Gary Fairbanks, right, talks to customer Bill Jones at his shop, Fairbanks Outfitters on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. (SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Alas, it hasn’t been bringing enough of them often enough. That’s why, in a few short weeks, that front door will be locked up for good. Or, at least, until another business moves into the Yakima Avenue space occupied for the past seven years by Fairbanks Outfitters, the latest incarnation and extension of Fairbanks’ love for fishing.

Fairbanks has sold fishing gear at four locations around town, the first three of them as Gary’s Fly Shoppe. But it wasn’t the lures, the reels, the rods, the line or any of the other gear that has been bringing in longtime customers in droves since Fairbanks’ recent announcement that he was selling all of that inventory at closeout-sale prices.

It has been the chance to say “so long” to an icon.

“A lot of expertise is going out the window,” said Todd Smith, who began as a customer and, since retiring following the sale of his own business, has become such a regular at Fairbanks’ store that he helps keep inventory on the shelves.

And that expertise includes local knowledge — when and where to fish the local lakes and rivers, what flies or lures to use where and why.

“Gary’s a guy you can just come in and BS with as far as local fishing areas, instead of going into some place where they just want to sell you stuff instead of talk to you,” said Todd Bernhardt of Gleed. “I’ve been coming in here for 10 years now, and if I don’t have an answer about what the fish are hitting, Gary does.

“He gives you ideas. He doesn’t try to sell you on one thing.”

Or on a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need, according to Smith.

“In any fishing industry, I’m going to say two-thirds of all the fishing tackle that manufacturers make is for the fishermen and not the fish,” Smith said. “You can have a wall full of items and maybe only a portion of them will really work. So Gary tries to limit that.”

Fairbanks’ suppliers know his store depends on his personal relationship with customers, Smith said, the kind of mutual trust forged through years of his shooting straight with them. “Say, a new item will come out that may have 30 colors and they’ll say, ‘Realistically, these six or eight will do — don’t buy them all.’ They know he’s not going to be gullible and just buy everything.”

The expertise isn’t just about the inventory, though he’s been known to special-order a single piece of gear just so a customer could see if he liked it. But the inability to sell more of the inventory — along with the free fishing advice he’s been shelling out for years — has become an issue since online sales have become so prevalent.

“It boils down to the economy and the Internet,” Fairbanks said. “Lots of people come in here and want me to line up reels for them. I look at the reel and I sell that reel, but I know I didn’t sell it to them, so I say, ‘So where’d you get this?’ And they say off the Internet.

“I can’t make a living selling line. I need to sell rods and reels, and a good friend and customer of mine told me not long ago, ‘Sometimes to make money, you’ve got to stop losing money.’

“And I took that to heart.”

So he’s selling out, quite literally. Everything in his store (423 W. Yakima Ave.) is on sale for at least 25 percent off, and that discount will likely increase as the inventory dwindles — until, finally, Fairbanks cracks, “I’m going to pack it up in crates and boxes and, just like everybody else is doing, I’m going to put it on eBay and get rid of it.”

What longtime customers like Mike Iasella, a retired Yakima periodontist, want can’t be found online.

“You can get things a lot of different ways, particularly on the Internet, but the service aspect Gary has goes a long way,” Iasella said. “You break a rod, you bring it to him, he packages it up and sends it to the manufacturer for you. Same thing for anything you return, he takes care of it for you.”

Iasella is a fly fisherman who ties his own flies, and he pointed to all of the fly-fishing classes Fairbanks offered; all of the times he will go out of his way to show a new customer how to fly-cast; the support he has provided to the annual fly-tying seminar put on at West Valley of the Nazarene Church; and, in general, the base of operations he has provided for Yakima County’s fly-fishing community.

“With my fly-tying,” Iasella said, “it’s going to be a real loss not having Gary there.”

Fairbanks is well aware that, with Cabella’s opening up a store in town to join an already healthy lineup of outdoor-related specialty stores, a lot of fishermen won’t really feel a loss. But, Fairbanks said, it isn’t the Cabela’s move into the Yakima market that is moving him out.

“That wasn’t a deciding factor, because they don’t carry everything. Myself and other retailers would look at what they’ve got and carry things they don’t carry,” he said. “Actually, having Cabela’s here would probably have helped a little bit, because Cabela’s would become friends of mine; Cabela’s would send people to me for stuff they didn’t have, and it might even bring in new customers. They’re a good store, with good people. I think they would have been a good competitor.”

But the customers that are nearest and dearest to Fairbanks’ heart, the fly fishermen, will feel the loss of his store the most.

