06/07/11 What’s Happening

Offroad volunteers made bridge possible

The dedication of a recently-completed trail bridge will be a testament to the volunteer effort it took to make it happen.

The Yakima Valley Dust Dodgers donated several thousand hours of volunteer labor and some $4,000 in materials to repair the Crow Creek Trail Bridge, a 60-foot-long, glue-laminate bridge in the Little Naches drainage of the Naches Ranger District.

The bridge is on a motorcycle trail that is also open to hikers, mountain bikers and horses, and replaces a bridge destroyed in the winter of 2005.

The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office funded the project through the NOVA (Non-highway and Offroad Vehicle Activities) program. Other volunteer groups, most notably the Eastern Washington Dirt Riders Association, also contributed significant volunteer hours that enabled the district to come up with the necessary matching funds.

The dedication ceremony will be at 9:30 a.m. June 17.

Damage closes bridge in Pleasant Valley

Recent rains have left their mark on the landscape, closing campground and trails. The latest casualty: Pleasant Valley Trail 999. Backcountry Horsemen members assessing weather-related resource damage in that area found that one end of the Pinus Creek Bridge had washed out, making it potentially hazardous — or, at least, problematic — for hikers or horseback riders.

Trails supervisor Jeff Leisy said the damage was substantial enough to warrant closing it until repairs can be accomplished.

“As the weather improves,” said the Naches district’s Sue Ranger, “many hikers and horsemen will discover the opportunities for accessing the high country are limited.” said Naches District Resource Planner Sue Ranger.

Anyone with information regarding trail damage or snow levels is asked to call Leisy or Angie Niebuhr at 509-653-1438.

Dust Dodgers cancel Fathers Day event

To prevent damage to trails already saturated by spring rains and winter weather, the Yakima Dust Dodgers have canceled their Fathers Day Poker run that was to have been held June 18-19.

Over recent weeks, numerous volunteers, working in conjunction with Forest Service trail crews, discovered that numerous motorized system trails and bridges had been damaged by recent flooding. The number of

On several trails, bridges have support structures that have been undermined and, in some cases, the bridges themselves have been dislodged. Volunteer crews and forest personnel will continue to monitor trails for damage, clear fallen trees and make repairs.

Final spring TWIG meeting set tonight

The spring season’s final meeting of the Trails and Wilderness Interest Group (TWIG) will begin at 7 p.m. today at the Naches Ranger Station.

The agenda had not been set at press time, but district staffers hoped to be able to give updates on flood damage and its impact on trail and facility access, as well as projects and plans for this summer. Hosts are expected to include District Ranger Irene Davidson, recreation planner Sue Ranger, resource assistant Jacquie Beidl and the district’s new trails and wilderness coordinator, Jeff Leisy.

Wildlife refuge begins planning process

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a public open house to discuss a new management plan to be written for Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge.

The event, to run 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at Toppenish Middle School (104 Glendale Ave.), will begin with a short presentation on the refuge and the planning process, followed by an opportunity for the public to discuss refuge management with Fish and Wildlife Service resource specialists.

All national wildlife refuges must have a comprehensive conservation plan by the end of 2012, and the open house will kick off the planning process for Toppenish.

“It’s vital that we hear from the public about their management ideas, what issues need to be addressed in the plans and how we can protect wildlife while allowing people to enjoy the Refuge,” said Shannon Ludwig, manager of the Toppenish refuge, which encompasses nearly 2,000 acres of wetlands and thick riparian forests along the Toppenish Creek.

Yakima snowboarder moving up in world

An untimely bad cold in the middle of the World Cup season didn’t help snowboard racer Carrie Uren, a Yakima resident and Randle native, but her results in the 2010-11 season were enough to qualify here for next winter’s World Cup in boardercross (also known as snowboard cross).

Uren, 23, finished 30th in the World Cup season and ranked sixth in the United States.

This winter’s nine-race season runs begins with a September race in Argentina and runs through March, with most of the races in Canada and Europe. Uren also plans to defend her 2010 “Rhythm ’n Bruise” event at White Pass, which she considers her home resort after having honed her snowboarding skills there.

Cascade F&S Club sets hunter ed class

The Cascade Field and Stream Club will hold its first hunter education course of the year at the Swauk Teanaway Grange, beginning at 6 p.m. June 13. Preregistration is required; for sign-up or information, call Mark Bennett at 509-670-1464. Cost is $5.

Classes will run from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a written test on Saturday. There are no age minimums, but the reading material is presented at a sixth-grade reading level (in English), and students passing the written exam will go to the firing range for live fire, and younger students may not have the physical size or strength necessary to safely handle the rifle or shotgun.

