Hay season arrived this week with all the advance warning of a couchsurfing friend from college. That means that whatever there was to do before the hay hit the ground still has to get done, but you’ve got to tend to the fresh cut crop first.
After all, quality hay does not suffer procrastinators gladly.
May has been a steady feast of sunny days without a rainbow to speak of. Sure, there’s been some foggy mornings that leave leafs hanging heavy with dew, but those conditions are prime for fostering rapid photsynthization and growth in the green, green grass of home.
Once that grass is ready, it’s time to get going with the mowing, and tetting, and baling, and bucking and stacking. But while a farmer may have a willing crew at hand and perhaps even a back that’s not entirely out of whack for once, there is no telling how all the assorted equipment will respond after another long winter stashed away in the barn.
Rolly pieces have a tendency to stick. Inflatable parts have a way of going flat. Old oil needs changing and new grease needs gobbing. Of course all of that last minute hassle could be avoided if the tools had simply been cleaned, and fixed and put away properly at the end of last hay season, but let’s be real. The end of hay season is for cold beverages and hard naps, not busting knuckles in the hot barn while continuously sneezing and wheezing in the forever rolling dust cloud.
As one trusty ironworker noted recently from beneath a busted bailer, “It turns out, there’s a little farmer in all of us.”
Once the crew is rounded up and the machines are in working order, there’s nothing left to do but pick up the first bale and keep moving until the field is empty. Those first few bales have a special way of feeling extra heavy, but after awhile even the greenest of greenhorns begin to find their rhythm in the field. It’s no stretch to say that a good old fashioned corn fed strength is helpful around the business end of a hay truck, but a dose of good natured delirium has long been known to be the secret to finishing any hackneyed hay job in one fell swoop.
As each person on the crew feels out their most useful role the operation slowly begins to spin smooth as a well lubed centrifuge in a manure lagoon. Soon the neighbors cows are congregating on the fence line to see what all the fuss is about and wonder if they might be lucky enough to gather up a sample of the new fodder. Before long, we’re all talking back and forth in the same language and debating the merits of cheeseburgers as opposed to chicken sandwiches. (I’ll let you guess whether my hay crew was speaking in cow tongues or if the cattle in Adna have taken up the King’s English.)
As the field slowly empties under foot the skies begin to fill in overhead. Each bale tossed into the truck represents one less hiding space for the field mice, voles, and other furry critters that make their home between the fence posts. Little bunny foo-foos and old hopping hares cut harried paths across the turf as eagles, hawks and assorted dirty birds from around the way circle lower and lower in search of an easy meal.
Prickly hay chaffes and sunbeams bake pasty skin. Shade awaits in the barn but so does all of the day’s condensed heat. Spiders scatter from the cool side of bales as they broil in the field and arachnids wonder why their lives has been turned upside down so suddenly.
As the day drags on the crew grows weirder and wrestling matches break out in the back of the truck. Tough talk tumbles down from the rafters of the barn and some buckers figuratively hit the wall before literally doing the same thing for a bit of cathartic release.
When the final bale reaches the top of the elevator and is passed from hand to hand to the top of the stack, a collective exhale rushes out of the barn as the crew contemplates what to do next. Through the powers of suggestion, I slowly recall that cows, and hawks, and eagles, and spiders are not the only critters who can work up a hunger on the farm. So, taking into consideration the crew’s hard work, and the persuasive points of argument put forth by the neighbor’s cows, I suggest heading for the local gas station for a round of chicken and taters on my dime.
The thought of free food, and cash money being doled out on site, serves to instantly perk up the mood of the dazed and dusty crew. As sweaty hats and gloves and shirts get peeled off the topic of conversation slowly turns to fishing and lazy summer days along the water’s edge.
It’s a comforting thought, but all I can think of as I close the barn doors is the thousands of bales still waiting to be baled and bucked before the 4th of July arrives. As per tradition though, once the last of that hay is finally in the barn, it’ll be Green Rivers for everybody. And, if I remember, maybe even a chicken strip or two for the blue ribbon crew.
FISHIN’
On Monday anglers received a dose of poor news when the anticipated spring Chinook run on the Columbia River was downgraded by nearly one third. That run of spring kings got off to a record slow start this year and salmon fisheries on the Lower Columbia River have already been greatly compromised. Any chance of those prospects perking up took a beating on Monday when the Technical Advisory Committee dropped the forecasted run size from 167,700 adult Chinook to just 116,500 kings expected to breach the mouth of the river.
