Local Report: YVCC’s Sanchez to play at Cal State East Bay

YAKIMA, Wash. — Veronica Sanchez, a Selah graduate and a freshman at Yakima Valley Community College, has signed a letter of intent to continue her volleyball career at California State East Bay.

Sanchez, a libero, helped the Yaks finish third in the NWAACC tournament last fall. She was named a second team AVCA All-American for two-year colleges and was first team all-East Region in the NWAACC.

GOLF

Ries scores ace

TOPPENISH, Wash. — Dennis Ries recorded a hole-in-one Saturday on the 16th hole at Mt. Adams Country Club.

Ries used a 7-iron on the 161-yard hole. It was witnessed by Ron Smith.

Soccer: Davis posts shutout against Wa-Hi

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Goalkeeper Alexes Garcia recorded nine saves to make Ricardo

Badillo’s first-half goal stand up as Davis blanked Walla Walla 1-0 in CBBN 4A boys soccer on Tuesday.

The Pirates moved into a first-place tie with idle Richland, improving to 7-3 in league and 8-2-2 overall.

On Saturday, Davis will host rival Eisenhower, which also recorded a shutout Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Moses Lake.

First half: Davis, Ricardo Badillo (Jorge Sanchez), 20:00.

Second half: No scoring.

Saves: Alexes Garcia (D) 9; Andrew Glaeser (WW) 8.

EISENHOWER 2, MOSES LAKE 0: At Marquette Stadium, Guillermo Silva and Jesus Delgado scored a goal in each half to help the Cadets move to 5-5 in league and 6-5-3 for the season.

First half: 1, Ike, Guillermo Silva (Gustavo Camacho), 32:00.

Second half: 2, Ike, Jesus Delgado (Brett Butler), 55:00.

Saves: Gustavo Delgado (E) 0, Luis Villa (ML) 12, Derek Gonzalez (ML) 2.

CBBN 3A

SUNNYSIDE 1, PASCO 0 (SO): At Pasco, the Grizzlies prevailed in the shootout 4-2 and goalkeeper Eddie Garcia made four saves to back the shutout.

First half: No scoring.

Second half: No scoring.

Shootout — Sunnyside 4 (Omar Vergara, Hector Dominguez, Humberto Bermudez, Alfredo Gomez), Pasco 2 (Luis Castillo, Jose Madrigal).

Saves: Eddie Garcia (S) 4, Jose Ramos (P) 4.

KENNEWICK 2, WEST VALLEY 1: At West Valley, Christian Martin and Geo Vazquez each had a goal and an assist for the Lions. WV keeper Dakota Borchardt made eight saves.

First half: No scoring.

Second half: 1, Kenn, Christian Martin (Geo Vazquez), 42:00; 2, Kenn, Vazquez (Martin), 49:00. 3, WV, David Ellis (Jesus Esquivel), 70:00.

Saves: Jared Gower (K) 5, Dakota Borchardt (WV) 8.

CWAC

SELAH 2, ELLENSBURG 1 (SO): At Ellensburg, the Vikings claimed the shootout 5-3 to move into a second-place tie with Ellensburg.

Eliseo Montiel scored Selah’s regulation goal in the 50th minute while Casey Oltman tied it in the 76th.

First half: No scoring.

Second half: 1. Selah, Eliseo Montiel, 50:00; 2. Ellensburg, Casey Oltman (Riley Waldeck), 76:00.

Shootout: Selah 5 (Antony Hemphill, Rafael Sanchez, Brenan Ball, Troy Brown, Daniel Hernandez), Ellensburg 3 (Oltman, Cody Orendorff, Sam Cordero).

Saves: Andrew Yoder (E) 5, Avery Miller (S) 6.

WAPATO 2, TOPPENISH 1 (SO): At Toppenish, the Wolves outscored Top-Hi 6-5 in the shootout.

Wapato’s Carlos Larios and Toppenish’s Mark Orozco had second-half goals.

First half: No scoring.

Second half: 1, Wapato, Carlos Larios (Fredy Rodriguez), 65:00; 2, Toppenish, Alex Betancourth, 75:00.

