Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 143
Gov. Jay Inslee and Senator Patty Murray have their priorities backward when it comes to rebuilding Snake River salmon and steelhead runs. Instead of focusing on ripping out dams with fish passages and navigation locks, they should find ways to reopen traditional spawning areas up river which are blocked by dams without fish ladders. Breaching Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams is costly and counterproductive. Over the last 30 years, northwest...
Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee announced in October, they’ll listen to diverse viewpoints with open minds to recover salmon and potentially breach the four Lower Snake River dams. Their focus on restoring Snake River salmon and steelhead runs is too limited. It needs to be expanded to cover the entire Snake River drainage. Currently, the four lower dams---all in Washington---are targeted to determine if they should be torn down to improve ocean-going fish r...
Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee announced in October, they’ll listen to diverse viewpoints with open minds to recover salmon and potentially breach the four Lower Snake River dams. Their focus on restoring Snake River salmon and steelhead runs is too limited. It needs to be expanded to cover the entire Snake River drainage. Currently, the four lower dams---all in Washington---are targeted to determine if they should be torn down to improve ocean-going fish r...
Increasing river flows to wash young salmon to sea works; however, once water goes down stream, it is gone. What if we could recycle it in key parts of the Columbia River system allowing us to increase electricity generation as well? The Columbia River and its tributaries offer enormous potential for innovation. Power planners are looking for new ways to increase electricity output while providing sufficient water for migrating salmon and steelhead. The good news is we are...
Under the guise of water conservation, the state Department of Ecology is once again moving to take water rights from farmers, ranchers and other private holders. Last month, the agency announced plans to fund creation of local “water banks,” in addition to the state “water bank” already in existence. The agency says the program helps municipalities buy water rights from private owners. It has set $14 million aside for the program. The goal, agency spokesman Jimmy Norris...
CHENEY — All Aboard Washington (AAWA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting state-wide connectivity through passenger and freight rail services, stopped in Cheney Friday, Aug. 20, to discuss expanding passenger rail routes from Seattle to Spokane. The “2021 Train Trek” team presented a project that would renew daily rail travel across Stampede Pass, Yakima, Kittitas Valley and into Eastern Washington by utilizing dormant tracks across the region. The route could potentially utilize Ritzville and Cheney at an estim...
MEDICAL LAKE - Medical Lake held its 24th annual Tennis-A-Thon beginning on July 21 at noon and ending at the same time on July 22. Leroy Lemaster, the former high school tennis coach who began the endeavor in 1997, was there to watch the continued tradition. The Tennis-A-Thon's main goal is to raise funds for the Medical Lake Food Bank and Medical Lake Community Outreach, but a percentage of the funds go to the high school tennis teams. With the help of sponsors, the event...
Power shortages, rolling brownouts and blackouts? In the Pacific Northwest? One regional utility alone – Avista – had brownouts that affected 15,307 ratepayers last Monday, 6,793 last Tuesday and another 602 last Wednesday. Other utilities, too, had brownouts. I know we’ve had a day or two of record-setting high temperatures. But that’s not an excuse to shut down power to residents and businesses here in Eastern Washington. Columbia River basin dams generate roughly 44% of...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to small tree farmers for help. Actually, they have been helping for nearly a century, but their efforts have largely gone unrecognized. For decades, the American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood and recreation. Now, it is adding climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest...
OLYMPIA — Anglers across Washington will be able to fish without a license on the state’s lakes, rivers, and marine waters during this year’s annual Free Fishing Weekend on June 12 and 13. Residents and non-residents can fish or gather shellfish across the state on those days, in any waters open to fishing, all without a license. “Free Fishing Weekend is a great opportunity to try fishing for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time,” said Steve Caromile, Inland Fish Program manager with the Washington Departmen...
Curtis W. Erickson 1941 - 2021 Curtis W. Erickson passed away on April 29, 2021. He was born on July 3, 1941 in Sisseton, S.D., and the youngest of six siblings. His family moved to the Northwest in time for him to start school in the North Shore District where he graduated from Bothell High School in 1959 while wooing his future wife by throwing spit balls in English class. After serving for two years in the Navy by working as an aircraft mechanic in Guam, he returned to Seat...
OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to sign a bill today that would begin the process of removing statues of perhaps the state's most prominent figure from the Capitol building and the National Statuary in Washington, D.C. The governor has called an 11:30 a.m. signing ceremony, where he will sign House Bill 1372 into law. The bill would replace the statues of Pacific Northwest pioneer, teacher and missionary Marcus Whitman. They will be replaced with statues of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal fishing rights activist. T...
OLYMPIA — The state Fish and Wildlife Commission will set 2021-23 hunting seasons, establish state water mining rules and update its fish hatchery policy when it meets Friday, April 9. The commission is expected to approve new hunting seasons and hunting boundaries for deer, elk, waterfowl and other game species. Members are also expected to approve new rules governing mining in state waters, which may impact fish and habitat, officials said. In other business, the commission will hear a request to update its fish hatchery p...
