What's Happening

Loomis to speak at
local CCA banquet

A presentation by Gary Loomis, the fly-rod icon who was a driving force behind the establishment of Coastal Conservation Association Pacific Northwest, will be one of the highlights when the group's Yakima Valley Chapter hosts its inaugural banquet next month.

The 5 p.m. Sept. 13 event at the Yakima Convention Center will include live and silent auctions and raffles, with all proceeds to be used for CCA projects in Washington. Tickets are $75 for a single (includes membership and a year subscription to Tide magazine, plus the banquet meal) or $140 for a couple.

For ticket information, call Randy Mooney at
697-4661.

ATV group cleans up Milk Lake eyesore

Anybody who has been up to Milk Lake, a popular camping, fishing and trail-riding destination off Highway 410, over the past three years has seen that old, abandoned camper that had grown into more of an eyesore with every new episode of vandalism. Every window smashed, plumbing pulled out, walls bashed, appliances strew all over.

No more.

Last Saturday, a dozen members of Cascade Quad Squad, a one-year-old Yakima ATV club, spent hours tearing it apart -- thanks to a generator, power saws and lots of busy hands -- and hauling off the mess in two very fully pickup loads.

While the Milk Lake area has been the site of a number of vandalism and mudding incidents in recent years, this was the sort of constructive, cooperative effort that reminds people that there are responsible user groups out there trying to set the right example.

The upper section of the Milk Creek 1708 road system is designated for four-wheel-drive use and therefore legal for ATV riders.

Hunt meetings won't include local stop

A series of public "open house" meetings in which the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife hopes to shape future hunting seasons will not have any stops in Yakima, Kittitas or Klickitat counties. Hunters and hunt-season advocates will have to travel to either the TRAC iin Pasco on Sept. 4 or Wenatchee on Sept. 2 to have their say.

The seven meetings begin next Monday in Bellingham and follow with stops in Aberdeen (Tuesday, Aug. 26), Tacoma (Aug. 27), Vancouver (Aug. 28), Wenatchee (Sept. 2, at the Confluence Technology Center), Spokane (Sept. 3, Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center) and Pasco's TRAC (Sept. 4).

Comments received at the meetings will be used in developing the final recommendations for 2009-11 hunting seasons for adoption by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

All seven of the meetings will focus on local as well as statewide hunting issues, such as non-toxic shot restrictions, shooting hours, muzzleloader seasons and possible changes to permit drawings. More information is available online at wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/seasonsetting/index.htm.

Bird Alert: Scoters are new Wenas draw

Wenas Lake is a popular place to go this time of year for a look at migrating shorebirds, and its value as a birding hotspot to local birders increased this week with the discovery of two male white-winged scoters floating lazily on the lake. White-wing scoters, the largest of the three scoters, are rare fall and spring migrants to Yakima County. Other waterfowl on the lake included a lesser scaup, a first year bufflehead, the more common mallards, green-winged teal, Canada geese and one double-crested cormorant.

As expected the shorebird count is also rising at Wenas, with reports this week of killdeer, Wilson's snipe, solitary sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, least sandpiper, western sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper, Baird's sandpiper, a bright pectoral sandpiper and long-billed dowitcher, all hungrily working the mud along the receding waterline. Out on the lake, red-necked phalarope were busily swimming in circles as they fed. Lark sparrow, American pipit, and three cedar waxwings added balance to the sightings at the lake.

Also notable this week was the observance of a probable dusky flycatcher in a Terrace Heights yard, a western scrub jay fledgling spotted on Harrison Hill in Sunnyside making it look more and more probable that scrub jays are now nesting in Yakima County and white-winged crossbills, and three-toed woodpeckers are still being reported from the area around Darlin Mountain.

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

-- Kerry L. Turley

ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Yakima Valley Audubon Society will host a short field trip to Wenas Lake to observe shorebirds and compare some of the harder-to-identify species. Participants (it's open to the public) can meet at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot at 5 p.m. (east of the McDonald's) or meet the group at the fishing access parking lot at the west end of Wenas Lake at 5:30. Bring a spotting scope if you have one and a snack for the road. Expected return is 8 p.m.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY: The Cascadians' weekend schedule includes a 12-mile Tatoosh hike with 3,400 feet of elevation gain on Saturday, followed by an advanced Summerland/Panhandle Gap trek on Sunday. For meeting time and place for either hike, call Maurine Peck at 453-4244.

SATURDAY: The Yakima Hiking Club will host a 9-mile hike, a rigorous hike with 3,200 feet of elevation gain and some scrambling, to Ingalls Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Yakima participants may meet at 7 a.m. at the Selah Save-On Foods for carpooling to Ellensburg, or just meet at 8 a.m. at Super One Foods in Ellensburg for carpooling to the trailhead. Bring the necessities (including food, water and sturdy shoes), and a Northwest Forest Pass if you'll be taking your vehicle to the trailhead.

TUESDAY: The Cascadians' Tuesday hikers will do an 8- to 10-miler to Baur Lake, featuring 3,200 feet of elevation gain. Participants meet at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart parking lot at 7:30 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: The Mount Adams Cycling Club holds its weekly 25-mile loop ride to Naches, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Fred Meyer parking lot off 40th Avenue. For info, e-mail anotherjones@earthlink.net.

THURSDAY (Aug. 28): The Cascadians' Pokies will hike the west end of the Pleasant Valley loop trail. For meeting time and place, call Jean Crawford at 966-8608.

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