Outdoors notes: Kids Fish-In returns, partners with Earth Day celebration

Kids Fish-In returns, partners with Earth Day celebration

The Yakima Greenway's annual Kids Fish-In will join forces with Earth Day Yakima to create a unique event this Saturday at Sarg Hubbard Park.

Vendors for food and various environmental issues will be on hand, including a Hard Core Runners Club booth that will recycle old running shoes. Exhibits and activities will be featured from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to educate and engage visitors about how individuals, families and businesses in the Yakima Valley can contribute to protecting the planet.

The Kids Fish In offers an opportunity for kids ages 5-14 to fish for $12 per child in Reflection Pond, where the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife plants hundreds of rainbow trout. Volunteers from WDFW will be on hand for fishing time slots every hour on the hour from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and kids get to keep their own fishing rod.

For more information and to register, go to yakimagreenway.com/events.

Cowiche Canyon hosting Earth Day event

Educators from several different organizations will offer walks to celebrate Earth Day this Saturday in the Cowiche Canyon.

Featured educators at the event hosted by the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy include:

• Yakima Valley College's Katharine Solada for geology
• The CCC's Megan Whiteside for native plants
• The CCC's Bill Powers for math in nature
• YVC professor Jerred Seyveka and students for birds
• Mid-Columbia Fisheries for riparian ecology

The free family-friendly and interactive event begins at 10 a.m. at the Cowiche Canyon Trail West/Weikel trailhead.

Bird Alert

While the abundant year-round and migratory birds make this an outstanding area for birdwatching, the Tieton River Nature Trail is an excellent birding option while visiting the Naches area in the spring. A visiting bird enthusiast from Seattle spent over four hours in the grandness of this area and tallied a respectable list of 24 species. Highlights included a sooty grouse, white-throated swift, turkey vulture, a golden eagle (these eagles nest in the basalt cliffs so respect the eagle nesting closure areas by not veering off of the trail), red-tailed hawk, Lewis's woodpecker, northern flicker, American kestrel, Steller's jay, violet-green and cliff swallow, a couple of diminutive bushtits, rock and canyon wren, house finch, spotted towhee, western meadowlark and yellow-rumped warbler.

A Sunnyside resident, while doing yard work, heard the distinctive calls and was thrilled to see a “kettle” of over 100 sandhill cranes, soaring on the thermals as they continued their journey north.

Birding at Fort Simcoe is heating up. Birders searching the fort this week noted good numbers of Lewis woodpeckers, a hairy woodpecker, lots of small birds with ruby-crowned kinglet, Bewick's wren, purple finch, lesser goldfinch, common yellowthroat, all noted as well as western bluebird, hermit thrush, American goldfinch and yellow-rumped warbler.

Email bird sightings to kdturley@embarqmail.com and be sure to like The Yakima Valley Audubon Society on its Facebook page or visit yakimaaudubon.org.

— Kerry Turley

Calendar

SATURDAY: The Hard Core Running Club will host its weekend fun run of 3 to 6 miles, with all paces and abilities welcome. Meet at 9 a.m. at Chesterley Park’s parking lot between the YMCA aquatics center and 40th Avenue.

ALSO SATURDAY: Entrance to national parks will be free for the first day of National Park Week.

MONDAY: World traveler, photographer, author and pen artist Jim Christenson’s next "Ink Trails and Wilderness Tales” presentation at the Yakima Area Arboretum will focus on wonders within 50 miles of Yakima. Christenson will show his photos and drawings while discussing his time spent exploring. It runs from 6 to 8 p.m. and is free to attend, though donations are accepted.

ALSO MONDAY: Day visitors to lands managed by state agencies — WDFW, DNR and State Parks — won’t need a Discover Pass to park in celebration of Earth Day. Overnight fees remain in effect.

WEDNESDAY: The Hard Core Running Club will host its weekly fun run at Franklin Park at 6 p.m. There will be options for a track workout or running on the streets.

ALSO WEDNESDAY: Skip Payne will present “Mushrooms-What to Pick and What to Kick if you See it on the Trail”, a educational and humorous take on spring mushroom foraging for beginners, at The Cascadians monthly general meeting. The meeting goes from 7-9 p.m. in the Meyer Auditorium at The Terraces at Summitview in Yakima and will be preceded by a new member orientation in the Village Café West room from 6-7 p.m., as well as a gear swap from 6:30-7 p.m. in the Meyer Auditorium. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. to bring in gear.

Getting outdoors

FRIDAY: Kim’s Canyon Conditioners continue with Rattlesnake Dance, a 1.9 mile hike with 1,200 feet of elevation gain just north of the Yakima River Canyon's Umtanum Creek recreation site. This series of six out-and-back hike with significant elevation gain are designed to help condition hikers for the upcoming season. Participants go at their own pace and regroup at the top for lunch or a snack before heading back down. Visit the Cascadians calendar at cascadians.org/Calendar for more details.

TUESDAY: The Cascadians will hike 3.2 miles with 550 feet of elevation gain at Memaloose State Park near Mosier, Ore., on the Columbia River. Participants will most likely hike the Memaloose Hills Trail with views of the mountains and rivers along with plenty of wildflowers. Visit the Cascadians calendar at cascadians.org/Calendar for more details.

NEXT THURSDAY: The Cascadians will hike 5 miles with 900 feet of elevation gain at the Manastash Ridge lower trail near Ellensburg. Visit the Cascadians calendar at cascadians.org/Calendar for more details.