship between hunting and gathering and imagination — and landscape’s role in those engagements,” said Crystal Gartner, Conservation Northwest Spokesman in Spokane.

Info: (800) 878-9950 or www.conservationnw.org.

Doug Peacock, the inspiration for the George Washington Hayduke character in Edward Abbey’s environmental classic, “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” will be on stage to tell stories, 7 p.m., Nov. 10 at The Met.

Peacock plans to elaborate on his wild life, epic personalities, a traumatizing experience in war, grizzly bear encounters and, as he puts it, “wildassadventures.”

The show at The Met is a fund-raiser for Eastern Washington University’s Get Lit literary festival. The $10 tickets are available at Aunties Bookstore, the EWU campus Bookstore, The Lands Council office and at the door.

Peacock is joining The Lands Council sponsors and invited guests at a private reception before the program.

Rich Landers

NATIONAL FORESTS

Panhandle plan map out

The latest version of a map detailing proposals for managing the Panhandle National Forests has been released in the ongoing revision of the management plans for the Kaniksu, Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe forests.

Changes made to a map released last summer are based on modifications submitted by collaborative groups, agencies, and elected officials, forest officials said.

The draft Forest Plan map and associated documents are posted on the Web at www.fs.fed.us/kipz.

The map is being made available for the public to study. However, a 90-day comment period won’t begin until the draft Forest Plan is released in February.

Notable changes since the original map was published include:

“Addition of Primitive Lands Management Areas, which allow motorized recreation in winter and some mountain biking while preserving wilderness characteristics and the possibility of future wilderness consideration.

“Changes to boundaries for portions of the Scotchman Peaks and Selkirk recommended wilderness areas and the Grandmother Mountain Wilderness Study Area.

“Changes to the Mallard Larkins Pioneer Area boundaries.

Rich Landers

SURVIVAL SKILLS

Get ‘lostproof’ and survive

A series of workshops exploring ancient skills and wilderness survival is being launched Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at the East Bonner County Library in Sandpoint.

The first class has sessions entitled “Get Lostproof” and “Survive,” to be taught by Dr. Ken Fischman and Lanie Johnson, both of whom have studied at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School and the Tom Brown Wilderness Survival School.

An outdoor session will follow on Nov. 12 to hone wilderness awareness skills.

Cost for the two sessions is $20, which includes a meal during the outdoors session.

“The importance of these essentials becomes all too clear in critical situations, whether being lost in the woods without camping gear; getting caught in an urban disaster – without power, clean water, etc.; or living in an unsustainable culture – with non-renewable resources, depleted soil, polluted air, water and foods,” Johnson said.

The class size is limited and early registration is encouraged. Info: Paul Fosselman, (208) 255-4236 or paul@pfos.net or (208) 265-8580.

A second class series entitled “Hunter-Gatherers: Brutish or Brilliant,” is scheduled to start on Feb. 3 and a final set of classes is tentatively scheduled for early June.

Rich Landers

Idaho DFG

Long-time employee fired

A long-time Idaho Department of Fish and Game information officer was fired last month after pleading no-contest to a hunting-related charge.

Harry Morse, who worked for the agency’s Pocatello office for the past 10 years, was cited last fall for failing to properly tag a deer.

Morse said he was hunting with a companion near Cascade when the two of them saw a deer. The other man fired the first shots and hit the animal, but it continued to run. Both men took more shots to make sure it died before it became unretrieveable.

Morse said the other man placed his tag on the deer, since he shot it first, and Morse later filled his tag with another deer.

Morse said he was later issued a citation by a conservation officer in his office.

Morse worked as an information specialist. He was the agency’s primary contact for media, wrote his own columns for local newspapers and appeared regularly on a radio program.

Morse said he has hired a lawyer and he’s planning to appeal the decision to fire him.

Rich Landers