The 14th Annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival begins today,

March 25, and continues through Sunday, with most activities taking

place at the Othello High School.

A full schedule of tours and activities awaits visitors, such as

Burrowing our tours, crane viewing tours, a Saturday night banquet

and silent auction, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge tour, Lower

Crab Creek birding tour, Wahluke Slope birding tour, Ice age floods

tour, Potholes Reservoir boat tour, a Friday evening Firefighter

Spaghetti Feed and much more.

The 14th Annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival begins today, March 25, and continues through Sunday, with most activities taking place at the Othello High School.

A full schedule of tours and activities awaits visitors, such as Burrowing our tours, crane viewing tours, a Saturday night banquet and silent auction, Columbia National Wildlife Refuge tour, Lower Crab Creek birding tour, Wahluke Slope birding tour, Ice age floods tour, Potholes Reservoir boat tour, a Friday evening Firefighter Spaghetti Feed and much more.

As this writing, many of the tours are full. Check the event Website at: www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org/

This is a family friendly event with many activities for youth. Contact festival personnel at 509-488-2802.

Steelhead fishery on Hanford Reach last day March 31

The steelhead fishery from the Vernita Bridge upstream to Priest Rapids Dam will close April 1 below Priest Rapids Dam for the retention of hatchery steelhead.

The steelhead sport fishery that opened by emergency rule on December 8, 2010, will close effective April 1, 2011. This action is necessary to protect spawning steelhead and to reduce impacts to returning adult spring chinook salmon listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. 

Last day of fishing for steelhead in this area is March 31. The steelhead fishery at Ringold will remain open from April 1 through April 15, but is restricted to bank fishing only. The boundary area for the bank fishery is from the Fish and Wildlife marker a quarter mile downstream of the Ringold irrigation wasteway outlet to the marker one half mile upstream of Spring Creek.

Spring turkey in sights of youth

Spring turkey season begins two weeks from tomorrow for youth under 16 years of age and runs for two days, April 2 and 3. The youth season is open in all game management units. Standard hunting methods (shotgun or bow and arrow only) and all other turkey hunting regulations apply to the youth season.

The general spring turkey season, the one for the rest of us, is scheduled from April 15 through May 31.

Birding

Cecelia and Delbert Ratliff enjoyed a unique bird sighting adventure. When traveling north from Nevada into Oregon, they spotted a golden eagle. The first one was in Nevada they spotted six more in Oregon, within 10 miles of the first one.

Wow, such a sighting is something to remember and pass along to others. So now we know golden eagles enjoy Oregon better than Nevada, correct?

We have only seen a few golden eagles around here. One was on the ice, beside Highway 17 near Steamboat Rock. Thanks for passing along the information.

Geocaching Spring Fling set for April 2

Loren Chambers of Soap Lake has organized the first Annual Soap Lake Geocaching Spring Fling Meet & Greet. It will take place at: N 47° 23.462', W 119° 29.067'. For the beginners, we have a suspicion this are the coordinates for the Sun Dial sculpture on the Soap Lake beach.

The event will take place on Saturday, April 2, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Loren says this is a meet and greet for all geocachers and prospective geocachers.

Travel bugs

If you log in any travel bugs please make sure they are not left behind. If you pick up a travel bug please log it as soon as possible, so it doesn't get left in the virtual world too long. What is a travel bug? Attend the event and find out.

Potluck

Loren asks everyone to bring enough food for you and your family, plus a bit more to share. He will provide the paper plates and plastic utensils. Bring your own drinks, non-alcoholic only please.

Pack up your family and your geocaching gear and have a load of fun at Soap Lake.

Asked how many he expected and he said, "Oh, between five and 30."

On the geocaching site for the event Sandfleas said, "Sounds like fun and close to home too. Add two to the list."

Mr. Gadget #2 said, "We will try to make it. May be afternoon as we will more than likely be working Saturday morning.

Carrot Snapper said, "This sounds great, will spread the word."

Flutemaker said, "Looking forward to this...count 2"

Contact Loren Chambers at 509-760-5326.

Geocaching: a relatively new family sport

If you don't know what geocaching is all about, this is a great chance to learn. This is a family sport and fun for the entire family, even very young youth. Our friend, Jim Turner, has wanted to form a chapter in the Columbia Basin and he gave us the heads up about the April 2 event.

This may be the vehicle to provide the glue to get a Columbia Basin Chapter pasted together.

From Jim Turner:

"Geocaching, treasure hunting, outdoors, hiking, families doing outdoor activities together, meeting new people, making new friends, just having great outdoor fun. All of these are possible in the sport of geochching.

"The Washington Sate Geocaching Association has around six chapter and they are spread around the state. Several of us are assessing the need for one here in the Columbia Basin.

Contact Jim at: Cell 750-9965 or Home 765-5611.

More halibut this year for sport anglers

This year's recreational halibut seasons will be similar to 2010 in Puget Sound, but may allow for more days of fishing off the coast under new catch quotas adopted by the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

This year's quota for Washington, Oregon and California is 910,000 pounds, up 12 percent from 2010. In Washington, sport anglers will be allowed to catch 216,489  pounds of the big flatfish compared to 192,699 pounds last year.

In Puget Sound, where the sport catch has exceeded area harvest guidelines for the past two years, this year's higher sub-quota also helped to avert further cutbacks in fishing opportunities.

This year's catch quota for Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca is 58,155 pounds, up from 50,542 pounds in 2010. Like last year, most areas of the Sound will be open for halibut fishing three days a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with exceptions. See the fishing regulations for specifics.

This year's coastal quotas are up by more than 17,000 pounds. Depending on catch rates during the course of the season, that could translate to extra time on the water in some areas.

All areas open to fishing have a one-fish daily catch limit, with no minimum size, a possession limit of one fish while on the vessel and a possession limit of two fish in any form once the angler is on the shore.