“The worst thing about this closeout is the fly fishing,” he said. “You can buy all this other stuff at BiMart, Grumpy’s, Hammer’s, Kmart, Walmart — but the fly stuff, nobody has it. I’m really disappointed. I offered to some local businesses the fly-fishing department, because when I’m gone, people will have to go to the Internet or go out of town.”

Maybe that’s why some of the farewells have been so emotional.

“Since I started this closeout, I’ve actually had a couple of customers who have come in and cried. They literally have cried,” Fairbanks said.

Fairbanks has got plans in the works, things he isn’t willing to talk about publicly, at least not yet. But with considerations out there on the horizon, his tears haven’t been falling.

But his prices, oh, they’re definitely plummeting. Until everything’s gone.

I’ve owned a few different tents over the years. I’ve had some small tents and big tents, cheap tents and expensive tents. None has been the perfect tent, but one of the ones I have now is pretty darned good.

None brings back such fond memories, though, as the old canvas tent my family had when I was growing up.

My family wasn’t a big camping bunch. Maybe, with four little kids of assorted sizes and ages, it was just too much for my parents to accomplish. I don’t remember having all kinds of the other necessary camping equipment, such as lanterns and a camp stove, so maybe that is why we didn’t go camping much.

Or maybe my folks just didn’t like to camp.

But we did have a tent. It was made of green canvas, heavy and musty smelling. It leaked like a sieve, was hot during the day and cold at night.

I can remember camping in that tent with my dad up on the Tieton River once or twice. More often, though, we would set the tent up in the back yard and my friends and I would use it for sleep-overs during the summer.

The old canvas structure would stay up for days, until my dad finally decided the lawn needed some air and sunlight. The yellow patch of grass would take several days to come back to life, and when it did I would go about the chore of erecting the tent again.

I can still remember how that old tent smelled, especially on those warm summer days when I would use it for a fort or just for a place to lay around in, reading comic books and whiling away the long summer days.

The first tent I got when I was out on my own was a little two-man outfit. I used it off and on for years — I still have it to this day, in fact. Although I rarely use it any more, the little blue tent served me well … well, except for those few times I nearly froze to death in the thing.

It was with that tent I learned that tent-making companies fudge when it comes to saying how many “men” can sleep in a tent.

My little two-man tent is really a one-man, and possibly one-man-and-one-child tent. Two men? Yes, if you want that person sleeping in your personal space, breathing your personal air. Throw in any extra baggage or stuff you don’t want the wildlife to drag away in the middle of the night, and the two-man tent accommodates one quite comfortably.

And, as I would learn the hard way with my little blue tent, “water resistant” does not mean “water proof.” My one-and-half-man tent would withstand a light rain — but only for a while. If it really rained, be ready to head to the car, because you were going to get wet.

After several cold, wet nights in lesser tents, I finally broke down and spent a few hundred bucks on a decent tent. It is a Cabela’s Alaskan Guide model tent. It is the six-man version of the rugged tent, which means it comfortably fits three people with all their hunting stuff.

The tent is a good one, though. It has an awesome rain cover and, even in some heavy snow, I have never seen it leak. It has also withstood a pretty hefty windstorm or two.

And, even with the 57 criss-crossing, bungy-loaded tent poles, the thing is fairly easy to put up.

The only problem I have had with the tent was when I inadvertently placed it on some blackberry brambles up in a canyon on the Snake River. The thorns punctured a few holes in the floor of the tent, not to mention our feet, the next morning.

I also own a one-man backpacking tent I have never used. I bought the tent with good intentions of using it to get into some backcountry after mule deer. The idea was to save a bunch of walking time in to and out from our hunting spot. But so far that hasn’t happened.

The little tent is pretty cool, and I think it would work. But even if it is the best tent in the world, my guess is it still won’t smell as good, or bring back as fond of memories as that old, green canvas tent from my youth.

• 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.

A look at state and federal efforts to protect greater sage grouse and the shrub-steppe habitat upon which it depends will be the featured presentation at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

The free event is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. at the Yakima Area Arboretum.

The presenter will be Colin Leingang, a Yakima native who has spent 24 years as a wildlife biologist with the Forest Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and, for the last 12 years, the U.S. Army. He will discuss the challenges of protecting the state’s diminishing shrub-steppe acreage — specifically the sage grouse habitat on the Yakima Training Center, Hanford Reach and Yakama Nation Reservation — and how wildland fire management figures into the puzzle.

BIRD ALERT

This week’s firsts included a ferruginous hawk, its wingspan of nearly five feet making it one of the largest birds of prey in North America. The hawk was spotted in the foothills north of Sunnyside, while other notables of the week were two black terns along South Harrah Road; a male bobolink observed east of Lateral C; and a pectoral sandpiper, a bird not usually seen in Yakima County during the spring migration.

