Field Reports: Outdoor workshop for women only

SKILLS – Women can learn the basics of fishing, hunting and other outdoor skills at a September weekend workshop presented by Washington Outdoor Women.

The annual workshop is scheduled Sept. 16-18 at Camp Waskowitz near North Bend.

WOW is a nonprofit program dedicated to teaching women outdoor skills and natural resource stewardship. It was founded 19 years ago as an educational outreach program of the Washington Wildlife Federation.

The 28 certified instructors for the WOW event will teach 21 classes. Sessions include archery, backpacking, basic freshwater fishing, fly-fishing and fly-tying, big-game hunting basics, map and compass reading, survival skills, beekeeping, birding, duck hunting, Dutch oven cooking, first aid and other subjects.

Workshop participants must be at least 18 years old and must have a current Washington recreational fishing license to participate in the fly-fishing sessions.

Sign up: washingtonoutdoorwomen.org.

Partial scholarships from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are available for first-time participants.

Rail trail on agenda

for Parks Commission

PARKS – Recommendations related to a rail trail through Eastern Washington will be considered Thursday at a Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission meeting in Clarkston.

Staff will ask the panel to approve land classifications and support for the Iron Horse State Park-John Wayne Pioneer Trail. A citizen advisory group has been working with park planners on development proposals for the abandoned Milwaukee Railway from the Columbia River to the Idaho border.

The meeting will be at the Quality Inn and Suites, 700 Port Dr.

Bee Top-Round Top

trail helpers needed

HIKING – Volunteers are needed July 26-27 to complete a new connector trail near Clark Fork, Idaho, that will reopen east-end access to the Bee Top-Round Top Trail 120.

The Idaho Trails Association and Idaho Panhandle National Forests will be completing the last half mile of a new trail to restore access that was blocked by private landholders in the mid-1990s.

Trail 120 is one of the most scenic routes in North Idaho, running 18 miles along high ridges overlooking Lake Pend Oreille.

“Volunteers can come for one or both days,” said ITA’s Tom Dabrowski, noting that hand tools will be provided.

Carpoolers will meet each morning at 7:30 at Bonner Mall parking lot.

Sign up: www.idahotrailsassociation.org.

Contact: Dabrowski at tomdabrowski@yahoo.com or (208) 263-6854.

Teachers go wild

for Idaho class

EDUCATION – A new Project WILD workshop for has been created to help teachers link science and environmental education with reading and writing in their classrooms.

The Focus on Literature Workshop, which deals with wildlife, water, trees and words and qualifies for teacher educational credits, was developed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho Forest Products Commission and University of Idaho.

The two-day workshop will be held Fish and Game office in Coeur d’Alene on Aug. 3-4.

Info: (208) 287-2889.