Field reports: Exhibit opens at Fort Spokane

PARKS – New interpretive exhibits in the renovated Old Fort Spokane guardhouse will be dedicated Friday in a ceremony involving the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area and the Colville Tribe.

The exhibits are the first at a National Park Service site to tell a darker story of early American history, park officials said.

Exhibits recount the fort’s mission at the end of the Indian Wars in the late 1800s and the subsequent Indian boarding school movement to “civilize” the Native American children.

The ceremony, 12:30-4 p.m., will include a tribal blessing and drumming.

Rich Landers

Chinook season opens on Snake

FISHING – A big run of chinook salmon moving up the Columbia River system prompted Washington Fish and Wildlife Department officials on Friday to announce an immediate opening to salmon fishing in a portion of the Snake River.

Anglers can catch and keep fin-clipped chinook of hatchery origin from the Highway 12 Bridge upstream past Lower Granite Dam to the Oregon border.

Anglers must check rules on the agency’s website for specifics on the sizes and catch limits, which vary up and down from the dam.

The chinook season is a boon to steelheaders who often catch salmon incidentally.

Rich Landers

Washington hears changes for anglers

FISHING – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is accepting public comments through Oct. 2 on a minor slate of state sportfishing rules proposed for 2011-12.

Seventeen proposals affect anglers mostly on the west half of the state. None would dramatically affect fishing in Eastern Washington.

The proposals are available on the agency’s website.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission will take more comments on proposals during its Oct. 1-2 meeting in Olympia.

Rich Landers

City parks offers kayaking trips

PADDLING – September is a great month to dive into the sports of kayaking and canoeing with classes, short trips, family outings and even a house-boat based kayak tour on Lake Roosevelt – all sponsored at thrifty prices by Spokane Parks and Recreation.

Here are just a few examples of the offerings:

• Kayak the Pend Oreille River to Greek Pizza dinner, Thursday.

• Women-only canoeing the Little Spokane River, Sept. 25.

• Family canoe trip on Little Spokane River, Sept. 26.

• Houseboat-based kayak trip, three days on Lake Roosevelt, Sept. 27-29.

• Kayak advanced flatwater touring class, Sept. 27-29.

Info: 625-6200; www.spokaneparks.org/

Rich Landers