Out & About
Basin bright spot
For burrowing owls
OUTFIELD – A recent Critter Watch story on the decline of burrowing owls has an uplifting update: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service habitat enhancements at the Columbia Basin’s Umatilla Chemical Depot have produced a bumper crop.
Artificial burrows made of plastic buckets and predator-proof pipe for entrances have attracted burrowing owls to the 20,000-acre depot — where the Army is disposing of the last of a once vast storehouse of chemical weapons.
Down to a dozen or so adult owls a few years ago, the number of breeding pairs on the depot has quadrupled since the program began in 2008.
They produced more than 80 owlets, according to a preliminary count and banding effort.
Next spring, 50-60 breeding pairs might be nesting in the artificial or scattered natural burrow sites at the depot and their progeny should be spreading out in the region.
Reward offered
in shooting of loon
OUTCRY – A $3,000 reward has been raised for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot and killed a loon on Long Lake in Ferry County around May 9.
The female loon was incubating two eggs at the time she was shot, according to Ginger Gumm of the Loon Lake Loon Association.
Report tips in the case to Washington’s poaching hotline, (877) 933-9847.
Info: Loon Lake Loon Association, (509) 233-2530.
Take nature break
at I-90 pass
OUTDO – Stretch your legs on the next drive to the West Side by timing your trip to catch one of the Forest Service summer interpretive walks near Snoqualmie Pass.
Guided walks include:
• Gold Creek Pond, just east of Snoqualmie Pass, Sundays, 12:30 p.m. Trail is paved, flat and fully accessible.
• Old-growth forest walk to Twin Lakes east of Snoqualmie Pass, Saturdays at 10 a.m. The trail is 2 miles and gains 500 feet in elevation.
• Kids in the Woods Walks are set for 1: 30 p.m. on Saturdays July 10 and 24, Aug. 7 and 21 and Sept. 4. Creative activities will help kids learn about nature and their environment.
Cost: a $10 donation per person is requested.
Reservations suggested. Call the Snoqualmie Pass Forest Service Visitor Center, (425) 434-6111, open Thursday- Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Chattaroy man bags
moose raffle tag
OUTDRAW – Harry Williamson of Chattaroy is the lucky winner of the Washington moose hunting raffle tag from Thursday’s lottery drawing at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council office in Spokane.
The tag gives Williamson special privileges to hunt wherever moose hunting is allowed.
For handling the auction and the sale of 12,320 raffle tickets, the council gets a cut of the profits for its wildlife conservation projects. The rest goes to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for moose management.