Tucannon Valley
Fishing & Hunting Report
May 1, 2008
FISHING
TUCANNON LAKES & RIVER
LAKES STOCKING
lakes stocked last week
Rainbow Lake: 1500 catchables, 100 jumbos (1600 catchables on 4/27)
Curl Lake: 3500 catchables, 150 jumbos
Blue Lake: 3000 catchables, 100 jumbos
Spring Lake: 1500 catchables, 100 jumbos
Watson Lake: 3000 catchables, 100 jumbos
Beaver Lake: stocked in March
Deer Lake: 1500 catchables
Big 4 Lake: 3000 catchables, 300 Jumbos (Mar 21)
Tucannon River
General trout season opens on June 1st!
Hunting
The season started off with me in a snow storm and 40 mph wind on Tuesday. Nice weather on wed & Thur had Turkeys gobbling & strutting but I did not seal the deal. Luckily we have 5 more weeks and the hunting and weather should improve!
NOTICE
Over 600 permits were given out for wind farm area for fall 2008.Not very many e-mails have been received thanking these companies for the hunting program! Hunters you need to send e-mails thanking these companies, do it TODAY!
Puget Sound Energy / Hopkins Ridge Kings Grade area. Thank them for access program.
e-mail anne.walsh@pse.com
PacifiCorp / Marengo Wind Project
Area between Turner Rd & Hartsock Grade. Thank them for working on an access program for 2008.
e-mail mwphunt@pacificorp.com
Dayton Chamber: Let them know you appreciate hunting opportunities at wind farms & Dayton area, you spend $ in local economy and you hope future wind farms are open for access!
I am doing everything I can to keep these areas open and working on getting new areas open as well.
Wind Farm access
Hopkins Ridge-Puget Sound Energy (PSE)
Has been open to public / hunter access since 2006.
Marengo Wind Farm-Pacific Power
Opening on hold as of this time.
Access to PSE area may be gained by coming to The Last Resort During regular store hours. You MUST have: photo ID, Hunting license, and license plate number of vehicles you will be driving! These permits are available at no cost. More info below.
Puget Sound Energy /
Hopkins Ridge Wind Farm
Access Program
What is Hopkins Ridge: A wind farm for generating electricity was constructed in the Northwest of the Tucannon valley and surrounding farmland in 2006 and is operated by Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
Why have access controlled: The landowners involved are in a lease agreement with PSE to have the turbines on their property. These turbines provide additional income to the farmers and their families as well as providing energy that is "home grown". The landowners involved in the access program have NO obligation to keep their land available for access (hunting) but have chosen to allow hunting through this access program. Many land owners do not allow hunting these days as I am sure you are aware! We should all thank the land owners, PSE and Fish & Wildlife for coming up with this program.
Why is The Last Resort involved: When word of this project first came up I heard from a lot of you hunters concerning access to this area. Many acres of land involved in the project boundary had been feel free to hunt through land owner generosity. I attended public meetings and tried to encourage others to do the same. After talking to my neighbors and landowners I realized that many wanted to allow hunting to continue but they did not want to deal with the hassle & paperwork of a controlled access program. Imagine these scenarios: You have been on a combine for 12 hours and finally got home for a shower and some food when the phone starts ringing; or you are out in the field working and 3 strangers come up your driveway when only your wife and kids are home. Now multiply this by 50 or 100 hunters looking for permission and you can see why the landowners did not want to deal with this. The Last Resort caters to hunters and many of you have become our friends. We are open 7 days a week with extended hours during hunting season. Since we are already here and "taking care" of hunters it was a natural for us to volunteer to handle the paperwork, inquires and foot traffic that will be generated by this access program. I hunt too and in a perfect world we all would have 500,000 acres to hunt on but fellas that ain't reality. We should all go out of our way to thank the landowners, PSE and Fish & Wildlife for this program.
How it works: This program is as simple as we could make it. You come to The Last Resort during store hours and fill out and sign an agreement each person getting permit MUST be present with drivers license or photo ID (excluding minors), license plate # of hunting rig, and wild ID number from your hunting license), watch a 3 minute DVD on safety in the wind farm area, pick up a map of areas available to hunt and you are good to go until March 31st the following year.. A new permit will then be available and valid from April 1 to March 31st on a regular basis (just like your hunting & fishing license is now). I hope everyone realizes how much work and time went into this and appreciates what a privilege it is to have this land available. Maps to areas open for hunting will be provided. YOU are responsible for following rules and knowing where you are. Signage will be posted in various areas indicating what areas are available for this program. It would be a GOOD idea to take a little time to scout and familiarize yourself with the area.
For more info or questions call
The last Resort
509-843-1556
e-mail thelastresort@pomeroy-wa.com
If e-mailing make sure to place "signage or PSE" in subject line or e-mail may be sent to spam and deleted!!!
For area maps and specific rules, please go to PSE website.
Puget Sound Energy
509-382-2043
Marengo Wind Farm / Pacific Power
This project started in October of 2006 and is expected to finish summer of 2007.A meeting Was scheduled between land owners, Pacific Power and Fish & Wildlife on Sept 11 to get final paperwork signed. Landowners expressed concern over several issues during the course of the meeting. At the meetings conclusion it was decided to push back the date of the signage party scheduled for Sept 22 as well as the opening date of Oct 1st. I am sorry for any confusion or delays. I hesitated to put any opening info out there but was assured everything was on track. When you get a bunch of individuals, a big company and Fish & wildlife together you would be amazed at the "problems" that can come up. I will post opening info ONLY when it is written in stone and will post it here ASAP! For those that had planed on coming to the signage party on Sept 22 I have your contact info and will be in touch when its a go. Remember this is private land and we will just have to be patient until the details are worked out. DON'T complain to the land owners!, If you want to complain yell at me I have big shoulders.