Only three years ago the first nest of great egrets was discovered in Yakima County. Yet this week, an amazing nine great egrets, a new Yakima County high, were noted at the heronry near Lateral C and Toppenish Creek.

A trip to the Yakima Training Center turned up the common shrub-steppe species, including sage thrashers; Brewer’s, vesper, and sage sparrows; loggerhead shrike; and four owl species, barn, great horned, long-eared, and short-eared. The YTC birders also spotted gray partridge, Swainson’s hawk, golden eagle, and common poorwill.

A walk along Selah Creek turned up a red tail hawk nest with three young, and a western kingbird nest observed in the bare tree. Canyon and rock wrens were heard, and violet green, cliff swallows and Bullock’s orioles were also present.

Four species of grebes — both horned and red-necked in gorgeous breeding plumage, and western and Clark’s — plus a common tern were all noted this week at Priest Rapids Lake. One Yakima resident reported an astounding flock of 40 to 50 western tanagers in the property’s aspens, only about 10 feet from their raised deck.

Please email your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon at birds@yakimaaudubon.org or leave a message at 509-837-6930.

— Kerry L. Turley

AROUND AND ABOUT

THE BIG ONE THAT DIDN’T GET AWAY: Clinton Quinn of Cle Elum landed a 40-pound halibut off Westport to win Sunday’s $500 Westport Charterboat Association Derby. Quinn got in under the wire for offshore-directed sport halibut fishing, which ended Sunday. Fish remains open daily in the near-shore area off Westport, where each of the last two Westport Derby season halibut winners have come from.

TRAP SHOOTING STAR: Dakotah Eims broke 98 of 100 targets to win the Sub-Junior class Handicap event at last weekend’s Empire Handicap, held at the Spokane Gun Club.

NOVA LAWSUIT AIRING: The Washington State Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments today on the appeal of a lawsuit by the Washington Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance (WOHVA) over the state’s sweeping Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities (NOVA) funds into the general fund. The hearing in Olympia is tentatively scheduled to be aired on a live webcast on TVW at 9 a.m.

BUCK MOUNTAIN TRAIL: Mountain bikers heading up to the Methow Valley this summer might want to avoid the popular Buck Mountain Bike Trail in the Cub Creek area northwest of Winthrop, because portions of it will be detoured because of traffic and work on an active timber sale in the area.

IT’S STILL SOAP LAKE: The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names on Friday tabled a proposal to change the name of Soap Lake in Grant County to Smokiam Lake.

ON THE CALENDAR

THIS MORNING: The Cascadians’ Free Spirits group, formally known as the Tuesday Twos, will be doing a trek of Water Works Canyon off Highway 410 on the side of Cleman Mountain. The six-mile round trip will include up to 2,500 feet of elevation gain. The group will meet at 7:45 a.m. at the south end of the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot and head out at promptly 8 a.m. Also this morning, the Cascadian Trekkers will be meeting and leaving at the same time for a trip to be determined. If you’re planning on going with either group, bring the 13 essentials.

WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY: If you’re new to the Cascadians or haven’t joined a trip, here’s a way to check out the group — a multi-day bike ride of the Coeur d’Alene bike trail in northern Idaho. The trail is roughly 100 miles, very flat (less than 3 percent grade). The trip leader plans to leave on Wednesday and return Friday or Saturday, and is flexible on whether the group stays in a motel or camps. Contact Ed at 509-457-1533 ASAP if you’re interested in going.

WEDNESDAY: Riders in Mount Adams’ weekly Naches loop ride will head out at 6 p.m. from the SunTides Golf Course parking lot. Road-bikes only, minimum 12 mph pace. For more info on club activities, call Linda Baird at 509-853-5935.

THURSDAY: The Cascadian Pokies’ weekly trip will be guided by Clar Pratt to a “mysterious waterfall.” For meeting time, place and destination, call Pratt at 509-453-8228.

SATURDAY: The Cascadians last Saturday-of the-month easy hike will be about a five-mile trek in the forested Lake Cle Elum area. Bring a picnic lunch. On the way home, the group will be making a stop at a bakery and a sporting goods store, so plan to spend the day. For meeting time and place, call Marlene at 509-901-3980.

Starting this morning (Wednesday, May 16), the lower river is now open for salmon fishing  from the Interstate 182 bridge in Richland to the Grant Avenue bridge in Prosser.