Salmon fishing is currently closed on the lowest stretch of the Columbia River but remains open above the I-5 Bridge in Vancouver. A WDFW report noted that some anglers have been having a fair amount of success targeting summer steelhead and Chinook jacks, but no specific numbers were provided. However, on Wednesday the WDFW announced that the fishery will expand on May 25 though when anglers will be allowed to target salmon from the Rocky Point/Tongue Point up to the Washington/Oregon border near Umatilla.
“We’ve been monitoring fish passage at Bonneville very closely, because we didn’t want to reopen the fishery without a better idea of the actual run size,” said Ryan Lothrop, a Columbia River fishery manager for the WDFW, in a press release. “We now know that run was both late and smaller than expected, but it’s still strong enough to support reopening the fishery.”
That fishery will be open through June 6 below Bonneville Dam and until June 15 above the dam, unless catch data prompts managers to close the fishery again. According to Lothrop, after the projected run adjustment there are more than 2,500 adult spring chinook currently available for harvest below Bonneville Dam, along with 500 Chinook in the area above the dam.
Recently anglers have been using the lull in the salmon season to take full advantage of a rare opportunity to harvest sturgeon in the Lower Columbia. That fishery will remain open from the Wauna Powerlines down to Buoy 10 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through June 4. On Saturday, the WDFW sampled 151 boats, with 495 anglers, and found 30 legal white sturgeon on board, along with 47 sublegal and 43 oversize sturgeon released. Between May 14-19, sturgeon anglers on the Lower Columbia River made an estimated 5,389 trips and harvested 252 fish, while releasing 322 sublegal and 308 oversize fish, as well as two green sturgeon. While one out of every 24 boat anglers was able to keep a legal sturgeon, only one bank angler was found with a keeper fish.
Shad angling is also open from Buoy 10 upstream to Bonneville Dam and walleye have been biting with regularity in two of the lower dam pools. There was no report from Bonneville, but both The Dalles and John Day pools have been fishing well recently for walleye. Sampling by the WDFW last week found 37 anglers on 16 boats kept 75 walleye and released eight more at The Dalles, while 39 anglers on 17 boats at John Day kept 56 walleye and released four others.
Closer to home, anglers still have opportunities to target salmon on Lower Columbia River tributaries. On the Cowlitz River last week the WDFW sampled 51 bank rods below the I-5 Bridge but found just one adult Chinook kept for the lot while one boat angler had no catch. Closer to the barrier dam 27 bank rods kept two adult springers and one jack. There was no report on boat angling above the I-5 Bridge, but judging by those numbers it may be best to try other waters until the summer steelhead begin to show up, if they do at all. What’s more, beginning on June 1 anglers fishing the Cowlitz between the Sparks Road Bridge in Lexington and the boundary markers below the barrier dam will be allowed to used barbed hooks for salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout.
On the Kalama River last week the WDFW sampled 28 bank anglers with a collective creel containing two adult Chinook and two steelhead, along with one steelhead released. Another 15 boat anglers kept four adult Chinook, but most of the catch has been smaller than typical runs.
Increasing opportunity on the Lewis River has, unsurprisingly, resulted in increased effort as of late. Last week on the mainstem the WDFW found four bank rods with no catch and ten boat rods with one adult Chinook. On the North Fork, 51 bank rods managed to keep five adult Chinook and one jack but four boat rods produced no catch. Beginning on the first Saturday in June, anglers will be permitted to fish with bait on the East Fork Lewis River from the mouth up to within 400 feet of Horseshoe Falls.
Salmon fishing is also ongoing on the Chehalis River where the water is seldom seen running so clear. The water conditions are just about perfect right now with snow melt keeping flows up while a dearth of recent rainfall has the regular turbidity down significantly. Springers appear to be on the move upstream judging by the efforts of both bank and boat anglers on the states second largest watershed. Boats have been running the chute near Porter, as usual, but drifters have also been floating the flats between Galvin and Independence, while bank anglers have been wetting their lines nearly anywhere they can find access.
Out in Marine Area 1 off of Ilwaco halibut anglers will see an expansion in opportunity beginning Thursday. That nearshore fishery will now be open seven days a week, although the all-depth fishery will remain closed. A press release from the WDFW noted that, “There is sufficient quota remaining in the nearshore halibut fishery to increase the number of days per week it is open to seven days per week from three (Monday through Wednesday).”
