--State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, presented a bill that would prohibit children under the age of 16 from hunting alone. Under the bill, hunters under 16 would have to accompanied by a licensed hunter who is at least 18 years old. Welles cited the August death of hiker Pamela Almli, 54, in Skagit County as a reason for the bill. Almli was fatally shot by a 14-year-old hunter when the teen was out hunting with his 16-year-old brother. The younger boy has since been charged with first-degree manslaughter and slated to be tried in April. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--The recession has the outdoor industry. Mammoth Mountain Ski Area cut the pay of senior management, cut expenses and some benefits, and this week the Ski Area laid off 101 employees. This is one of the first ski resorts that has seen such a significant impact of the economic problems that they have laid off a large group of employees. To read more, click here and here.
Weak cycles of snowfall are leading to drought worries.Photo by Don Chambers
--After four years of work and over 25 public meetings and workshops, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Inyo National Forest Motorized Travel Management Project, formerly known as Route Designation, is now available for a 60-day public review and comment period. The Motorized Travel Management Project on the Inyo National Forest is part of a national effort to define transportation systems on each national forest in the country. The goal is to develop a sustainable system of routes that provide an array of opportunities for access and recreation on national forest lands, as well as protection of various resources by curtailing motorized cross-country travel. To read more, click here.
Alaska:
--The Alaskan volcano, Mount Redboubt is rumbling. Residents of Anchorage and of the Kenai Peninsula are preparing for the worst. It is now becoming highly likely that the mountain is nothing more than a ticking time bomb. On February 2nd, there were six minutes of "intense activity." At this point, it is just a matter of time. To read more, click here.
Alps:
--A local Swiss government plans to take action against a sudden and apparently unwelcome phenomenon - naked hikers. Authorities in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden plan to introduce fines for anyone found walking in the picturesque mountain region without any clothes. They decided to act before this year's hiking season began, after noticing a sudden influx of nudists last year - many of them from Germany. To read more, click here.
--A new television show is slated to hit the small screen this April entitled Parks and Recreation. Long time Saturday Night Live veteran Amy Poehler will head up the cast in a show the will be shot in the same vein as The Office. It's not currently clear if the series will focus on -- and satirize -- the issues that we regularly discuss on this blog that concern State and National Parks.
