The Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society (LCBAS) will hold its annual Christmas Bird Count on Friday.
The count starts at 7:30 a.m. at three locations:
* Howard Amon Park's "fingernail" area in Richland.
* Chiawana Park boat ramp in Pasco.
* Audubon Nature Trail in Columbia Park in Kennewick.
The count is part of the National Audubon Society count, and the results will be forwarded to the society's database.
The day ends with a Christmas potluck at the Columbia Grange No. 938, 6300 Court St., Pasco.
For more information, go to www.LCBAS.org or call Dana Ward at 509-545-0627.
Scientists say hatchery fish quick to hurt wild fish
PORTLAND -- Oregon State University scientists have found that it takes only a single generation for steelhead trout raised in fish hatcheries to pass along bad genetic traits to populations in the wild.
The findings are the latest in a growing body of evidence showing the downside to hatcheries as a way to rebuild threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead fish runs.
Studies of Hood River steelhead had previously pinpointed declining reproduction success by hatchery fish in the wild, but the latest research shows it is a result of domestication of young fish in hatcheries that can be transmitted in breeding with wild fish, not from a temporary environmental effect, said Mark Christie, a genetic researcher and the study's lead author.
Lack of snow hurts Yellowstone businesses
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- A lack of snow in Yellowstone National Park is hurting West Yellowstone businesses that offer winter tours of the park on snowmobiles and in snowcoaches.
Yellowstone Alpen Guides owner Scott Carsley tells the Bozeman Daily Chronicle he is giving discounts to people who booked snowcoach tours, but have to settle for riding in vans and sport utility vehicles.
Clyde Seeley owns the Three Bear Lodge and See Yellowstone Tours.
The National Weather Service forecasted 2 to 4 inches of snow earlier this week, but park spokesman Al Nash said it might take more than a foot of snow before the park can open to snowmobiles and snowcoaches.
Caribou protection plan worries N. Idaho officials
COEUR D'ALENE -- Commissioners in northern Idaho's Bonner County fear a plan to protect habitat for about 50 remaining woodland caribou will create economic hardships in rural areas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed designating more than 375,500 acres in the Selkirk Mountains as critical habitat for these endangered North American reindeer cousins.
Almost 80 percent of the proposed habitat is federal land in Bonner and Boundary counties in northern Idaho and nearby Washington's Pend Oreille County.