Saturday’s expected opening of the river’s upper portion, from Union Gap to the railroad bridge just below Roza Dam, was also approved by the WDFW’s Olympia headquarters.

Regional fish program manager John Easterbrooks said he expects the lower river to remain open through the end of June, while the upper river would likely be open through July, considering the lateness of this year’s run.

About 5,000 adult hatchery spring chinook are expected to return to the Yakima River.

Daily limit will be two hatchery chinook, identified by a clipped adipose fin. Wild salmon (those with an intact adipose fin) must be released unharmed without ever removing them from the water.

– Scott Sandsberry

The fishery’s opening will be staggered similar to last year, with the lower portion of the Yakima River, from the mouth to the Prosser Dam, expected to open today and the portion of the upper river from Union Gap to the railroad bridge below Roza Dam opening this Saturday.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s decision to open the Yakima River fishery now follows last week’s sudden upriver movement, ending what had been virtual gridlock at Bonneville Dam.

After not having a single 5,000-salmon count day at the Bonneville Dam all the way through May 5, which is usually just about the middle point of the entire run, the Bonneville fish ladders haven’t had a single day under 5,000 since.

More than 30,000 were counted over Tuesday and Wednesday last week; Sunday’s count was nearly 9,000, pushing the season total to 110,514, not far off the 10-year average of roughly 124,000.

The springers began coming through Prosser last week as well, with 210 counted there as of last Thursday (141 of natural origin). The preseason projection of 12,000 springers to the Yakima River mouth has been downgraded to 9,600, which is still plenty to sustain a fishery.

But the recent run of warm weather is likely to have a negative impact on fishing success.

“The river was actually dropping and getting into shape there for a while,” said John Easterbrooks, the WDFW’s Region 3 fish program manager. “But now with these 90-degree days this whole thing could be moot. I was hoping (temperatures) would drop back into the 60s and 70s and the river would be very fishable. But two days in the 85- or 90-degree range, and it gets questionable again.

“But either way, the fish are coming. They’re going to come through whether you’re out there fishing or not, whether the river’s in shape or not.”

Hooking mortality study

Fishermen in the upper section of the river between Selah Gap and the railroad bridge who hook a wild springer can expect to be asked to do their part to help state biologists with a hooking mortality study.

State fishery biologists are doing the study at the Yakima River’s terminal fishery at Roza to get better data on what percentage of caught-and-released wild springers actually survive the experience and continue upriver to the spawning beds.

Several fishery technicians will be in the fishing waters just below the railroad bridge and, whenever a boat or bank angler reels in a wild springer, the technicians will be hurrying over to clip a special radio tag on or near the dorsal fin.

The study calls for 150 of those tags to be clipped to the caught-and-released wild fish, which will then be scanned and the data collected at the Yakama Nation’s fish-count facility at Roza Dam. Technicians there will also radio-tag 150 uncaught wild and hatchery fish that come through the facility, to compare the spawning success of those released wild fish against those that were never reeled in.

On fishing the west bank

In another development that should be of real interest to the sporting public, anglers will be able to cross the dam to fish on the west side of the river.

Normally anglers are not allowed to cross at the dam, but the Bureau of Reclamation is planning to issue a special use permit to the WDFW allowing fishermen to cross the dam and fish some of the popular bank spots on the other side.

But anglers should consider this a trial run: That is, don’t screw it up or it’ll be a one-time deal.

Officials with the WDFW, Bureau of Land Management (which manages a second, overflow parking lot near the dam) and Bureau of Reclamation, as well as private landowners in the area, have complained about fishermen leaving behind their garbage or their own human waste along the banks.

Easterbrooks said the state will be putting in portable toilets and large garbage receptacles at both the parking areas. If the banks, the roadside or the government’s property are used as trash cans or toilets, Easterbrooks said, the upper-river fishery below Roza could become a thing of the past.

“If we have poor behavior on the part of fishermen, we could lose that access point,” Easterbrooks said. “It would be a shame to lose public access at Roza Dam. We need to respect the public property, use the trash receptacles that are provided, use the port-a-johns that are provided, park in the designated areas. That way we won’t have a problem. But if we don’t do that, we could lose that prime fishing spot.”

Easterbrooks is asking anglers who see other fishermen abusing the privilege, by not using the toilets or trash cans provided, to alerting WDFW enforcement at 575-2740 or the state hotline at 877-933-9847 (WDFW-TIP).

“All it takes is a couple of idiots up there,” Easterbrooks said, “and we’re out of there.”

How to report violations can be found on page 13 of the WDFW’s state fishing rules pamphlet.

Walleye anglers should continue to find some good fishing at several locations around Eastern Washington.