Cascade Field and Stream will also hold classes beginning July 11 and Aug. 22, with an accelerated, primarily adult class to start Sept. 7.

BIRD ALERT

Common nighthawks were well pretty common this week, with reports coming in from Moxee, Naches, 86th and Summitview, Terrace Heights, Roza Recreational Area and the Vernita Bridge rest stop. The common nighthawk is not really a hawk, but is actually a member of the nightjar family and catches flying insects like flying ants, mosquitoes, moths and grasshoppers. It normally feeds at dawn, dusk and at night and it appears to have arrived to our area in mass.

The Audubon Memorial Day Weekend campout, held annually in the Wenas area, produced great views of a northern pygmy owl at the campground and a juvenile long-eared owl and juvenile northern saw-whet owl both spotted in Black Canyon. Two short-eared owls were also observed perched just after sunrise west of Durr Road.

Local birders observed three great egrets, sitting in the tops of cottonwoods, each in a separate nest in a heronry found along Toppenish Creek near Lateral C. This is the same area that last year recorded the county’s first nesting record of great egrets. This area is also starting to attract bobolinks, with the males already trying to set up breeding territories.

A local bird enthusiast and photographer was in the right place at the right time to see a sora feeding young from the deck at the end of the pathway at Sportsman’s Park. A West Valley resident had three evening grosbeaks chowing down on the sunflower seeds in his feeder.

Please call bird sightings in to the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963.

— Kerry L. Turley

AROUND AND ABOUT

WILD HORSE ADOPTION: The Bureau of Land Management has canceled its wild horse adoption event scheduled for June 10 and 11 at the Kittitas Coun ty Fairgrounds in Ellensburg. The cancellation is in response to recent reports that horses may have contracted the equine EHV-1 virus after participating in competitions hosted throughout the western United States within the last month. Several upcoming regional horse events, including this adoption, have been voluntarily cancelled as a precautionary measure.

FIRE RETARDANT EVENT: The Forest Service will hold a community “listening session” from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday on the nationwide plan for aerial application of fire retardant on national forest system lands. The event will be held at the Wenatchee Convention Center, 121 N. Wenatchee Ave.

McNARY CRITTERS: The McNary National Wildlife Refuge’s “Second Saturday” this weekend, from 9 a.m. to noon, will feature insect experts to invite visitors into the world of the flying, hopping and crawling critters in nature. Nets, jars, microscopes, and magnifiers will be available at the free event at the refuge, located in Burbank. For more information, call 509-546-8300.

FREE FISHING WEEKEND: In case you’ve forgotten, you don’t have to a fishing license to fish this Saturday and Sunday (or even have a vehicle-use permit on state wildlife lands) as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife holds its annual Free Fishing Weekend.

CABELA’S ADDS STATE STORE: Cabela’s will add a second hunting, fishing and outdoor gear store in Washington, but it won’t be in Yakima — it’ll be in Tulalip, a 110,000-square-foot store to be located within Quil Ceda Village along the I-5 corridor north of Seattle, and is expected to be open next year. Cabela’s already has a store in Lacey that opened four years ago.

ON THE CALENDAR

THIS MORNING: Just a heads-up, the Cascadians’ Tuesdays aren’t getting together this week. So if you go to the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart at 7:30 a.m. expecting to meet a bunch of hikers, well, you’re on your own. Go someplace fun.

TONIGHT: The Mount Adams Cycling Club’s Tuesday night riders will head out from YAC Fitness in Terrace Heights at 6 p.m. for a 24- to 30-mile ride.

WEDNESDAY: The weekly Naches Loop ride put on by Mount Adams Cycling begins at 6 p.m. from the SunTides Golf Course parking lot.

THURSDAY: The Cascadians’ Pokies group will do a hike in the Little Naches area to include the gorgeous Horsetail Falls. For meeting time and place, call Claudia Christie at 388-9307.

THURSDAY: Mountain bikers participating in Chinook Cycling’s weekly Cowiche Canyon ride will start at the canyon’s Scenic Drive trailhead at 6 p.m. For more info, call Jeff at Revolution Cycles at 509-452-0063.

THURSDAY: Mount Adams Cycling’s easy beginner ride along the Greenway starts at 6 p.m. from the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot. Go to www.mountadamscycling.org for more information on the club.

SATURDAY: The Cascadians will do a hike of the Westberg Trail, a 10-mile trek with some 1,900 feet of elevation gain. For meeting time and place, call Maurine Peck at 453-4244.

MONDAY: Chinook Cycling’s made-for-beginners 15-mile Mellow Monday ride begins at Wide Hollow Elementary (Nob Hill and 72nd) at 5:30 p.m. For more on club events, go to www.chinookcycling.com.