Groups urge registering ORVs
A coalition of ranchers, sportsmen, conservationists and law enforcement authorities last week urged a state panel to end Nevada’s status as the only Western state without a registration program for off-road vehicles.
At a hearing in Elko, supporters said a minority of irresponsible off-roaders is tearing up Nevada’s landscape and prompting a need for a registration program for all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and similar machines.
Backers said nabbing offenders would be easier with a registration law, and stressed they are not opposed to responsible off-highway vehicle use.
“Some users are reckless and inconsiderate. They are damaging precious natural resources, and we need regulations,” said Dan Gralian, president of the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association.
Access to public lands is at risk because the federal government will close roads if the state fails to take action, Gralian added.
A Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association representative said law enforcement can’t enforce off-road vehicle laws without more funding.
Associated Press
FISHING
Salmon en route
Idaho salmon are running a little later this year, partly because the fish are navigating cold and murky rivers that were swelled by the spring’s big snowmelt.
“Last year we had more fish at this time, but it was a low water year,” Rapid River Hatchery manager Ralph Steiner told the Idaho Statesman. “Typically, the first fish to arrive at the hatchery is the third of May.”
Compared to last year, about four times more salmon will be available for anglers on the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers. Though both rivers are currently open for fishing, the high water has kept most anglers away.
The salmon fishing season is tentatively set to run until June 22 on the main Salmon and Aug. 2 on the Little Salmon.
Clearwater River mainstem salmon fishing closes today because anglers have harvested their share of fish, state officials said.
Associated Press
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Bears relocated
Montana wildlife officials recently captured and relocated a family of grizzly bears after they got into dog food and chicken feed and killed chickens east of Eureka.
Grizzly bear specialist Tim Manley says the adult female would soon be forcing the two 2-year-old bears to venture out on their own, so the bears were split up.
The adult female was released in the upper Stillwater drainage, the 2-year-old female was released in Coal Creek drainage of the North Fork of the Flathead, and the 2-year-old male was released on the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir.
All three were radio-collared. The same family group of grizzlies had been captured last year and moved into Coal Creek.
Associated Press
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
Bighorns die
Montana wildlife officials estimate that half the bighorn sheep transported off Wild Horse Island died over the winter on the Kootenai Falls sheep range near Libby.
The sheep were moved off the island in Flathead Lake in mid-January. Thirty-eight sheep were captured on the island and moved to the Kootenai range in far northwestern Montana.
Some of the sheep were killed by cougars and others died because of the severe winter, a state Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist said.
Associated Press
MARINE MAMMALS
Orca calf returns
Whale researchers say a pod of killer whales has returned from the ocean to Puget Sound waters with a new baby orca.
The Center for Whale Research on Friday Harbor reports members of the K and L pods were sighted recently with the calf at the south end of San Juan Island.
The whales had been seen in February near Sekiu and in January off Monterey, Calif.
The new calf would make 88 whales in the “southern resident” population of orcas that summers in Puget Sound. The group was listed in 2005 as an endangered species.
In January the National Marine Fisheries Service released a recovery plan that listed the major threats to orcas as the availability of Chinook salmon, the damage of pollution and the disturbance of vessel traffic and noise.
Associated Press
OFF-ROADING
Judge sets limits
A federal judge in Kalspell has banned extended-season snowmobiling on the Flathead National Forest.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy found that the forest’s road-density rules for grizzly bears apply to snowmobiling as well as other vehicles.
Associated Press
NATIONAL FORESTS
Offices will close
Four Idaho Panhandle National Forest Ranger Stations will be closed on Tuesday while staffs undergo fire training.
Closed offices include those in Bonners Ferry, Sandpoint, Priest Lake and the Coeur d’Alene River District in Smelterville.
Rich Landers