A presentation on catching salmon on a fly -- yes, it can be done -- will be the centerpiece of Tuesday's meeting of the Yakima Fly Fishers Association.
The meeting, and the presentation by local fly-fishing guru Gary Fairbanks, is set for 7 p.m. at Glenwood Square (5110 Tieton Drive) in the meeting room behind Bert's Pub.
Fairbanks' presentation is well-timed; the current spring chinook run isn't likely to reach Yakima River waters in any significant numbers until late May. Also, Chuck DeJournette will narrate a video of a friend catching a 51-pound salmon on Oregon's Chetco River.
Kayak Club slates class for beginners
The Yakima Kayak Club will give an introductory class in whitewater kayaking beginning early next month, with pool and river sessions limited to a maximum of 10 students.
Evening pool sessions will be held June 9 (8-9:30) and June 12 (6-7:30) at the Yakima Athletic Club, and river sessions will be held June 14 and 15 at a time and location to be announced later.
Cost is $100 for Yakima Kayak Club members and $125 for non-members. It's preferred that students have their own kayaks (as well as oars, helmets, life jackets, etc.), but early registrants stand a better chance of class organizers being able to provide loaner equipment.
For more information or sign-up, call Stephanie at 594-1423 or Troy at 969-2607.
Big Pines not just 'overflow' site now
Until as recently as three years ago, Big Pines was pretty much the "overflow" spot for many recreationists in the Yakima River Canyon. It was the one to go to when the canyon's three other Bureau of Land Management recreation sites were full, or if you didn't want to pay the same day-use fees that the others required. Last year it drew some 30,000 visitors.
Big Pines will reopen to the public May 26, but not the way people remember it. Over the past three months, construction crews have developed 41 campsites, two paved parking areas, improved roads, trails and sanitation facilities. This fall, during the lower flows, crews will complete boat-access work.
* Big Pines will be subject to the same $5 summer-season day-use recreation effects that will go into effect today at the BLM's other three rec sites in the Yakima River Canyon -- Roza, Umtanum and Lmuma Creek. Paying that $5 daily fee is good for each of the other sites for that day; a day-use seasonal ticket is $25. If you're camping at one of these sites, for now at least you'll only have to pay $5 for each day. The $10 overnight camping fee the BLM had expected to be in effect this summer is still on hold pending a meeting of the bureau's recreation resource advisory committee; it might be initiated later this summer.
Bird Alert: Warblers spicing up the spring
This week it has become quite evident that this year's spring migration is going to be an exciting one. It all started with a Wenas area report of a male black-throated blue warbler, one of the more conspicuous wood warblers with its striking plumage. This is a first spring record for Yakima County; the only other county record was of a female or immature observed in the fall near Wapato.
Next came the news that a West Valley resident had been visited by another casual county visitor -- a palm warbler, in full breeding colors, that made a quick yard stop to bathe in a leaky-hose puddle.
Townsend's warblers were noted gleaning the bud clusters on Mount Ash in Grandview, and at least 20 were observed in a Yakima yard.
Lazuli buntings, beautiful birds with a pretty song, seem to be everywhere this year. There have been reports of one under a Grandview feeder, one in a yard near 48th Avenue and Tieton Drive, two males sparring with each other in a Yakima resident's backyard, and, as expected, in the Wenas.
Another absolutely beautiful bird, the western tanager, is making an appearance in some unusual places throughout the Yakima Valley and in large numbers. Seven were seen along the Poppoff Trail; three were spotted in a yard south of the airport; at least six were hanging around a Yakima residence; and several were heard at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge.
Among nearly 75 species noted during the Migratory Bird Day festivities on the Toppenish NWR were common tern, previously unrecorded in the Yakima Valley in spring; Forster's tern, only very rarely noted; and an immature peregrine falcon.
At least three bushtits, a fairly rare species east of the Cascade Crest in Washington, were observed along Manastash Creek, about a mile up from the Yakima River suspension bridge.
Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963.
This week's correspondent: Kerry L. Turley
AROUND AND ABOUT
PARADISE INN REOPENING: After closing in October 2005 for structural renovations, the historic guest lodge at Mount Rainier's most popular visitor destination will reopen Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and speeches by Congressmen Dave Reichert and Norm Dicks, as well as National Park Service regional director Jon Jarvis. The two-year, $22.5 million renovation of Paradise Inn was all about better preparing the 92-year-old lodge -- designated a National Historic Landmark -- for catastrophic events such as earthquake or fire. Much of the changes won't be readily visible to visitors, though this will be: The building is now also wheelchair-accessible.
CHINOOK RUN RAMIFICATIONS: The mainstem Columbia's disappointing early run of spring chinook is hitting anglers. The Ringold bank fishery on hatchery springers, originally set to run through June 15, was came to a close Monday after the preseason upriver run forecast of 269,300 was downgraded to 180,000. Two sections are open on the Yakima River, but the high snowmelt flows aren't doing anglers any favors.
The downgraded run had already resulted in month-early closures to spring chinook sport fisheries on the Snake and Mid-Columbia rivers, and Columbia River treaty tribes also agreed to close all mainstem spring chinook fisheries as of last Sunday. The lower Columbia River will also remain closed to steelhead fishing until further notice -- thus delaying a lower-Columbia fishery for hatchery steelhead that would have begun Friday -- to avoid incidental catch of springers.
ON THE CALENDAR
SATURDAY: The Group Health Yakima Ridges bicycle rides, one of Central Washington's premiere rides, give participants a choice of four scenic routes -- 25, 50, 70 or 100 miles, with the latter providing 5,400 feet of elevation climb. For information, contact the Comprehensive Mental Health Foundation at 574-5057 or Apple Valley Kiwanis at 966-4475. You can register online at www.desertvalleyrides.com/rides
SATURDAY: A guided kayak tour of the Yakima River Delta and a guided nature walk through Richland's Columbia Point, the two lasting from 9 a.m. to noon, are being offered (at $65 per person) by the Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science & Technology, in partnership with Columbia Kayak Adventures. For information, call 509-943-9000 or go online to www.crehst.org
SUNDAY: This is the day the Yakima River Canyon Road (State Route 821) belongs essentially to bicyclists -- the ones who, for the price of a signup fee that supports Yakima County Crime Stoppers -- get to ride the canyon without all that motor vehicle traffic. The highway is closed to through traffic during the 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. "Your Canyon for a Day Bike Tour."
WEDNESDAY: Mount Adams Cycling Club road cyclists meet for a 25-mile loop ride to Naches every Wednesday, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Fred Meyer parking lot off 40th Avenue. Participants need a helmet and the ability to maintain at least a 12 mph average speed; a faster group (averaging 16 to 18 mph) leaves at 6 p.m. For info: e-mail to anotherjones@earthlink.net
THURSDAY (MAY 22): The Cascadians' Pokies group (May 22) going to Tieton Nature Trail, call Eulalie and Roger Short at 469-9906. In another Pokies note, group regular Jeanne Crawford lost a metallic-blue REI Traverse trekking pole -- with a piece of masking tape on it with the initials "JRC" -- around the intersection of 40th Avenue and Powerhouse. If anybody finds it, please call Crawford at 966-8608.
* Also on Thursday, the Yakima Valley Audubon Society will hold a bird walk at Yakima Sportsman State Park to watch for late-arriving migrating birds. The group will meet at 8 a.m. at the first parking area inside the main gate.
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