Auction boosts First Descents
After an enlightening on-the-water experience, Spokane-area kayakers are rallying to boost a program for young adults living with cancer.
The Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club has acquired some top-flight paddling gear for a fundraising auction on Friday to benefit First Descents, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving young people who are dealing, or have dealt, with cancer.
The program involves kayaking, team-building and other activities to push their limits and face the challenges associated with living with cancer. Emphasis is placed on daily goal-setting, confidence workouts and teamwork.
After providing on-the-water support for a weeklong First Descents outing in Montana a couple years ago, SCKC members became staunch believers in the merits of the program, and they saw a need they’ve vowed to address.
The club is raising money to buy dry suits for participants to improve the safety and pleasure of letting wild rivers wash away some of their cancer woes.
The Friday fundraiser begins 6:30 p.m. at Corbin Center, 827 W. Cleveland, in Spokane. Appetizers will be served.
Info: www.firstdescents.org and www.sckc.ws.
Rich Landers
NATIONAL FORESTS
Avoid soggy roads
The receding snowline is luring hunters and other visitors up forest roads that are still so soggy they could be damaged by vehicle traffic.
“Avoid driving on wet and muddy roads,” said Donna Nemeth, Colville National Forest spokeswoman. “Both on and off-road vehicles can cause wheel ruts, erosion, potholes, and mud bogs if they are driven on roads that are too wet.”
Speeding through wet meadows is a temptation to some four-wheeling enthusiasts, but it’s destructive and illegal, forest officials say.
“Please report any damage that you see so the area can be repaired and reseeded as quickly as possible,” she said.
The 2007 Interim Motor Vehicle Use Map, which shows roads and trails open to vehicles, remains in effect until the expanded 2008 map is published, she said.
Rich Landers
TURKEY HUNTING
Youths go first
An event devoted to teaching young turkey hunters safety, techniques, ethics and calling is being organized by the Blue Mountain Gobblers chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Last Resort RV Park on the Tucannon River Road. Info: (509) 843-1556.
The event precedes the spring seasons, which begin with youth-only turkey hunts in:
Washington, April 5-6.
Idaho, April 12-14.
Rich Landers
HUNTING
UPS didn’t deliver
A breakdown in teamwork last month left 568 hunters out of the running for Arizona’s coveted elk and antelope hunt tags.
The hunters paid a $50 for Cabela’s Trophy Application and Guide Service, which handles the paperwork and fronts the refundable application fees that range to $595 for Arizona’s elk tag lottery.
Cabela’s sent the applications from Nebraska by United Parcel Service on Feb. 11, but the packages did not arrive at the Arizona Game and Fish Department offices until after the Feb. 12 deadline.
State officials denied a Cabela’s request to extend the 2008 application deadline.
Staff and wire reports
PREDATORS
Antelope get boost from wolves
While the reintroduction of gray wolves has reduced coyote numbers in the Yellowstone area, it’s a boon for pronghorns.
A three-year study has found that pronghorn fawns were three times more likely to survive in areas dominated by wolves versus areas ruled by coyotes. Wolves favor larger prey, such as elk or cattle, and generally leave pronghorns alone, while coyotes target pronghorns during birthing season, researchers said.
Findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Ecology.
As wolf numbers have soared around Yellowstone, pronghorns have increased by about 50 percent while coyotes are down nearly 40 percent since wolf reintroduction, and elk at the northern end of the park area have declined almost 70 percent.
Rich Landers
NATIONAL FORESTS
Land swap eyed
The Clearwater National Forest is considering a 40,000-acre land swap in the upper Lochsa River drainage that’s being supported by a sportsman’s group but scrutinized by Idaho County commissioners.
The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are considering trading land with TWJ Holdings, LLC, to help block up current “checkerboard” ownership patterns and prevent private development scattering through public lands.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a partner in the project, noting that the previously harvested timber land is prime wildlife habitat.
However, local officials are concerned the exchange would result in a loss of property from county tax rolls.
Rich Landers
FISHERIES
Court protects fish
Large bottom trawling vessels fishing off Alaska will be required to retain more of the fish they catch instead of throwing unwanted species overboard.
A federal appeals court in December upheld rules requiring the boats, which drag nets along the ocean floor, to retain 65 percent of their catch in 2008 and 85 percent by 2010.
The ruling is a victory for the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and NOAA Fisheries, which came up with the new regulations to address the problem of bycatch – non-targeted species brought up in the nets with the “money fish.” The unwanted fish are dumped back in the ocean, often dead or dying.
“All across the country this is an issue we have been fighting for years,” said Jim Ayers, vice president of Oceana, which supported the federal government in the lawsuit.
NOAA estimates the rules will eventually prevent 110 million pounds of fish a year from being discarded, most notably large amounts of pollock, Pacific cod, rock sole and yellowfin sole.
Associated Press