Saves: Christian Oliva (W) 5; Martin Perez (T) 6.

SCAC

MABTON 5, NACHES VALLEY 1: At Naches, Tony Espinosa scored four times, including two in the first six minutes and three in the first 21, to lead Mabton.

First half: 1, Mabton, Tony Espinosa, 2:00; 2, Mabton, Espinosa, 6:00; 3, Mabton, Espinosa, 21:00; 4, Mabton, Jesus Rios, 39:00.

Second half: 5, Mabton, Espinosa, 61:00; 6, Naches Valley, Andres Ayala, 66:00.

Saves: Gerardo Barajas (M) 6, Jeffery Barbee (NV) 10.

CONNELL 8, GRANGER 1: At Connell, Ivan Barragan and Johnathan Rodriguez each had a hat trick for the Eagles.

First half: 1, Gr, Esau Cervantes (Jovany Andrade), 5:25. 2, Co, Johnathan Rodriguez (Ivan Barragan), 11:10. 3, Co, Fabricio Cardozo (Barragan), 12:30.

4, Co, Barragan, 24:20. 5, Co, Misael Farfan (Barragan), 35:28. 6, Co, Barragan (Jose Landa), 39:50.

Second half: 7, Co, Rogdriguez (Farfan), 45:00. 8, Co, Rodriguez (Farfan), 59:34. 9, Co, Barragan (Jose Lopez), 75:08.

Saves: Marco Torres (G) 14, Mario Vargas (C) 1, Salvador Gomez (C) 3.

A happier ending: Rinta named head coach at L-C State

Brandon Rinta, the former Yakima Valley CC and Central Washington basketball standout who was passed over for a job he’d been told was his at Northwest Nazarene, has been named head coach at Lewis-Clark State.

The NAIA school in Lewiston, Idaho made the announcement Tuesday.

Rinta, had assisted at Eastern Washington before becoming an associate head coach with Tim Hills at Nazarene. Hills retired at the end of this past season, and despite an understanding with athletic department officials and also Rinta’s being named the top candidate by an NNU search committee, the university’s president hired Dave Daniels.

At L-C State, Rinta succeeds Tim Walker, who resigned last March after six seasons.

More later.

Finally, anglers can get a little excited

YAKIMA, Wash. — Good news can come in little packages or in big ways. (For anyone old enough, like me, to remember “Let’s Make a Deal,” would you like what’s in the box or what’s behind Door Number Three?)

For salmon anglers anxiously awaiting the arrival of fishable numbers of chinook salmon in the Yakima River, last week provided a couple of small slivers of hope: On April 18, a springer came through the Prosser Dam, and five days later, another one came through. Two fish. Hey, it’s a start, right?

It’s become very obvious, though, that things are beginning to heat up at Bonneville Dam, where is where the big-news package is taking shape.

The 85 spring chinook that came through Bonneville on April 14 marked the highest single-day passage of this frustratingly delayed run, which at that point totaled exactly 949 fish through the ladders at Bonneville.  Nearly 4,000 springers came through over the next 11 days, during which that 85 single-day count grew to 1,019 on April 25.

Fish managers aren’t ready to say this means the run will still reach the upriver forecast of 198,400, albeit later than expected. But at least they have reason now for at least a little optimism.

“We’ve been bit (by under-performing runs) so many times in the last decade,” said Bill Bosch, data manager for the Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project. “Everybody’s really nervous at this one not meeting expectations.”

One reason for a little conservative optimism is that the pit-tag numbers of the earliest chinook to come through Bonneville included a high percentage of fifth-year springers, which are expected to comprise roughly 20 percent of the run.

“Usually the age-5s come in first,” Bosch said. “The fact that we weren’t seeing any age-4 fish at first but we were seeing the age-5s, that could be a good thing. The age-4s are just now starting to pick up. But it’s still too early yet. It will be real exciting when we have our first five-digit day (10,000 fish through Bonneville).

“We should hit the peak in the next two weeks.”

That peak will have to have some staying power for the run to get anywhere close to the preseason forecast. A Monday statement released by the U.S. v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) didn’t sound very promising.

