In brief: Hunters prepare for season at Farragut Shooting Range
SHOOTING – The Farragut Shooting Range north of Coeur d’Alene has become a venue for special events and an annual pit stop for hunters preparing for the upcoming hunting seasons.
The range at Farragut State Park is operated jointly by state parks and the Idaho Fish and Game Department. It’s open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from May 1-Nov. 1.
Public shooting hours May-September are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Hours are reduced in October and November and the range closes at 3 p.m. The range is staffed by certified volunteers.
The Farragut facility includes 50-, 100- and 200-yard ranges plus recreation shotgun range and 3-D archery range.
Special events occasionally are scheduled, such as the Master Hunter Rifle Challenge on Sept. 9. The event involves 10 hunting scenarios with different life size reactive (they move so you know when you hit them) game animal targets spaced at ranges from 50 to 200 yards.
Info: Dave Leptich, email david.leptich@idfg.idaho.gov, or call (208) 769-1414.
Directions: From Coeur d’Alene, travel 20 miles north on US 95. Take the Highway 54 exit at Athol and travel east (turn right) on SR 54 toward Farragut State Park. Drive 4 miles on Hwy 54 to the traffic circle and exit on Perimeter Road. Drive 1.5 miles and turn right onto the Farragut Shooting Range access road. Drive 0.4 mile to the range.
Disabled hunter permits no longer at BLM
HUNTING – Disabled hunter access packets and permits for the Colville National Forest are no longer available in Spokane at the U.S. Bureau of Land management office.
To obtain the materials for permits to access designated gated roads, disabled hunters can call the forest headquarters in Colville at (509) 684-7000 or contact one of the national forest offices in Colville, Newport, Republic, Kettle Falls or Sullivan Lake.
The Forest Service eliminated its customer service staffing in Spokane this spring.
Sundance Fire commemoration at Pack River bridge
WILDFIRES – A 50th anniversary public commemoration of the Sundance fire, which killed two firefighters in North Idaho, is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. at a U.S. Forest Service bridge 13 miles up the Pack River Road from US 95 north of Sandpoint.
The event will include speakers detailing the background of the blowup that stormed across the Selkirk Divide on Sept. 1, 1967, consuming a swath of timber eight miles wide and 16 miles long in just eight hours.
Fire rehabilitation and reforestation efforts will be viewed during a half-mile walking tour.
Two firefighters were killed just east of Fault Lake while seeking to escape the fast-moving fire. A young man on the Roman Nose Lookout narrowly escaped death as he sought refuge in a snow bank just below the tower.
Fire rehabilitation efforts to reduce soil erosion commenced before the fire was out while reforestation projects continued for more than a decade. The effects of the fire are still visible half a century later.
Sponsors include the Sandpoint Ranger District-US Forest Service, the Idaho Department of Lands, the Society of American Foresters and local museums in Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry and Priest Lake.
Participants in the event must provide their own transportation and bring food, beverages and lawn chairs.
September hikes set in Dishman Hills
TRAILS – The Dishman Hills Conservancy is leading two day hikes in September in its series of outings to acquaint the public with their efforts to preserve open spaces for recreation, nature and wildlife in Spokane Valley.
On Sept. 10, hike to Big Rock from Stevens Creek Road, about three miles, starting at 9 a.m.
On Sept. 16, hike the Glenrose Unit of the Dishman Hills, a moderately strenuous hike of 5.5 miles, starting at 9 a.m.
Preregistration is required for these popular hikes at dishmanhills.org.