Bass bonkers have been having success ripping lips up on Swofford Pond in East Lewis County and area lakes are still teeming with hatchery rainbow trout to sweeten the pot. In Grays Harbor County the youth will get a special shot at those hatchery fish on Saturday, June 9 during a kids-only fishing event at Lake Sylvia. That lake will close to the public at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 8, in order to allow additional fish to be stocked.
A press release from WDFW noted that, “This rule change is necessary to ensure a safe and successful event. The fish will be planted the evening prior to the event to better acclimate them to the lake.”
Roughly 350 children participate in the event each year and Lake Sylvia is open to the public year-round with the exception of this special closure.
FARMIN’
The WDFW has denied a permit application from Cooke Aquaculture seeking to raise another 800,000 Atlantic salmon in Puget Sound. The WDFW cited the risk of transmission of fish disease as the primary reason for denying the permit.
Cooke Aquaculture was seeking to transport 800,000 juvenile Atlantic salmon from its hatchery outside Rochester to net pens at Rich Passage in Kitsap County. Last summer a Cooke Aquaculture net pen in Puget Sound collapsed and resulted in the release of at least 250,000 non-native Atlantic salmon. Initially the company claimed that the fish would not survive long in the wild but a live Atlantic salmon was recently caught many miles up the Skagit River more than six months after the net pen collapsed due to negligent upkeep. However, the WDFW says the denial of the recent permit application was unrelated to hat incident.
Earlier this year Washington lawmakers enacted a bill that aims to phase out the rearing of all Atlantic salmon in Washington’s waterways by 2022. However, Cooke Aquaculture submitted their most recent permit application in April, and has stated their intention to continue to operate in Washington until the new law takes effect.
The following reasoning was cited by the WDFW to explain their decision:
The population of Atlantic salmon that would have been transported from Cooke’s hatchery near Rochester tested positive for a form of the fish virus PRV (piscine orthoreovirus) that is essentially the same as the PRV that occurs at the Iceland hatchery from which Cooke receives Atlantic salmon eggs. The Icelandic form of PRV is not known to occur in the eastern Pacific Ocean or Puget Sound, so WDFW classifies it as “exotic” in Washington.
Cooke proposed to place fish into pens that have not been empty (or “fallow”) for at least 30 days after the most recent harvest of adult fish, and within a farm that still contains adult Atlantic salmon. These actions would contradict the company’s own management plan.
According to Ken Warheit, WDFW fish health manager, the combination of those factors pushed the Cooke Aquaculture application beyond the pale.
“Each of these factors raised an unacceptable risk of introducing an exotic strain of PRV into Washington marine waters,” said Warheit in a press release. “This would represent an unknown and therefore unacceptable risk of disease transmission.”
HUNTIN’
Hunters will have their options for quarry severely limited by the end of next week when wild turkey hunts come to an end. Those hunts began on both sides of the Cascade Mountains in mid-April and will close with the end of May. Those general spring hunts have a combined limit of three birds for the season, of which only two may be taken from Eastern Washington, with the exception of Chelan, Kittitas, and Yakima counties where only one tom may be killed per person. A one turkey limit is also applicable in Western Washington, although two turkeys may be taken in Klickitat County. Only male turkeys, or those with visible beards, are legal for hunting.
The end of turkey season will mean that hunters will likely have to wait until muzzleloader seasons strike up again in August, along with general bear season, before hitting the woods with the hope of bagging a legal target. However, coyotes will remain fair game over the summer, just as they are all year round.
Do you know a little lady who would like to learn how to handle herself in the outdoors? If so, Washington Outdoor Women will soon be offering a workshop designed to scratch that itch.
Washington Outdoor Women are again offering their Pre-WOW Workshop to girls ages 8-13. Washington Outdoor Women is a group dedicated to fostering the participation of women and girls in sporting pursuits like hunting, fishing, and boating.
WOW events are generally reserved for women age 18 and older but the Pre-WOW workshop helps to get girls interested in out of doors adventuring. This year’s workshop will be held on the weekend of June 16-17 at Camp Sealth on Vashon Island. All participants must be accompanied by an adult woman.
“This year's day-and-a-half agenda includes expert instruction in archery, canoeing, and camp cooking, augmented with fun games using nature’s ‘equipment,’ sewing a simple bag for gathering plants and berries, and an afternoon horseback ride for the youth,” read a press release from WOW.
Registration fees are $100 per girls and $75 per woman, and cover all instruction, equipment, materials, and on-site accomodations. Registration is open now and will close on June 1, or whenever the workshop reaches full capacity.
