9-29 What’s Happening

Shepard’s successor named at Naches RD

It hasn’t been any secret that Naches District Ranger Randy Shepard has been planning to retire at the end of the year after more than a decade in that position. The only question has been who would replace him.

The answer came Monday, when Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Supervisor Becki Heath selected Irene Davidson, who is in her third year as ranger on the Aspen/Sopris Ranger District in Colorado’s White River National Forest. Previously she had been a forest planner for the Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.

Davidson has deep Northwest roots, having graduated from Oregon State University and then begun her professional career as a botanist in Oregon on the Malheur and Umpqua national forests.

Davidson will report Nov. 23 to the Naches district to begin the transition process, with Shepard retiring Jan. 1 after 36 years in the Forest Service.

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Fishing rules meeting Wednesday in Yakima

Public meetings on the state’s proposed 2010-12 sportfishing rules began this week, with the third of a scheduled seven such gatherings across the state set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Carpenter’s Hall (507 Third St.) in Yakima.

The proposed changes are posted on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Web site (wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/rule_proposals/index.htm), and printed copies can also be obtained by calling the WDFW at 360-902-2700.

The department has extended its comment period through Dec. 1, and the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission has postponed a public hearing on the proposals until its Dec. 4-5 meeting in Olympia.  Written testimony can also be submitted during that meeting.

Other meetings (all with 6:30 p.m. starts) will be today at the WDFW’s Spokane office; Oct. 6 at WDFW’s Mill Creek office; Oct. 7 at Peninsula College in Port Angeles; Oct. 8 at the WDFW’s regional office in Vancouver; and Oct. 13 at the Natural Resources Building in Olympia.

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Skip Morris to host fly-fishing workshop

A fly-fishing workshop with renowned fly-fishing Skip Morris author and instructor has been scheduled for 1-5 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Yakima River Fly Shop in Cle Elum.

The workshop will focus on mayflies, explaining the hatches and how, when and where to fish each fly, plus a seminar in fly-tying. Bring your vise and equipment for the tying portion of the class.

Morris is well-known in fishing circles for his how-to books and instructional videos, and used to be a TV fishing-show host on the old Outdoor Life Network (now Versus).

Registration is $35 in advance, $45 at the door.

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BIG YAK TRAP SHOOT

Gar Hill of Ellensburg broke 100 straight targets to capture the championship trophy in the opening day’s 16-yard event during the annual Big Yak trapshoot, which drew about 100 shooters to the Pomona shooting grounds Sept. 19-20.

Five coveted Big Yak blankets — donated by the Joe King family and Ideal Lumber — were awarded, along with 28 gold belt buckles and prize money.

In other first-day 16-yard competition, D.J. Blankenship took the C class with 96×100, with Kyle Malesich and Jake Switzer winning the junior and sub-junior classes, respectively. Heavy winds affected Saturday’s handicap scores, though the Klingele family had three generations of winners in the event — Wayne taking the seniors at 88×100, son Ed taking the short-yardage class at 89×100 and grandson Jason taking the overall championship at 91×100. Todd Peterson won juniors at 90×100.

The 16-yard winners of Sunday’s windless shooting included Bob Gray, 99×100 in A class; Jason Klingele, 98×100 in C class; Jordan Taylor in the juniors; and Jake Switzer in the sub-juniors. Blanket shoot winners were D.J. Blankenship, Gar Hill, Norm Baird, Roy Zimmerman and Randy Chandler, with Billy Lemmel, Joe Scheef, Fred Schultz, Jordan Taylor and James Grage taking second-place buckles.

Sunday’s handicap winners were Tom Pratt, 93×100, mid-yardage; Jason Klingele, 90×100, juniors; Jake Switzer, sub-junior; and Wayne Klingele, seniors.

Shooting starts at 10 a.m. Sundays and Wednesdays.

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BIRD ALERT

Five local birders enjoyed a beautiful fall hike along the Bear Creek Mountain Trail, which took them through open country, passing through subalpine forests and meadows, and open, rocky slopes. They were rewarded with great scenery and a bird list that included such mountain specialties as those seed-eating finches of mountains and conifer forests, the white-winged crossbill and red crossbills, as well as gray jays, both mountain and chestnut-backed chickadee, pine siskin, Cassin’s finch and Clark’s nutcracker.

A Parker Heights resident reports that two Anna’s hummingbirds are somewhat peacefully sharing the feeder in his yard and that other migrants this week included a gray catbird in the shrubbery as well as warbling vireo, yellow-rumped warbler, orange-crowned warbler, ruby-crowned kinglet, red-breasted nuthatches, white-crowned sparrow and dark-eyed juncos.

Highlights of the Audubon Wednesday morning Poppoff Trail walk included Vaux’s swifts flying low over the Yakima River, American pipit, spotted sandpiper, over fifty cedar waxwings as well as that compact and fast flying falcon the merlin.

Both American three-toed and black-backed woodpeckers were spotted in the burn up in the Klickitat Meadows area. The uncommon black-backed woodpecker of the northern coniferous forests, prefers burned-over sites and it moves from place to place, following outbreaks of wood-boring beetles in recently burned habitats.

Wenas Lake had three pectoral sandpipers hanging out together, two eared grebes and a western grebe. Waterfowl included mallard, northern shoveler, northern pintail, green-winged teal, and ring-necked duck.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963.

— Kerry L. Turley

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AROUND AND ABOUT

HORSEMANSHIP CLASS: “Horses and Horsemanship,” begins next Tuesday (Oct. 6) in Selah, with subjects including evolution of the horse and different breeds; causes, effects and prevention of unsoundness; anatomy and physiology; corrective shoeing; horse nutrition; pasture management; horse health and horse psychology. The course will include five three-hour evening class sessions at the Raptor House rehab facility in East Selah on Wise Acre Road. Sessions will be Oct. 6, 8, 13, 15 and 22, each beginning at 7 p.m. Class size is limited to 16, and tuition is $35. To enroll, call instructor Don Witke at 654-9705.

PICK UP A MOUNTAIN: Volunteers from throughout Region 4 of the Pacific Northwest 4-Wheel Drive Association spent the Sept.

18-20 weekend cleaning up trail trash in the Jim Sprick Park area in the Nile as part of the “Pick Up a Mountain” project.

MOUNTAINEERING JOURNAL ONLINE: The 2009 issue of the Northwest Mountaineering Journal, which has feature articles about such things as alpine climbing, skiing, rock climbing, mountain rescue and bicycle mountaineering, is available online (www.nwmj.org). The archive page lists all NWMJ articles since 2004.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ Tuesday hikers will head to Shoe Lake. The group meets at 7:30 a.m. (it’ll go to 8 a.m. starting next week) at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot and carpools from there, breaking into faster and slower groups. Next week: The “Kendall Catwalk” on the Pacific Crest Trail.

WEDNESDAY: The Mount Adams Cycling Club will hold its final 25-mile Naches loop ride of the season, beginning at 5:30 p.m. for slower riders (5:15 if possible) at the Fred Meyer parking lot to Naches and faster riders taking off 30 minutes later. For information, go to www.mountadamscycling.org.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies hike will be a trip to Cooper Lake in Kittitas County to hike through the vine maple. For meeting time and place, call Joyce Whitney at 574-8331.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY: The Cascadians plan hikes to Mount Aix on Saturday and Ingalls Lake on Sunday. For meeting time and place for either hike, call Ted Gamlem at 697-5051.