Noting that the April 24 cumulative count at Bonneville was the second lowest in more than 30 years of counts, the TAC’s report noted the run “may be weeker than anticipated, or very late, or a combination of both. If the spring Chinook passage over Bonneville Dam turns out to be more normal timed, then the total abundance will be considerably less than the forecast.”

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what’s behind Door Number Three.

– Scott Sandsberry

This week’s state baseball poll

Heading out to cover the Selah-East Valley baseball rematch today. Here’s the latest state coaches poll:

Class 4A: 1, Jackson; 2, Redmond; 3, Edmonds-Woodway; 4, Tahoma; 5, Ferris; 6, Newport; 7, Puyallup; 8, Walla Walla; 9, Union; 10, Richland.
Class 3A: 1, Camas; 2, Southridge; 3, Shorewood; 4, Enumclaw; 5, Mountain View; 6, Mount Si; 7, Eastside Catholic; 8, Kennewick; 9, Kamiakin; 10, Timberline.
Class 2A: 1, Chehalis; 2, Selah; 3, Archbishop Murphy; 4, Sehome; 5, White River; 6, East Valley-Yakima; 7, Pullman; 8, Anacortes; 9, Centralia; 10, Cedarcrest.
Class 1A: 1, Chimacum; 2, Naches Valley; 3, Meridian; 4, Cashmere; 5, Montesano; 6, Goldendale; 7, Kalama; 8, Colville; 9, Rochester; 10, Toledo.

‘Heart of Cascades’ project threatened

YAKIMA, Wash. — “The Heart of the Cascades” is a high-country explorer’s paradise, 36 square miles of rugged cliffs, ponderosa pines, snowmelt-fed streams and subalpine meadows.

It is home to elk in summer and muledeer in winter, to bighorn sheep and mountain goats, to golden eagles and at least one peregrine falcon.

And it is up in the air.

Rising to 6,000 feet elevation at Bald Mountain, it is that quite literally. Figuratively, its future is just as much in the air, subject to the political and financial machinations of the state budget process.

From the vantage point of those who seek to protect it from the sprawl of human development, the “Heart of the Cascades” is very much at risk.

At stake is the completion of an $8 million, three-year, multi-phase sale of 16 one-mile squares within this 6-by-6-mile block of checkerboarded private and federal ownership north and east of State Route 410, an area including such locally familiar destinations as Rock Creek, Bald Mountain, Canteen Flats, Cattle Camp Spring and Gold Creek.

The sale of those 16 sections from Plum Creek Timber Co. to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife would put the entire block in public hands, split between the Forest Service and the WDFW.

That would guarantee coordinated fire management policy while ensuring no portions of that 36-square mile area would ever be sold off, subdivided and developed.

But the completion of the sale is contingent upon money from the state capital budget, and upon the budgetary haggling that will renew this morning when Washington’s legislators head into special session.

The House’s proposed budget included the money to complete the transaction. So did the Senate’s, but just barely.

The governor’s budget proposal did not — and, as originally written, would mothball the state grant program essentially not only to the “Heart of the Cascades” but countless other high-priority projects.

Declared Joanna Grist, executive director of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition (WWRC), “It’s the greatest threat to the program we’ve ever faced.”

*******

Navigating the labyrinth of any governmental budget process requires a political road map and a boatload of acronyms.

But when it comes to state and local parks, public-land recreation and the preservation of working farms and wildlife habitat, at the heart of this political and financial football is the Washington Wildlife Recreation Program (WWRP).

The program was formed in 1989 by a bipartisan coalition in response to the state’s dwindling support of habitat land and parks funding. Since then, it has secured more than $620 million in state funding for projects like “Heart of the Cascades” — with $444 million in county, federal and local matching funds bumping that up over $1 billion.

In the current biennium, the WWRP received $70 million to parcel out through its carefully prioritized process by the state Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO); in the previous biennium, it received $100 million, the same amount it requested from the state’s capital budget for 2011-13.

