Field reports: Feds deny blame for killer park goat

WILDLIFE – The U.S. attorney’s office says Olympic National Park was not to blame for the death of a hiker who was gored by a mountain goat.

The office in Seattle filed its response this month to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in November by the family of Bob Boardman.

The 63-year-old Port Angeles, Wash., man was attacked in October 2010 on a popular trail. The lawsuit follows a $10 million claim, saying the park was negligent for not removing the goat after it followed and harassed other hikers.

A trial date has not been set.

Associated Press

Library features winter adventures

WINTER SPORTS – The Spokane Downtown Library’s Northwest Room is featuring a timely display through March 31 celebrating winter in the Northwest, including a lot of snowy outdoor recreation.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw great hazards with less poor equipment and roads, the display suggests.

Winter recreation then and now included skiing, sledding, ice skating, hockey, snowshoeing, hunting and outdoor work.

The exhibit combines photos of fun in the snow with disasters such as avalanches on railroads. Info: 444-5338.

Rich Landers

Biathlon team grows in Methow Valley

NORDIC SKIING – Biathlon, a popular European and Olympic sport combining cross-country skiing and marksmanship, continues to catch on near Winthrop, Wash.

The Methow Valley Biathlon Team has 30 active members and boasts the largest junior biathlon program in the West.

Coach Betsey Devin-Smith started the program in 2002, partly to keep her son, Casey Smith, interested in nordic skiing: “If you ski, you get to shoot the gun again.”

This season Casey Smith is 19 and training in Europe with the U.S. National Team for his third Junior World Championship competition.

Associated Press

North Idaho residents blast caribou plans

WILDLIFE – Some northern Idaho residents are upset by a proposal to designate an area half the size of Rhode Island in Idaho and Washington as critical habitat for caribou.

They blasted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a meeting on Tuesday in Coolin, Idaho, saying the federal plans amounted to a land grab that would hurt the local economy.

But federal officials say the designation is required to help save the last remaining caribou herd in the Lower 48 states. They say the average person should not be much impacted by critical habitat designation.

Associated Press

NORDIC SKIING – The annual Langlauf 10-kilometer cross-country ski race, set for Feb. 12 at Mount Spokane, is offering a two-for-one $25 entry fee for skiers who enter with a first-time participant.

Langlauf is the most popular nordic ski event in the region, featuring lottery prizes.

Info: (509) 922-6080 or spokanelanglauf.org.