The recently completed Rod Meseberg Spring Walleye Classic at Potholes Reservoir showed there are plenty of walleye in the big lake, all willing to bite. The winning team in the tournament caught over 33 pounds of fish during the two-day tournament, and only one of the 66 teams in the tournament reported catching no fish.

Over the years I have had good luck fishing Potholes trolling bottom walkers and worm harness spinners such as a Rufus Special or a Walleye Magic. Put a big, juicy night crawler on the hook and the walleye really go for it. Look for water that is 12 to 25 feet deep and keep your bottom walker right on the bottom as you troll.

Other waters in the area should also be good for walleye now, including Moses Lake, Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt.

Potholes is a fairly diverse reservoir, also offering bass, trout, perch and crappie.

Officials at MarDon Resort on Potholes Reservoir released trout from the net pens on the lake this past Saturday, so trout fishing should be good now for a while.

Now is also not a bad time to try for the big triploid trout up at Rufus Woods Lake, the impoundment created by Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River. The triploids are rainbow trout genetically altered to be sterile, which makes them continue to eat and grow at a rapid pace. The fat trout are described as footballs, because of the shape they become as their body grows so fast compared to their smaller head and tail.

The excellent-eating fish, which average between two and four pounds in size, can grow to very big, with the larger ones approaching 10 pounds. Over the years some triploids have been caught weighing 10 to 20 pounds, but it is unlikely many of those are still around.

If kokanee is your fish of choice, we are approaching the time when fishing for the landlocked salmon starts to get good. One sleeper kokanee lake is Lake Chelan. The huge natural lake up in Chelan County is a favorite of water skiers and lake trout anglers, but the kokanee fishing there can be outstanding.

Just last week reports from Lake Chelan came out of some of the lake trout anglers seeing big masses of smaller fish on their radars and believe these are big schools of kokanee on their migration down lake.

When the fish arrive in the lower lake, which should be in the next couple weeks, the fishing for the tasty little salmon will get very good.

Typical kokanee gear works well on the fish, which run from 10 to 14 inches in length. Trolling small spinners such as a Silver Magic or Wedding Ring tipped with a maggot or a piece of white shoepeg corn behind a small dodger will work just fine.

Other waters in the region with kokanee include Lake Roosevelt, Banks Lake and Riffe Lake. Our own Rimrock and Bumping reservoirs typically won’t start getting good for kokanee until later in the spring.

Finally, spring salmon anglers are starting to catch fish with more consistency at the Wind River and Drano Lake. After huge numbers of salmon climbed over Bonneville dam last week, anglers were having much better luck catching some of the prized salmon.

And, as the count continues to hold in the 5,000 to 7,000 per day range, those popular fishing holes should just get better.

Bank anglers can get in on the action at both these spots, casting and retrieving plugs and spinners.

Trollers will catch fish on prawn spinners and plug cut herring behind a Fish Flash or with diving plugs and spinners.

Last week several friends and I spent a few days at the Wind and had good success trolling Magnum FatFish plugs and handmade spinners and prawn spinners with Bob Toman blades.

This is a great time to try some angling in the Northwest. No matter what your favorite fish is, they should be biting somewhere fairly close by.

• 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.

What do you love about the state park system, and what would you like to see changed?

Future management of Washington State Parks will be the subject of a series of nine public meetings, with the first one the most convenient for locals to attend — 7 p.m. Thursday at Columbia Basin College, 2600 N. 20th Ave., Room A126 in Pasco.

The focus will be on how State Parks should operate — as an enterprise-based hospital industry, a public conservation asset based primarily on grant and tax funding, or even as a system of parks freely standing as community non-profit entities.

The closest other meeting will be at 7 p.m. next Tuesday (May 22) at the Washington State Parks Eastern Region headquarters in East Wenatchee (270 Ninth St. NE).

State duck-calling event set for Aug. 25

The Washington State Duck Calling Championships has been scheduled for Aug. 25 at Kennewick’s Columbia Park.

The event, being sponsored by the Yakima Valley Chapter of the Washington Waterfowl Association, is a qualifier for the 2012 world championships in Stuttgart, Ark., this November.

Contests to be decided at the Columbia Park event include open duck calling; Junior duck calling (ages 11 to 17); two-man duck (limit to two teams per caller); Pee-Wee duck (ages under 11); Junior gooses (ages 11 to 17); Washington State Goose (open to Washington residents only); open goose (open to all callers); and two-man goose.

For more information, call state chairman Abel Cortina at 509-786-9196. As a one-day event, contest registration must be completed at least one hour prior to the start of the calling contest.

