The 1,200-mile Pacific Northwest Trail will be one of three new National Scenic Trails once the President signs H.R. 146, which passed the House today by a vote of 285 to 140.

The other trails joining the system, managed by the National Park Service, are the 800-mile Arizona Trail; and (3) the 200-mile New England Trail. These are the first trails to earn the designation since 1983.

The Pacific Northwest Trail crosses three national parks and seven national forests as it runs from the Chief Mountain border crossing just east of Glacier National Park in Montana to the

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I came across this on the National Park Service’s Web site, regarding the recent press release involving use of lead fishing and hunting equipment in national parks.

Here is the release:

On March 10, 2009, the National Park Service distributed a press release entitled "National Park Service Gets the Lead Out." Due to some confusion over its contents, the agency provides the following clarifying statements:

1. Nothing has changed for the public. We are simply announcing the NPS goal of eliminating lead from NPS activities to protect human and wildlife health.

2. We will work to

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Crystal Mountain is pondering adding night skiing operations, ski area spokeswoman Tiana Enger confirmed recently.

The ski area sent out a 20-question survey to season tickets holders and members of its mailing list asking for feedback on what they’d like to see in terms of night skiing.

Among the questions: Would night skiing bring you to the mountain more? And would you be more likely to spend the night at the mountain if night skiing is offered?

Crystal has offered night skiing in the past, but not in recent seasons.

The Summit at Snoqualmie and Stevens

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The first morning clam dig of the season will open Friday at Twin Harbors and Mocrocks beaches. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife just announced that clams were safe to eat.

Digging at those beaches will run through Sunday. Long Beach and Copalis will be open Saturday and Sunday only.

With the low tide occuring in the morning, digging on all beaches must be completed by noon.

As long as the weather cooperates, the weekend should be good for clam digging, said Dan Ayres, state coastal shellfish manager.

“This is the first opportunity of

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The state just announced that anglers will get an extra day each week to catch spring chinook on the lower Klickitat River.

Here is the rest of the release:

Action: Klickitat River anglers will be able to fish Sundays in addition to the Monday, Wednesday and Saturday weekly schedule.

Species affected: Chinook and steelhead

Effective dates: April 1 through May 31.

Location: Klickitat River from mouth to the Fisher Hill Bridge (located about 3 miles upstream from the mouth).

Daily limits: Daily limit is one hatchery chinook or hatchery

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This just came in from the Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Action: The opening of the sport clam and oyster fishing season at Fort Flagler will be delayed until May 15.

Effective date: April 1.

Species affected: All clams and oysters.

Location: Fort Flagler State Park, located in Jefferson County.

Reason for action: This delayed opening of the season avoids the period when Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning closures are most likely, and also avoids conflict with State Parks’ seaweed harvesting season.

Other Information: The Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted permanent

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Recreational halibut anglers will have to wait two weeks more than last year before hitting the water. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has annnounced fishing in most areas of Puget Sound will open April 23. The two-week delay is because of a reduction in catch quotas for 2009.

Anglers also will have fewer days to fish for halibut on the coast, said Michele Culver, Region 6 director for the department, which includes Pierce County. Fishing seasons set by the department are based on a stock assessment and quotas established for the Pacific coast — from Alaska to California — by the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

Here is the rest of the department’s news release:

This year’s quota for Washington, Oregon and California is 950,000 pounds, down from 1.22 million pounds in 2008. In Washington, sport anglers will be allowed to catch 214,110 pounds of halibut compared to 232,807 pounds last year.

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Here is a note I found that Port Gamble musher Laura Daugereau posted March 17 on her Web site. It gives some insight on her decision to pull out of this year’s Iditarod Sled Dog Race:

Thank you all for your letters and phone calls to my Dad wondering what happened and how my team and I are doing. I will try to write back when I can, but I will not have time until I am back home in WA:) I am in Grayling right now at the school computer and it’s about 1:00am. I am still on race mode, meaning I can’t sleep for very long at a time. My team is doing great and don’t really know why we are still sitting here and letting all the other teams leave! From Corrie’s posts you know what happened so I won’t go on about that. I talked with her today and she will be putting up another post with some more information as to what is happening now.

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