Additional information, including registration forms, can be found online at washingtonoutdoorwomen.org. For additional information call 425-785-3555, or email info@washingtonoutdoorwomen.org.
BREEDIN’
For the first time in the modern era a fertile wolverine has been observed wandering south of I-90 in the Cascade Mountain range. Photos recovered recently by the Cascade Carnivore Project show a breeding female along with her young kits making the rounds near a den in the William O. Douglas Wilderness.
Wolverines were largely eliminated in Washington by hunters and trappers between the 1880s and early 1900s. Early pioneers considered the animals to be a pest because they would steal trapping bait along with the catch from their snares. Both poison and traps were used to eradicate wolverines from the wild in Washington and by the mid 20th century, there were no known breeding pairs of the carnivores left.
A ten year field study began in 2006 and the first confirmed dens were located in the North Cascades along with their breeding inhabitants. The recent discovery of wolverines south of I-90 shows that the animals have begun to repopulate Washington’s southern reaches of the Cascades. One female wolverine tracked during the study was found to travel more than 300 miles, however, all of the wolverines in Washington are believed to be descendants of those in the Coastal Range of southwest British Columbia with no relation to wolveriners from the Rocky Mountain of Idaho or Montana.
COMMENTIN’
The WDFW is seeking public comment in regard to their ongoing efforts to manage river and stream banks around the state.
According to Terra Rentz, ecosystem services manager for WDFW, the department will accept written comments through mid-July on recommendations contained in “Riparian Ecosystems, Volume 2: Management Recommendations.” That material is available online at https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01988.
The WDFW recently completed the first volume of the set, which was reviewed by the Washington State Academy of Science and can be viewed online at https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01987. Volume 2 builds on the science of the first publication and attempts to help local governments, farmers, and other land managers more effectively protect riparian habitats that are essential to fish health and other marine life.
“The department plays an important role in supporting conservation efforts by property owners, conservation groups, local governments, and tribes throughout the state,” Rentz said, in a press release. “The updated Riparian Ecosystems documents reflect our ongoing commitment to science-based management and conservation.”
Both individuals and groups can submit written comments. Comments can be submitted online at https://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/phs/mgmt_recommendations/comments.html, or sent by mail to Terra Rentz, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, P.O. Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98501. A 60-day comment period will end on Tuesday, July 17.
The U.S. Forest Service is also seeking public comment. Their particularly inquiry is being spurred by a funding shortfall and they are wondering what sorts of cuts the public will be okay with at 210 traditional recreation areas in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
A recent study by the USFS looked at those developed recreation sites and categorized them by social, financial, and environmental factors in order to determine their “future sustainability.” Those forest destinations include campgrounds, picnic sites, visitor information sites and trailheads, as well as cabin and lookout rentals. The information gathered during the analysis will be used to inform the decision-making process of the USFS as the agency considers a variety of changes around the GPNF.
The USFS has stated that initial findings showed that more than $1.7 million will be needed each year in order to maintain all of the sites at their current level. According to the USFS, that’s about $700,000 over their budget. The press release added that there is already more than $10 million in backlogged maintenance at the sites.
“Ultimately we need to maintain an effective, sustainable recreation program within our budget realities,” said Gifford Pinchot National Forest Supervisor Gina Owens, in the release. “We want our recreation sites to address public demand, provide a positive environment for public use and enjoyment, and meet our health and safety standards. To do that, we must explore creative options and develop community-based solutions. Not changing our approach will lead to further decline of recreation sites and changes in service levels.”
In order to bridge the gap in service and government funding, the USFS is asking the public to pick the areas where they would prefer to see cuts made. Examples of information the USFS is seeking include what recreations sites are most important to visitors and whether those visitors prefer a primitive or coddled recreation experience. The government agency is also wondering what services are most important to the public at developed sites, such as signage, parking, water, garbage service, picnic tables, or camp hosts.
Of course, the USFS is also wondering if forest visitors would be willing to pay more at existing recreation sites with fees, or begin to pay fees at sites that are currently free. Another set of USFS question were even more direct, asking visitors how they feel about corporate contractors in the forest, along with the public appetite for providing labor free of charge.
“Would you be in favor of partners or commercial permittees operating developed recreation sites as a way to enhance the ability to maintain sites?” asked the press release, and, “What specific ideas do you have for sharing stewardship at sites that are important to you?”
Additional information on recreation sites in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, including an official questionnaire, is available online at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/gprecreation. Inquiries can also be made by phone at 360-891-5000. Feedback should be submitted by June 30.