Reminder: Mule Deer banquet Saturday

The local Mule Deer Foundation banquet will be this Saturday at the Elks Golf Course clubhouse in Selah.

Doors open at 4:30 p.m., with dinner at 6 and the auctions and activities following at about 7 p.m.

For tickets or more information, call Randy Mooney (509-731-6821) or George Justice (509-697-3122).

BIRD ALERT

This week’s best finds included a white-faced ibis, photographed in the flooded field on the north side of the refuge; a red-necked grebe in breeding-plumage on the Buena Pond; and a common poorwill that flushed from the sidewalk not 30 feet from a resident’s front door along Postma Road.

In the height of the spring migration there is probably no better place for birding diversity than the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. Last week at the refuge began with the highlight of two black terns, followed with a flock of 80-plus long-billed dowitchers in a flooded pasture outside the refuge’s northeast corner and ended up more than 70 visitors to the refuge for Saturday’s International Migratory Bird Day.

Visitors at Saturday’s event enjoyed perfect weather and tallied about 80 species of birds. Highlights included 10 species of waterfowl, with beauties like cinnamon teal, and 12 species of waders with good looks at black-necked stilts, American avocets, long-billed dowitchers, lesser and greater yellowlegs and Wilson’s phalaropes.

Something that makes spring special is the colorful array of songbirds, and there were a good mix with western tanager, black-headed grosbeaks, lazuli bunting, and Bullock’s Orioles to name a few. There were also western and eastern kingbirds, and a dusky flycatcher was caught in the mist net and banded.

There were also an impressive 15 long-billed curlews in the flooded field along Marion Drain Road west of Old Goldendale Road. Both Virginia rail and sora were heard here.

Please email your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon at birds@yakimaaudubon.org.

— Kerry L. Turley

AROUND AND ABOUT

PLANTS WARRANT ESA PROTECTION: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says two plants found on or near the Hanford National Monument — White Bluffs bladderpod, found on cliffs overlooking the Columbia River, and Umtanum Desert buckwheat, found on a wide mountain ridge in Benton County — warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The species are already listed by Washington state, the bladderpod as threatened and the buckwheat as endangered.

STATE-PURCHASE LAND USES: The Washington Recreation and Conservation Office is seeking comments on what uses should be considered appropriate on lands purchased with state grants. Under consideration are policies regarding grazing, installation of telecommunications facilities (such as cell towers) and removal of trees on lands purchased in full or part with state recreation and conservation grants. Go to www.rco.wa.gov for more info.

ON THE CALENDAR

THIS MORNING: Two Cascadian groups, the let’s-get-there-in-a-hurry Trekkers and the thanks-but-we’ll-smell-a-few-flowers-along-the-way Free Spirits, will take off from the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot at 8 a.m. Destinations are TBA, so come prepared for anything. Bring lunch and plenty of liquids to rehydrate; it’s getting warm out there.

WEDNESDAY: The weekly Naches loop ride, hosted by Mount Adams Cycling, begins at 6 p.m. from the SunTides Golf Course parking lot. Road-bikes only, minimum 12 mph pace. For more info on the club’s schedule, call Linda Baird at 509-853-5935.

THURSDAY: The Cascadian Pokies will hike the ridge overlooking Terrace Heights to search for bitterroot and other emerging spring wildflowers. For meeting time and place, call Joyce Whitney at 574-8331.

But for anglers waiting not-so-patiently for the slowest and latest spring salmon run on record to get serious, that time finally seems to be coming around.

Wednesday’s count of 18,436 at Bonneville Dam was the fifth-largest daily count in more than 40 years, maybe even going as far back as 1938, according to Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission biologist Stuart Ellis.

And that was just the highlight of a week that has finally started to see the gridlock open up at Bonneville. Through last weekend, there hadn’t been a daily count above 5,000 all spring; then Monday’s count topped 9,000, Tuesday reached 12,000 and then Wednesday’s shot through the roof.

Meanwhile, Prosser Dam had had but a single spring chinook come through all season, and that one was so early — April 5 — that it might have been misidentified. Prosser had 54 springers come through on Tuesday and another 50 on Wednesday, and Thursday’s early count was 33.

Looks like things are finally starting to move. Won’t be long now before the Yakima season gets rolling.

Now if only the river will clear up …

– Scott Sandsberry

This Saturday, though, it will be pretty much an all-day thing at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. Or, at least, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

That’s when the refuge will officially celebrate International Migratory Bird Day, with all kinds of bird-related activities — including a bird banding demonstration, lots of bird watching and a live raptor program, raptors being a bird even non-birders can get excited about.

