Mountain Film Festival comes to Lewiston tonight
The Mountain Film Festival will make a rare stop in Lewiston at 7 tonight.
The traveling show that features a variety of documentary films about outdoor adventure and nature will be screened at Silverthorne Theater on the Lewis-Clark State College campus. The screening is sponsored by the college’s Center for Arts & History and is being presented as part of the annual Art Under the Elms event.
Tickets are free and can be reserved at bit.ly/3mOyWrU. Doors open to ticketholders at 6:30 p.m. Any seats not filled by 6:45 p.m. will be released to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fish and Wildlife Film Festival planned next week in Moscow
MOSCOW — The University of Idaho will host its annual Fish and Wildlife Film Festival on Thursday.
The collection of 15 short films are centered on natural systems and fish and wildlife science, an will highlight species ranging from bighorn sheep to bees. There is no charge for students and those younger than 18. The cost for nonstudents is $10. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and the films start at 6 at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow.
More information is available at bit.ly/3UQvbPs.
Silhouette match on scheduled Saturday
LAPWAI — The Lewis-Clark Wildlife Club will host its monthly silhouette match from 9 a.m. to noon at its shooting range near here Saturday.
The 18-bench side of the range will be reserved for match shooters until about noon, when it will be open to all shooters. The six-bench side of the rifle range and the trap range will be open to the public all day.
More information about the match is available by contacting Pat Lightfield at pjlightfield@gmail.com or (208) 305-5621.
Remote hunter education classes being phased out in Washington
OLYMPIA — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is ending its fully remote hunter education classes.
The agency will continue to offer in-person classes and those that combine a mixture of online learning and in-person evaluation.
“Online learning was a great tool we had available to continue providing hunter education courses as we navigated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dave Whipple, hunter education manager, in a news release. “We are excited to shift our emphasis back to offering more in-person learning opportunities for hunters.”
The agency recommends the traditional courses, which are typically taught over multiple evenings and includes a field portion, for students seeking a valuable classroom experience. The hybrid course combines online instruction followed by a field skills evaluation where students receive hands-on training and evaluation by certified instructors.
“There is so much to be gained by learning hands-on with our volunteer educators, whether in the field or in the classroom. Some students from previous remote courses have opted to take the hands-on field course as well, recognizing how the in-person opportunity enhanced their learning,” Whipple said.
More information is available at bit.ly/3mHETXS.
Prescribed burns planned in Red River area
ELK CITY — The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will partner with the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands to initiate prescribed burns at the Red River Wildlife Management Area in the coming weeks.
The agencies will use fire to treat a 314-acre meadow. Signs will be posted along the Red River Road during the burn.
Mann Lake stocked with newcomer species — banana trout
There’s a new, colorful fish available for anglers at Mann Lake.
Earlier this month, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game released 5,400 banana trout in the reservoir near Lewiston. The bright yellow hatchery fish are rainbow trout that lack melanin pigment.
Banana trout are routinely stocked in some southern Idaho lakes and ponds but are new to the Clearwater Region. They became available because of a surplus of the fish at the state’s Hagerman Hatchery. They have better disease resistance and a higher fat content than normal rainbow trout, according to the agency.
Spring chinook behind schedule
Spring chinook fishing season opens on several Idaho rivers Saturday but through Wednesday only a single fish had been counted passing Lower Granite Dam.
It’s not uncommon for the season to begin prior to the bulk of the run arriving and the fish are behind schedule even at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. Through Wednesday, 1,096 spring chinook had been counted at Bonneville. The 10-year average is more than 7,000.
