Teachers go WILD

Since its 1983 inception, Project WILD has trained a million teachers who, in turn, have instilled a basic understanding of wildlife in 53 million students in the U.S. and abroad.

Project WILD was founded in the Western States by environmental educators and natural resource and wildlife agencies to teach about wildlife through science, math, social studies and reading in classrooms. In Idaho, 12,000 teachers have gone through the training program.

“The biggest problem we have in wildlife management in the fish and wildlife agencies is the lack of understanding of the basic principles by the general population,” Steve Huffaker, Idaho Fish and Game Department big-game manager, said in praising Project WILD.

Teachers say the wildlife angle motivates kids in learning the “three Rs” and science.

Info: www.projectwild.org.

Rich Landers

BIG GAME

Winter crops St. Helens elk

About 10 percent of the elk calves on the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area did not survive the winter, according to on-ground surveys.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife researchers recruited volunteers to count live calves in a study area last fall and then to comb the area for carcasses this spring.

While higher than in most years, the “winter kill” of elk on the mudflow is consistent with elk-mortality rates elsewhere in the state during harsh winters, department biologists said.

Brian Calkins, regional wildlife manager, said higher winter kill rates were recorded in 1999.

“Early snowfall and cold temperatures last winter, followed by late arrival of spring weather, was hard on elk and other animals throughout the state,” Calkins said.

“It’s not unusual to find the highest number of mortalities soon after spring arrives,” Calkins said. “The animals are too weak from winter to survive until high-quality spring grasses start to emerge.”

Calkins noted that WDFW and local partners have been working since 1990 to improve forage for elk by seeding and fertilizing forage plants, removing weeds and controlling erosion.

To reduce competition for limited forage, the department and local Indian tribes relocated 103 animals to the North Cascades from 2003 to 2005. In addition, WDFW reopened hunting in the area in 2004 and plans to issue more hunting permits in areas around the mudflow this year.

Staff reports

RIVERSIDE STATE PARK

Park lands up for auction

A proposal to sell parcels of Riverside State Park land in the Spokane Valley will be discussed at a public meeting scheduled by Washington State Parks and Recreation staff Thursday, 7 p.m., at Fire Station 91, 616 W. Hastings Rd.

The proposed sale includes land adjacent to the Spokane River, generally on the north side, from upstream of Harvard to Trent Road.

The State Parks Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposals during a June 22 meeting in Spokane.

Rich Landers