For the banding demonstration, you’ll have to be there early — it begins at 7 a.m. A bird-watching walk follows at 8, and a program with live owls and hawks will be presented by the Raptor House Rehabilitation Center at 10.

The refuge headquarters will have children’s games and learning materials to keep the kids occupied, and they should also enjoy the event-ending hayride. The event is free and is co-sponsored by the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

International Migratory Bird Day, held annually on the second Saturday in May, was created to draw attention to the nearly 350 bird species that migrate between their nesting habitats in North America and their non-breeding grounds to the south in Mexico, Central and South America.

The refuge is located at 21 Pumphouse Road, off Highway 97 southwest of Toppenish. For more information, call the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex at 509-546-8300.

– Scott Sandsberry

Monday was May 7, which was the date in 2011 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife opened the lower section of the Yakima River — from Richland to Horn Rapids Dam — to spring chinook anglers.

This year? The river is all but unfishable right now and the bulk of the Cle Elum-bound hatchery springers are nowhere near the Yakima.

May 7 also happens to be the date that was essentially the middle date of the last five years of spring chinook runs through the Bonneville Dam — the date at which, cumulatively speaking, half the fish had made it through the fish ladders at Bonneville.

And this year they’ve barely even begun.

“The cumulative count today (Monday) is only 42,000,” said Easterbrooks, regional fish program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “So it’s going to be the latest run on record, or it’s going to be coming in a lot lower than anticipated.”

As depressing as that sounds, though, last year’s run was also late — not to the extent of this year’s, of course, but quite late nonetheless — and came in better than projected. The 2011 run to the mouth of the Yakima was forecast at 10,000 adults, and it ended up being 13,400 adults plus another 4,500 jacks.

And, in a way, the lateness of the run could end up being a boon to anglers, because it means all those harvestable hatchery springers — of which 5,680 are expected to be heading to their home waters at the Cle Elum hatchery — aren’t barreling upriver through the muddy mess that is the Yakima River right now.

“The river’s been out of shape ever since we had that 90-degree day a couple of weeks ago. Then we had rain on top of that, so the river was just chocolate,” Easterbrooks said.

Just a couple of days ago the Yakima was running at 12,000 cfs at Prosser Dam and at higher than 10,000 cfs at Parker Dam.

“That’s kind of a flood-stage event,” Easterbrooks said. “You’re not going to be fishing and you’re not going to be catching any fish in water like that. Today it’s at 8,600 at Prosser and 6,400 at Parker. That’s still a lot of water. That’s better, but it’s still too high to be fishable or to catch many fish, even if the fish were here — which they aren’t.”

Easterbrooks is still expecting to have an eight- to 10-week fishery on the Yakima River, in the lower river as far up as Granger and then in the middle stretch from Union Gap to below Roza Dam. Because it begins costing the state money — primarily for enforcement and creel-monitoring activities — as soon as the fishery opens, though, the state wants to wait until the right time.

“I don’t like to open (a fishery) and have two or three weeks of meaningless fishing opportunity,” Easterbrooks said. “I want to wait until we can have a reasonable expectation that there will be people out there trying to fish, and also a reasonable expectation that they’ll be catching some fish.”

The late run may mean the fishery may extend to mid-July or even later, as long as springers are still coming through Prosser Dam, Easterbrooks said.

It hasn’t yet been determined whether the Yakama Nation, which has jurisdiction over the river bordering the reservation between Granger and Union Gap, will open that “Boundary Reach” to chinook fishermen.

This is the time of year when more and more anglers and pleasure boaters are taking to the waters and, after a few irritating experiences at the boat ramp this past weekend, I thought it might be timely to discuss some boat launching “dos and don’ts.”

First, I should tell you that I have never seen proper etiquette for handing busy boat launches published anywhere, so some of the boat launching-challenged people I ran up against last weekend do have an excuse. But when all else fails, and you don’t have a manual for what is supposed to take place, common sense should supersede — followed by common courtesy.

Now, as many of you know, a busy boat launch can be a place fraught with high tension and anxiety, especially when it’s filled with anglers just chomping at the bit to get out on the water. Many have days, or weeks, or months worth of pent-up energy just waiting to be let loose, and if they’re delayed at the launch by even a few minutes they feel they are being cheated of some valuable fishing time.

So my first words of advice are to just relax a bit. Getting all hyped up because someone is having a little trouble backing their boat trailer down the ramp is no reason to get all worked up.

On the other hand — and this is what I witnessed several times this past weekend — you need to be ready to launch when it’s your turn. When you are on the ramp is not the time to stop and start loading your boat with your coolers and fishing rods and other gear. All that should have been in the boat well in advance of dropping the boat in the pond.

