Out & About: Photos now verify two wolverines

OUTCRITTERS – First there were tracks. Now there are photos.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported Monday that photos from two different automatic trail cameras in the Wallowa Mountains confirm the existence of at least two wolverines – the first known to be in Wallowa County in northeastern Oregon.

Under pressure from environmentalists, federal wildlife authorities have acknowledged that the wolverine – numbering about 300 individuals in the United States – warrants protection, but authorities haven’t done it yet.

Wolverines are specially adapted to snow, and global warming is shrinking their habitat. They are protected by Oregon as a threatened species.

Sportsman’s group offers pheasant chicks

OUTPRODUCE –The Inland Northwest Wildlife Council once again will be distributing pheasant chicks to people who have facilities to raise 25 or more birds for around six weeks before releasing them into the wild.

The chicks used to be free, but the group is charging 40 cents a bird this year and a small donation for transportation costs would be welcome.

The council must purchase the chicks this year, since the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has closed the prison-related pheasant farms at Connell and Walla Walla. The farms used to raise the birds primarily for roosters to be put out for hunters during fall in Eastern Washington, and the council would take the surplus hens.

The mix of hens to roosters in the chicks provided by the council this year will be roughly 90 percent hens and 10 percent roosters. They need to be raised and released into the wild at around six weeks old, said program coordinator Larry Carey.

The first shipment will be May 9 and for several following weeks.

Reserve chicks: 328-6429.

Kaufmann’s fly shops suddenly closed

OUTFITTER – A Northwest fly fishing industry icon, Kaufmann’s Streamborn fly shops in Tigard, Ore., and Seattle, has unceremoniously closed.

Lance Kaufmann started the business 42 years ago with his brother, Randall, who sold his interest in the company five years ago. 

Kaufmann’s Facebook page is disabled. The latest post on the company’s Twitter and blog pages is April 8. It reads “It’s Time to Get out & Go Fishing!”

Kaufmann’s already had closed its 28-year-old store in Bellevue.

Salmon documentary comes to local winery

OUTRUNS – In addition to the spring chinook fishing seasons underway, Columbia and Snake river salmon are the focus of three other notable events:

• Tonight, Public Television’s Nature series will broadcast “Salmon: Running the Gauntlet.”

• Better yet, on Wednesday, “Running the Gauntlet” will be shown in Spokane during a special event featuring the film’s maker, Steven Norton of Boise, 7 p.m., at the Caterina Winery, 905 N. Washington St.

The event is free but RSVPs appreciated.  Contact Sam Mace, 747-2030 or sam@wildsalmon.org.

• On May 9, U.S. District Judge James Redden of Portland will hold oral arguments on a lawsuit over the iconic fish that dates back to 1994.