Even those in the WWRC, the bipartisan coalition that created the WWRP 22 years ago and is co-chaired by former governors Mike Lowry (a Democrat) and Dan Evans (a Republican), knew getting anything close to that optimistic request was highly unlikely.

What happened instead, though, was a stunner.

*******

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget called for no money whatsoever for the WWRP, instead creating something called the Puget Sound Wildlife and Recreation Program.

“She ignored the ranking system that made (the WWRP) successful,” said Grist, the WWRC director. “This program funds only the best projects; that’s one of the reasons the local politicians like it, as opposed to funding politically popular projects. And this is also a state-wide program; it’s not just serving the people in one part of the state.”

The House didn’t agree with the governor, and in its budget called for $50 million in WWRP funds. The Senate called for $20 million for the WWRP, with another $16 million going to other projects from the WWRP’s list that would create jobs, even if temporary ones. Many of those projects, though, hadn’t even been earmarked for approval by the WWRP for other reasons, such as a dearth of long-term benefits.

“Some of those projects were really low-ranked on the list,” said Rance Block, lands program manager of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. “The WWRP process has been time-tested, and it has a very strenuous evaluation process that puts the stronger projects at the top of the list. By funding the WWRP, the Legislature holds these projects to that high standard.

“If you go in and pick projects off the list for political reasons, you run the risk of funding lower-rated projects that didn’t make the grade on their own merit.”

*******

In the WWRP’s 2011 list of proposed grants, the “Heart of the Cascades” ranked No. 1 of the 11 projects ranked in the Critical Habitat category and would be funded by both the Senate and House versions of the budget, though not the governor’s.

Ranking third in that category is $3.5 million the WDFW would put toward the purchase of about 14,000 privately owned acres in the Rattlesnake Mountain area of Benton County, about 10,000 of it abutting the Hanford nuclear reservation’s Arid Lands Ecology Reserve.

The potential purchase has state wildlife managers excited about the idea of turning hunters loose on the troublesome Hanford elk herd. That herd’s population has skyrocketed far beyond state management objectives because at the first sound of a hunting rifle, the elk have simply jumped the fence onto the reserve.

Or they’ve taken refuge on that 10,000-acre stretch of shrub-steppe — where, like the reserve, public hunting has not been allowed. With the Rattlesnake purchase, the WDFW would change that.

“The Tri-Cities area is a pretty big recreational base without a lot of recreation available in the neighborhood,” said WDFW regional director Jeff Tayer. “It’s amazing — as much public land as there is around Hanford, very little of it is available for public access.”

But the money that might create such access through the Rattlesnake purchase isn’t likely to be there.

In the House’s proposed budget, the Rattlesnake deal barely makes the cut as the last of three Critical Habitat projects to receive funding.

Under the Senate’s and Gregoire’s budgets, it wouldn’t be funded at all.

*******

As the state Legislature adjourned last Friday without a budget deal, necessitating the special session that begins today, everything requiring WWRP funds remained on shaky ground.

The deal at the heart of the “Heart of the Cascades” project was for WDFW — with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and

The Nature Conservancy serving at its partners — to purchase four of the 16 one-mile sections in 2009, six in 2010 and the final six in 2011.

The first four were purchased on schedule with $1.8 million from the WWRP and $1.4 million in federal grant money. When the state couldn’t obtain sufficient funding in time to make the 2009 purchase, The Nature Conservancy made the purchase with $2.3 million of its own money — with the understanding that the WDFW would buy it back in 2011.

The WWRP gave the “Heart of the Cascades” — and its $2.75 million request for state funds — its highest priority. The WDFW already has $2.2 million toward the project, left over from a 2008 federal grant related to Endangered Species Act conservation funding. But that money requires non-federal matching funds, and if the WWRP money doesn’t come through, that federal grant will expire.

And The Nature Conservancy would be left holding a large financial bag.

“They’re at risk,” Tayer said. “It’s all about managing risk on all sides of this thing.”

*******

Should this week’s renewed budgetary wrangling result in the Senate version of the WWRP funding, not that of the House, the “Heart of the Cascades” project will be completed. Supporters of a number of other Central Washington projects, though, will come away quite frustrated.