When we are going fishing, we always stop in a convenient place — before the road to the boat launch — to make sure everything we need for a day of fishing is in the boat. We put on whatever extra clothing, rain gear, etc., we may need for the first part of the day so that when we hit the ramp, all we need to do is back the boat in and we are off.

If the boat ramp is wide enough for two boats, or more, make sure you take up only one lane. That way the next person in line can take the next spot and keep the line moving. Common sense, yes? But I don’t know how many times I see someone holding up a line of traffic as they wait for the perfect spot on the ramp.

If you do want or need a special side of the ramp, common courtesy would say to go back to the next person in line and see if they would like to take the open spot while you wait for the ramp you want.

Some people are either launching by themselves or are in a situation where they need to use the docks at the ramp. Fine. But if you do, please walk your boat out to the end of the dock so the next person in line can also use the dock, and your boat is not blocking others from launching.

And please don’t tie up to the dock and sit there for a half hour while you rig your fishing gear. If no one is around, hey, no problem. But when the boat launch is a bee hive of activity, move off of the dock, go find a piece of quiet water out of the way and sit and do your gear-rigging.

Again, these are all common sense things, but you would be surprised how many times I see people having no regard for others and in the process booger up the whole process.

Yes, some people do need a little extra time. Again, a person might be by themselves and could use an extra hand. Instead of sitting there cussing at them, why not go offer to help? It speeds the process up and makes everyone feel better starting the day.

But no matter how much you try to be patient, there are still some who seem only to care about themselves and what they are doing. Last year my son Kyle and I were heading in to launch at the Wind River. It was early in the morning and were one of the first of the boats there. But we weren’t the first. A man and his wife were there and had parked perfectly to block the road to both the ramps. We sat and watched while he loaded item after item into his boat, donned his clothing and did all the stuff he needed to do to get ready to launch. We sat for ten minutes and watched while he tinkered around, never giving us so much as a look.

Finally I had had enough. I pulled around and maneuvered around to launch. The man hollered “hey, we were first!”

I said nothing and backed the boat in, dropped it off, and we were out of there in 30 seconds. The last thing I saw as we motored off to go fishing was the guy still parked in the middle of the road, blocking traffic and fiddling with his boat.

There may not be a book on proper boat launching etiquette, but all it takes is some common sense and a little common courtesy. Unfortunately, some people have never been blessed with too much of either of those.

• 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.

District Ranger Irene Davidson last week announced the district’s long-anticipated May 1-June 15 closure of motorized trails. Discussions regarding the subject have for months been the focus of much discussion among user groups at Trails and Wilderness Interest Group (TWIG) meetings and on motorized-use online forums.

Davidson said the decision came “after considerable effort to communicate our intentions to the public,” and that the closure is intended to minimize damage to trails and reduce the demand for maintenance. Much of the district’s motorized trail system is still under snow or wet from a recent rainy stretch.

The district is honoring the request of many reputable user-group clubs that “officially sponsored” volunteer groups be allowed to perform trail maintenance during the closed period. Those groups received the same exemption during last year’s similar spring closure.

“Our volunteers are very conscientious,” Davidson said. “They all refrained from working on trails in wet conditions last year.”

Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. for the chapter’s primary fundraising event of the year, with dinner to begin at 6 p.m. at the auction to follow at roughly 7 p.m.

The event will include live and silent auctions, raffles and games, with nine rifles, one shotgun and a muzzleloader among the many prizes to be given away. There will also be several kids’ auction items, with the highest bidders receiving a ticket for a chance to win a youth rifle.

Everyone bringing a successful-hunt picture for the “Brag Board” has a chance at a random prize drawing, and pictures can be picked up at the end of the event.

Tickets are $80 single (includes membership and meal) or $110 couple; meal-only tickets for life members are $30, and youth (11-and-under) tickets are $18. The event is limited to 150 and is by advance-ticket sales only (no door sales). To purchase tickets or for more information, call Randy Mooney (509-731-6821) or George Justice (509-697-3122).

The ban covers all forestlands in Washington under DNR fire protection, meaning all state forests and much of the Central Washington checkerboard ownership pattern shared with the state wildlife department, plus some state parks. The burn ban does not apply to federal (Forest Service-managed) lands.

The ban will apply to all outdoor burning on DNR-protected forestlands, but will not prevent campfires in approved fire pits in designated campgrounds, and gas and propane self-contained stoves and barbecues will still be allowed under the ban. There will also continue to be DNR-approved prescribed fires