Out & About

OUTHUNT

Maintaining access

Based on landowner surveys, here are five things every hunter — and other outdoor recreationists as well — can do improve relationships with property owners and maintain or improve access to private land:

“ Ask permission.

“ Be courteous.

“ Close gates.

“ Don’t litter.

“ Don’t drive off of established routes.

OUTFISH

Reflect on salmon

Spokane climber and sportsman John Roskelley will speak on what his world-wide adventures have taught him about home this week before turning the spotlight on salmon.

Roskelley will keynote an evening of information anglers should know about the current state of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers on Wednesday, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. at Centerplace, Mirabeau Point Park, Room 108, 2426 N. Discovery Pl. in Spokane Valley.

The free evening, including refreshments, is sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation and Save Our Wild Salmon.

RSVP: robinsonj@nwf.org or (206) 285-8707, ext. 105.

OUTSKI

First lifts to open

Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin became the nation’s first ski area to open for the season Oct. 6, offering an 18-inch base of man-made snow.

OUTCRY

Staggering stats

The nation is losing 6,000 acres of open space every day or 250 acres an hour.

As the human population spreads from urban to rural areas, 100,000 square miles of open space is projected to be developed by 2020. That’s an area the size of California.

Meanwhile, Congress is slashing funding for land conservation programs, Forest Legacy and the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Source: U.S. Forest Service, “Cooperating Across Boundaries: Partnerships to Conserve Open Space in Rural America.”

OUTLOOK

Best fishing times

Lunar tables from the U.S. Naval Observatory list peak fishing times. Be fishing at least one hour before and one hour after given times. Applies to all time zones. (* means best days.)

Through Oct. 29

Today

1:10 p.m., 1:35 a.m.

Monday

1:55 p.m., 2:20 a.m.

Tuesday

2:45 p.m., 3:10 a.m.

Wednesday

3:35 p.m., 3:50 a.m.

Thursday

4:30 p.m., 4:55 a.m.

* Friday

5:25 p.m., 6:55a.m.

* Saturday

6:25 p.m. —

Next Sunday

6:20 p.m., 6:45 a.m.