A $2.2 million WWRP grant to protect working, productive farmlands in the Cowiche Basin is in the House budget, but not the Senate’s. An $810,000 grant that would have extended the Yakima Greenway 41/2 miles toward Naches — and ranked ninth among the 25 statewide trail projects prioritized by the WWRP — didn’t make the cut.

The Senate budget, though, would cover seven projects ranked well below the Yakima project, including ones the WWRP ranked 22nd, 23rd and 25th.

That sort of thing has Grist, the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition director, concerned about the future of the WWRP.

“It’s a slippery slope,” she said. “Once you start to tinker with (the WWRP funding process), then you’ve got everybody wanting to tinker with it, cherry-picking low-priority projects.

“And once the program starts funding bad projects, ones that are ranked at the bottom of the priority lists … why would anyone want to fund the program in the future, if it’s known for funding bad projects?”

Local report: CWU’s fastpitch doubleheader suspended by rain

ELLENSBURG — Persistent rains throughout the morning and early afternoon suspended Monday’s opening game of a faspitch doubleheader between Central Washington and Simon Fraser at Gary & Bobbi Frederick Field on the CWU campus.

The game, which was to be the first of a make-up doubleheader for games washed out in late February, was halted in the top of the third inning with Simon Fraser batting and holding a 5-2 lead. The game will be completed next week when SFU returns to Ellensburg for another make-up doubleheader.

Central Washington (19-5 GNAC, 25-11 overall) will take its school-record 15-game winning streak on the road to Montana State-Billings for a doubleheader starting at noon Thursday.

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Prep golf

CBBN 4A

GIRLS

At Veterans Memorial, par 72

Team scores: Richland 342, Wenatchee 409, Chiawana 414, Moses Lake 428, Walla Walla 432, Eisenhower 452.

Medalist: Kristin Strankman (R) 80.

Eisenhower: McKenzie Bond 96, Adrienne Jensen 100, Stefanie Tanasse 103, Sirin Lokhunsombat 153.

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CBBN 3A

BOYS

At Highlander, par 65

Team scores: Southridge 268, West Valley 273, Hanford 276.

Medalist: Nick Mandel (S) 63.

West Valley: Matt Nickelson 64, Eric Gravbrot 64, Conor O’Brien 70, Dylan Dietrich 75, Sam Snipes 78, Dustin DiBenedetto 83.

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GIRLS

At Highlander, par 72

Team scores: Hanford 328, West Valley 359, Eastmont 361, Kamiakin 366, Southridge 409, Kennewick 414, Pasco 423, Sunnyside inc.

Medalist: Taylor Kain-Godoy (H) 75.

West Valley: Miranda Swanson 85, Kayla Rothenbueler 86, Kendyl Comiskey 92, Brooklyn Wood 96, Taylor Boyle 101, Alexis Brown 110.

Sunnyside: Rene Visser 80.

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CWAC

GIRLS

At Colockum Ridge, par 73

Team scores: Ephrata 387, Ellensburg 449, Quincy inc.

Medalist: Ali Duff (E) 88.

Ellensburg: Jessica Schademan 105, Jennifer Perrie 112, Taylor Canini 115, Camille Hougardy 117, Mackezie Burvee 120, Haylee Harrell 138.

Early returns on spring fishing mostly positive

YAKIMA, Wash. — While the spring weather has not helped much to fuel the desire to be out on the water somewhere, those anglers who have ventured out have found some decent fishing around the region.

Several lakes in the Columbia Basin opened April 1 to fishing, and early reports were that when the wind wasn’t blowing a gale, and the rains weren’t dampening spirits, the fish at these locales were biting.

As close to home as Myron Lake at 40th Avenue and Highway 12, anglers trolling or casting and retrieving flies or spinners have been catching the nice rainbows planted in the small lake in early March. Myron is a “selective gear” lake, meaning no bait is allowed and only barbless, single-hooked flies and lures are legal to use.