ALMOTA — Sections of the Snake River are now open for fishermen to catch and keep fall Chinook salmon and steelhead. The Chinook fishery opened Tuesday, Sept. 1, and will close Oct. 31, state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said. Chinook salmon may be caught and kept from the Burbank-Pasco railroad bridge near the mouth of the river to Lower Granite Dam, which connects Whitman and Garfield counties. The fishery is being opened because of an expected healthy salmon run, officials said. The 2020 fall Columbia River r...
LEAVENWORTH — The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will partner with a Washington State University graduate student next month using drones to look for salmon spawning nests in streams. The plan is to scan the upper Wenatchee River for the nests, called redds, officials said. The search will include areas near Tumwater Campground, Blackbird Island and Dryden. The drones, flown by student Daniel Auerbach, will take high-resolution photos and videos, officials said. The images will be used to evaluate salmon p...
Survivors are wife of 58 years, Diane, daughter Xandra Victor [Ardell] and twin grandchildren Halie and Joe Champlin. His parents Donald and Joyce McHenry, preceded him in death. After graduating from North Central, Whitworth and U of W in Civil Engineering, he and his wife became young owners of Bunkers Resort on Williams Lake. He operated and developed the property with the future always in sight for nearly 60 years. Brad loved hunting Canadian geese, fishing for trout, steelhead and salmon. He was a collector of old wester...
Dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers provide an appropriate balance between the economic needs of Eastern Washington and fish protections. While we already knew that here in Eastern Washington, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came to that conclusion, too, after completing yet another environmental study this spring. The results of that new study were released last Friday, and they support keeping things essentially the way they are on our rivers. The dams will stay, for...
Robert (Mac) McDonald, 73, of Clarkston, Wash. died Friday, June 19, 2020, at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Idaho. Pikeminnow anglers up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington and Idaho revere Mac as a bounty hunter for the predatory fish, and he met his soulmate Linda Moore while working to protect juvenile salmon and steelhead with the Pacific States Marine Fishery Commission. Mac is a U.S. Air Force Veteran, and during his career as a KC-135...
FOUR LAKES – Fishing will resume here and on other lakes and rivers statewide beginning May 5. Following two weeks of growing protests over the state’s ban on fishing, Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday, April 27, announced that outdoor recreation is allowed to resume May 5. “Based on the data we have now received, we are close to the point where we can enjoy the outdoors again,” Inslee said during a press conference announcing the reopening. “This includes fishing, hunting and the a...
RICHLAND — Under the watchful eye of a city park ranger, hundreds of protesters from across Eastern Washington launched boats and filled Columbia Point Park today calling on Gov. Jay Inslee to end the ban on boating and fishing. Statewide, fishing, boating, camping and some hunting were shut down by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife until at least May 4, in accordance with the governor's quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak. More than 100 boats were visible on t...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff reporter SPOKANE — Under cover of darkness. Sneaking in the back door. Or better yet, call it making good on a pledge. Quietly, my old byline that was officially retired to the Cheney Free Press archives Dec. 31, 2018 has returned. After a little over a year in my self-imposed role of a “recovering journalist,” the request came from CFP managing editor John McCallum asking what it might take to coax me back into the game in a relief role following the departure of Lee Hughes. BTW, Lee heads “home...
The state Legislature has directed the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to remove the catch limits on bass, walleye and channel catfish in all waters of the state where they coexist with salmon. It seems that someone in the Legislature realized the existence of a connection between bass and whales. It is about time. Everything in nature is connected to everything else. In this case, our politicians are concerned about the declining numbers of the resident Puget Sound orca pod. Orcas and bass both eat salmon,...
A year ago, much of America’s heartland was inundated by Missouri River flood waters. At least 1 million acres of U.S. farmland in nine major grain producing states were under water. More than 14 million people were impacted. Damage exceeded $1 billion. With 11 dams on the Missouri, why was the flooding so severe? Why didn’t the dams absorb the excess waters? Its dams are above the flooded areas. The last impoundment is at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota and heavy rai...
MEDICAL LAKE – The Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association ranked the Cardinals boys and girls cross country teams in the Class 1A poll this week going into the regional meet. The boys were ranked No. 1, ahead of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), No. 2; South Whidbey, No. 3; Klahowya, No. 4 and Cascade (Leavenworth), No. 5. Rounding out the Top 10 in the poll, respectively, are Cashmere, Charles Wright Academy, Northwest, Riverside and Columbia (White Salmon). Connell, U...
There is a branch of our government that is independent of the three branches we study in school. This branch usually operates in the shadows overlooked by both the people and the Legislature. It makes its own rules with the same force as law. It has the power to levy fines and seize property. No one in this branch is elected and, therefore, is generally unresponsive to public opinion. It is virtually independent to do whatever it pleases, and I have never known it to admit a mistake. This shadow government is made up of the...
