'Third' begins Feb. 16 at NIC

North Idaho College is presenting its production of the play "Third" at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16-18 and Feb. 23-25 in the Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center on NIC's main campus.

"Third," by Wendy Wasserstein, is a play about what happens when we become attached to ideology, which keeps us from seeing situations and issues clearly. It is a drama about a conflict between a college professor and her student, Woodson Bull III, who likes to be called "Third." She dislikes his jingoistic attitude, calling him a "walking red state." He disagrees with her assessment of Shakespeare's King Lear.

When Third turns in a sophisticated essay on Lear, the teacher, Professor Laurie Jameson, doesn't believe that he could have written the paper. She reports his paper as plagiarism to the college's Committee of Academic Standards.

The play is directed by guest director Todd Jasmin, who has worked extensively with many local theater companies. The cast includes NIC Adjunct Theatre Instructor Trigger Weddle, NIC Business Instructor Kathie O'Brien, NIC students Chris LeBlanc and Gustave Lester, and community member Alyssa Maurer. The play is expected to run about an hour and 20 minutes with no intermission.

Information: 769-3220

Assessment available for public review

ST. MARIES -

The Bureau of Land Management's Coeur d'Alene Field Office has completed an environmental assessment for the Rochat and Street Creek Watersheds near St. Maries, and the document is available for public review.

Rochat Creek is the primary municipal water source for St. Maries.

Years of fire suppression in the Rochat and Street Creek drainages have created adverse conditions prime for a large wildfire to move through the watersheds, according to a BLM press release.

Land managers plan to use fire as a tool and reintroduce it gradually to the landscape through prescribed burns.

"A broad range of alternatives were considered, including conventional logging of dead and dying lodgepole pine trees but the economic feasibility did not pencil out," said Lonnie Newton, BLM fire ecologist. "An alternative that returns fire, in a controlled manner, to the landscape is the preferred method of treatment."

Prescribed burns would occur in select areas across the 11,000-acre watersheds over several years.

The plan also proposes creating five new helispots at strategic locations to increase access for firefighting resources.

The Rochat Creek Watershed Protection Plan Environmental Assessment is available at: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/id/en/info/nepa.html.

Info: Lonnie Newton, 769-5017