Rotary Lake and the I-82 ponds in Yakima County and Fio Rito in Kittitas County have also been putting out rainbows to the anglers willing to put in a little time. These lakes do allow bait and lures with treble hooks, and are popular with many who are looking to catch a few fish for the frying pan.

Up in the Columbia Basin, Lenore Lake, Dry Falls and a number of seep lakes near Potholes Reservoir all opened for fishing on April 1 and were all putting out fish, especially Dry Falls, according to some local anglers. Some of these lakes, including Lenore and Dry Falls, are favorites of fly casters, where again there are rules against bait fishing and other restrictions apply.

For salmon anglers, this year’s unusually long wait for the spring chinook run to take off continues. Through Sunday, only 3,777 spring salmon had moved up the fish ladders at Bonneville Dam since the first of the year. In some years, over 1,000 fish a day will be navigating the fish ladders by this time, headed to the Wind River, Drano Lake and other tributaries upriver.

This past weekend, the numbers did bump up slightly to over 400 fish per day coming up over Bonneville, and it is looking like this is the start of the later-than-usual run.

In the meantime, anglers in Central Washington have other options.

Now that the Yakima River has dropped into decent fishing shape, anglers working the lower part of the river between Benton City and Richland have been catching smallmouth bass. The bass migrate up the Yakima from the Columbia in the spring to spawn, and traditionally this is the time when some of the biggest bass of the year are caught.

Anglers fishing from shore, and from drift boats, can catch literally dozens of bass each day as the water warms slightly and the bass move upstream. Best baits include small, curly-tailed grubs on weighted jig heads, and Rooster Tail spinners in white, chartreuse, black or brown.

There is no limit to the number of bass you can catch in the lower Yakima, but only three fish over 15 inches can be kept per day.

Finally, looking ahead just a bit, the general trout fishing season in Washington state opens this Saturday. Some 300,000 anglers are expected to turn out for the big day. Although most of the lakes and ponds in our area are open year-round, the last Saturday in April marks the traditional start of the four-to five-month lowland lake fishing season.

In preparation for the big influx of anglers turning out for “opening day,” local WDFW hatchery crews will again be planting most of the lakes in the region with rainbow trout. Weather and the melting of the big snowpack will dictate if and when the hatchery trucks will make it into some of the popular higher lakes such as Clear, Dog and others.

But the lower lakes will all receive another fresh stocking of trout in the next week in preparation for the increased fishing pressure.

The fishing opportunities are out there. Let’s just hope our spring weather finally arrives so we can get out and enjoy it.

 

• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

4/26 What’s Happening

Ellensburg hosts fifth state fly-tying fair

Nearly 100 fly tiers will be on hand to demonstrate how to tie flies — and let you know which ones work and why in certain waters — this weekend in Ellensburg at the fifth annual Washington State Fly Tying Fair.

The Friday-Saturday event at the Kittitas Valley Event Center will also feature casting classes, ranging from beginner-level instruction to casting in more specific circumstances, such as in windy situations or for distance. There will also be seminars in such far-ranging subjects as preparing for fishing outings anywhere from the Yucatan to Alaskan waters, as well as insider tips on many local hot spots.

Vendor displays will include several local fly shops and equipment manufacturers.

For more information, go to washingtoncouncilFFF.org/wfff.

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Earth Day hikes, events set Sunday

The Cowiche Canyon Conservancy’s ultra-popular Earth Day hikes, led by experts in geology, fish, plants and birds, are set for this Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. from the Weikel Road entrance.

Participants typically head out on the hike with one trip leader and then return with a group led by another leader with a different expertise. The event is free, as always.

After the hikes, though, people are invited to join in one the conservancy’s fund-raising event, “Rocks On!” The 4-7 p.m. dinner event will be held at the Tasting Room Yakima, Wilridge Vineyard, 250 Ehler Road, and the $50 ticket covers a glass of local wine, appetizers, gourmet chili, Cowiche Canyon’s “signature cookie” and music by the band Stimulus Package. Also part of the festivities: a special free tasting of the new all-organic beer made by the Fremont Brewing Co. of Seattle using organic hops grown in Cowiche Canyon.

