State secures elk winter range

Sportsmens groups recently leaped at the chance to help the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department secure a 641-acre parcel of critical elk and mule deer winter range on the east slope of the Cascades.

Privately owned Sanford Meadows, 18 miles northwest of Yakima, was for sale and under threat of development.

“Sanford Meadows is part of a wintering area for as many as 250 elk and 800 mule deer,” said Rance Block, project leader for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. “If this parcel had been sold for development, the resulting disturbances from traffic and year-round human presence would have had a devastating effect on wintering wildlife on this parcel, and on adjoining public lands.”

The land will be managed as part of the nearby Oak Creek Wildlife Area, where hundreds of elk are fed each winter in a spectacle that’s become a tourist attraction.

State officials sought help from the foundation and other sportsmens groups, including the Mule Deer Foundation, to help provide the interim funding needed to seal the deal until federal and state funding could be acquired.

“Land acquisitions can often take a year or more,” Block said, “so I can’t overstate the accomplishment of completing this project in an unprecedented 120 days.”

The $578,000 purchase was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.

The property features mostly south-facing slopes ranging in elevation from 2,800 to 3,900 feet and habitat ranging from sagebrush and bitterbrush to ponderosa pine and Douglas fir.

Annual state aerial surveys show the general area is heavily used by elk and has one of the highest concentrations of mule deer in south-central Washington.

The parcel is surrounded by the Wenatchee National Forest and lands owned by WDFW and the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Rich Landers

WILDLIFE

Bumper crop of bighorns

Two rare bighorn sheep died in vehicle collisions in the last week of October on U.S. Highway 97A north of Wenatchee.

That brings to seven the number of sheep that have died in vehicle collisions in the area since July, including at least four since Oct. 16.

State wildlife officials say it’s the deadliest spate of vehicle strikes ever to befall the Swakane herd of bighorn sheep, a population that has struggled to maintain its numbers.

The latest estimates by the state put the herd’s population at about 80. About 60 of the animals had been residing on a grassy patch just off the highway about halfway between Wenatchee and Entiat.

“We’re starting to lose a lot of animals,” said Jon Gallie, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologist. “It worries me about the long-term health of the herd.”

Bighorns from Canada were introduced to the Swakane Valley in 1969, and the estimated 80 animals currently in the herd is the highest number since then.

Wenatchee World

WINTER SPORTS

Clinics, swaps, film fest coming

Something about the calendar indicates winter is coming. For example:

Spokane Parks and Recreation Department is scheduling ski and snowshoe lessons, plus outings. Info: 625-6200.

Kids Nordic Ski trade-up day, Nov. 12 at Mountain Gear. A popular program that makes cross-country skiing affordable for families with growing kids. Buy a ski package and then trade up each year as kids outgrow their boots, skis and poles. Info: 325-9000.

University of Idaho outdoor gear and ski swap, Nov. 13, at the SRC MAC court in Moscow. Info: (208) 885-6810.

Banff Film Festival World Tour, Nov. 21-23 at the Bing Crosby Theatre. Get tickets in advance at Mountain Gear or Tickets West.

McKenzie Pass on Oregon’s Highway 242 on Tuesday became the first of the region’s mountain highway passes to close for the season because of snow.

Rich Landers

HUNTING

Hunter bags huge black bear

A black bear killed by a hunter on Oct. 12 near Seabeck, Wash., weighed nearly 600 pounds.

State Fish and Wildlife Department Sgt. Ted Jackson said the bear taken by Dennis Durbin of Seabeck was unusually large for the area. Durbin said he was primarily hunting deer at the time.

The bear was more than 7 feet from nose to tail and produced 368 pounds of meat processed into sausage and bear jerky.

Associated Press

FLY FISHING

Notable anglers pass

George Grant, celebrated fly fisherman, author and conservationist, died of natural causes last Sunday in Butte.

He was 102.

Grant had an international reputation for fly tying, with a pattern called the Black Creeper perhaps his most famous. Grant cherished the Big Hole River and successfully fought construction of a dam there.

Mel Krieger, nationally known, mild-mannered, Ozark-based fly-casting instructor, died last month of brain cancer.

Rich Landers

TRAILS

Oregon Coast route explored

Al LePage has been walking to spark public interest in completing the unfinished Oregon Coast Trail and preserving what remains of wild coastal landscapes.

“There are 50 missing links in the trail,” he said. “It would be nice to connect all of those in the next several years.”

LePage’s trek this summer is a reprise of a 360-mile hike he did 20 years ago, to explore the proposed route of the Oregon Coast Trail.

The dream of creating a continuous oceanside walking route from the Columbia River to the California line dates to 1971, when the Oregon Recreational Trails Advisory Council made the idea a matter of state policy.

Much of the route traverses sandy beaches or crosses rocky headlands. Maintained footpaths provide detours around some of the more rugged stretches, and travelers must sometimes consult pocket tide tables to take advantage of low water.

There are also portions where hikers have to walk on pavement.

LePage wants the state to finish the trail so users never have to do that.

“My vision is to have what I call the West Coast Trail – 1,800 miles from Canada to Mexico,” he told the Gazette-Times.

He’s hiked that route, too, covering the 200-mile Washington leg in two weeks in 1992 and walking the 1,200-mile California portion over 31/2 months in 1996.

Associated Press