Rich Landers: Official business affects everyone
A staggering amount of outdoors-related “official stuff” is underway. Boring in their infancy, these meetings and plans have a way of maturing to policy of importance ranging from blissful to staggering.
Something in the following current list is likely to impact your outdoor recreation future.
“Nearly six years after it was first introduced, a bill to create a 106,000-acre Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle cleared Congress Tuesday and is headed to the president for approval.
“The Palouse-Rock Lake Conservation District is applying for a $124,000 grant to study the feasibility of putting a dam near the outlet of Rock Lake in Whitman County.
“Washington’s revised proposal for a Winter Recreation Strategic Plan – which deals with about 100 Sno-Park areas, 3,500-miles of groomed snowmobile trails and 700 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails – will be open for public comment at a meeting from 7 to 9 tonight at the Moran Prairie County Library, 6004 S. Regal St. in Spokane.
This is the public’s opportunity to comment on winter recreation activities managed by Washington State Parks.
Insight: The original winter recreation plan was written after a two-year review of the snowmobile program with no input from the non-motorized recreation interests. It wasn’t until the plan was presented as a done deal to the January 2007 meeting of the Washington Recreation Advisory Committee that panel members pointed out it was a raw deal.
Details: www.parks.wa.gov/winter/ strategy.asp.
“May 30 is the deadline to comment on the six-year game management and hunting plans proposed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Details: www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/ management/2009-2015.
“The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will consider wolf hunting seasons and rules during its May 21-22 meeting in Jerome.
The commission plans to move forward with its plan for limited hunting on wolves even though environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Monday to bring wolves back under federal jurisdiction and Endangered Species protections.
“The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider land, cougars and wolves when it meets Friday and Saturday in Colville.
On Friday, the panel will consider land transactions, including a proposal to purchase 1,079 acres in the Rustler’s Gulch area between Fan and Horseshoe lakes in Pend Oreille County. Although the real estate transactions are still pending, this could be the first of two planned acquisitions totaling 2,772 acres of wetlands with high wildlife values.
On Saturday, the commission plans to listen to local comments on management plans for wolves and cougars, as well as reports on the effectiveness of citizen advisory panels.
Incidentally, several of the commissioners’ discontent with the performance of state’s 17-member wolf advisory committee recently was posted in meeting notes on the panel’s Web site.
Sounds like they’ve already been picking sides on a hot issue that, under the law, will be ironed out better with leaders who project consensus rather than conflict.
Wolf quote of the moment: “The same guys who hate (the movie) ‘Bambi’ love ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ ” said George Orr, commissioner from Spokane, when asked for his insight on the meeting notes posted and subsequently removed from the commission Web site.
Propaganda alert: In a news conference, President Bush revived the call to assault the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with development that will benefit only Alaska and profit-rich oil companies (and, once again, Halliburton) by suggesting tapping ANWR would ease our pain at the gas pumps.
That’s misleading at best.
The possible reduction of 1 or 2 cents a gallon 10 years down the road won’t make anybody feel better.
Meantime, scientists have shown how ANWR development will cripple our nation’s last and most important unfettered sanctuaries for struggling arctic wildlife and migrants.
Access delayed: Montana wildlife officials are keeping four southwestern Montana game ranges closed to antler hunters for an extra two weeks because snow in the higher elevations is forcing elk to stay at lower elevations to feed.
Observations of recent ATV and snowmobile activity on the snow-plugged forest lands in northeastern Washington and parts of North Idaho indicate that some locals are not so sensitive to this region’s big game – still on the precarious brink of survival from a nasty winter.