For more, go to www.cowichecanyon.org.

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Audubon to focus on Australian birds

A photographic presentation on “Birds of Australia” will highlight Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society, set for 7 p.m. at the Yakima Area Arboretum. The event is free.

The presentation will be by Dick and Katie Ambrose and their grandson, Riley Ambrose. Katie worked for 15 years at Mount Rainier Park, while Dick was a park ranger with Washington State Parks for 26 years and now writes about hiking for the Ellensburg Daily Record. The couple first visited Australia in 2004, and returned last year with Reilly and spent time camping out along Australia’s east coast, visiting the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park near Darwin and the Red Center — and were often being awakened each morning by the laughing cry of the kookaburra and the other birds that joined in.

Some of the rare birds they saw and photographed included some many visitors don’t get to see, including the cassowary, Jabiru (black-necked stork), the lyrebird (with its tail spread), kingfishers, kookaburras and brightly colored parrots.

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Fly-tying event set at West Valley Nazarene

The West Valley Fly Fishers and West Valley Nazarene Men’s Ministries will host a fly-fishing presentation and seminar over a spaghetti dinner Thursday at West Valley Nazarene Church, 72nd Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard.

The guest speaker will be Nate Brumley, owner of Dry Fly Innovations, an online fly dealer based in Meridian, Idaho. Brumley will share his testimony over dinner and then lead a fly-tying seminar. The event, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., is free.

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BIRD ALERT

Vaux’s swifts do not often nest in chimneys. They usually nest in natural cavities such as hollow trees. However, with the loss of major snags, Vaux’s swifts have been increasingly observed roosting during migration in large numbers in manmade structures such as large industrial chimneys.

Last year in the first week of May, hundreds of Vaux’s swifts poured nightly into the old chimney at the Yakima Herald- Republic building and by May 7, more than 1,000 were observed entering the chimney.

With that knowledge in hand, a few local swift enthusiasts have started watching for their return. Their effort resulted in a count of 87 swifts that took the plunge into the Herald chimney this week, and there are surely more to come. The best time to see the swifts is at dusk.

New yard birds reported this week included a male purple finch on the ground under the feeders of a Terrace Heights resident and a female yellow-headed blackbird that was noted in a maple tree looking at the activity of a bird feeder at a Naches home.

Other birds of note this week include; four drake harlequin ducks sitting on a very small gravel bar mid-stream of the Tieton River, about a mile upstream from the Windy Point Campground. A male and female Eurasian wigeon were spotted in a flooded field along Pumphouse Road and an eastern kingbird was observed hawking bugs in a yard in Union Gap.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 509-248-1963.

— Kerry L. Turley

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AROUND AND ABOUT

WIND FARM TOURS: The second of back-to-back Saturday tours at the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility will be this Saturday, running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a variety of wildflower hikes, wind turbine tours and presentations spanning the variety of flora and fauna that inhabit the shrub-steppe of eastern Kittitas County. For more info, go to pse.com/wildhorse.

TIMBER SLOWDOWNS: Mushroom pickers, miners and other forest visitors using Lion Gulch Road (Forest Service Road 9712) can expect delays from an ongoing logging operation a half-mile north of Liberty Road and 15 miles northeast of Cle Elum. Motorists can expect 30-minute delays as the timber harvest continues through mid-May.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadian Tuesdays (and courageous newcomers) will take on Hamilton Mountain, with an earlier meeting time (7 a.m.) than usual at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot. Bring lunch, plenty of water, sturdy hiking shoes and energy.

WEDNESDAY: The Mount Adams Cycling Club’s weekly Wednesday evening Naches Loop ride, a 21-mile ride that starts and ends from the Suntides Golf Course parking lot, gets under way at 5:30 p.m. Road bikes are required and the minimum recommended pace is 12-13 mph. (A note: This will be the final week of the 5:30 start time; next week, May 4, it will move to 6 p.m.)

THURSDAY: The Cascadian Pokies will head south to the Toppenish Wildlife Refuge for a birding hike guided by Yakima Valley Audubon Society birding experts. For meeting time and place, call Shara Wright at 509-457-5643.

SATURDAY: The Cascadians are hosting an easy hike to Rocky Prairie, a mellow meadow-and-wildflower hike that will include a picnic stop. The hike will be less than 5 miles and will include less than 500 feet of elevation gain, so it’s a good one for newcomers wishing to try out the Cascadians for the first time. For meeting time and more information, call Peg at 509-966-6194.

MONDAY: Bicyclists will head out at 5:30 p.m. from Wide Hollow Elementary (Nob Hill and 72nd) for Chinook Cycling’s weekly Mellow Monday ride, an easy ride of about 15 miles for club members and prospective newcomers. For more on club events, go to www.chinookcycling.com.

NEXT TUESDAY: Just a look ahead for cyclists — this will be the Mount Adams Cycling Club first weekly Tuesday night ride of the season. The group leaves Yak Fitness in Terrace Heights at 6 p.m. and rotates between three popular rides in the Moxee/East Valley area, with the distance ranging from 24 to 30 miles and a minimum pace of 12-13 mph.

Local: Longton wins opener

YAKIMA, Wash. — Mike Longton bounced back from disappointment in the Apple Cup to win the season-opening Super Late Model main event at Yakima Speedway on Saturday night.

The Moxee driver set fast time, but started from the back with three-time series champion Owen Riddle due to an inverted starting order.

Owen Riddle passed his brother Tayler Riddle for the lead on lap 58.

Longton took the lead from Owen Riddle on lap 65 and held off the Naches driver for the remaining 35 laps.

Other winners Saturday night were: Josh Washington (Hornets), Joe Stevens (Bump to Pass) and Buck Noel Jr. (Sportsman).

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Hornets

Fast time: Josh Washington. A Dash: Chris Marang, Washington, Joshua Henne, Josh Parmentier. B Dash: Julie Melville, George Jankoweis, Jeff Ball, Michael Beck. Heat: Washington, Melville, Parmentier, Henne, Jankoweis, Jesse Eaton, Jeff Ball, Michael Beck, Chris Marang.

Bump to Pass

Fast time: Donnie Stevens. A Dash: Merle Stiltner, Cody York, Mike Parmentier, Dennis Clouse. Heat: Joe Stevens, Peppie Rojas, M. Parmentier, York, Stiltner, Robert Albert, J. Parmentier, Clouse, Ben Briggs. Main: Stevens, M. Parmentier, Rojas, Stiltner, York, Clouse, Briggs, Albert.

Sportsman

Fast time: Mike Hill. A Dash: Buck Noel Jr., Mike Hill, Ron Morton, Brian Pepper. B Dash: Ed St. Mary, Bobby Smith, Morgan Morrison, Darell Tidrick. Heat 1: Terry Cook, Bobby Smith, Bill Cuellar, St. Mary, Allen Reid, Derek Raptcheff, Morrison, Tidrick. Heat 2: Noel, Ron Hill, Valdez, Morton, Jerry Walker Jr., Pepper, Don Klang, Kyler Conduff. Main: Noel, R. Hill, Morton, Conduff, Valdez, Walker Jr., Klang, Smith, Morrison, Raptcheff, Reid, St. Mary, Pepper, Cook, Tidrick, Cuellar.

Super Late Model

Fast time: Mike Longton. A Dash: Erick Hargraves, Longton, Christopher Kalsch, Owen Riddle. Main: Longton, Riddle, Randy Marshall Jr., Kalsch, Tayler Riddle, Hargraves.

GOLF

Tweten scores ace

SELAH, Wash. — Scott Tweten of Yakima recorded a hole-in-one on No. 16 at Yakima Elks Golf and Country Club.

Tweten aced the 160-yard par 3 using a 7-iron.

The shot was witnessed by Mike Nelson and Ken Ormbrek.

Ries gets hole-in-one

TOPPENISH, Wash. — Dennis Ries scored his first hole-in-one Saturday at Mt. Adams Country Club.

Ries aced the 161-yard, par-3 16th hole using a 7-iron.

The shot was witnessed by Ron Smith.

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