Hunting Season Opens

TUCANNON VALLEY- Another opening weekend of deer-hunting season in the Touchet Valley has come and gone. The numbers indicate that while the sport certainly hasn't decreased in popular­ity, it isn't growing much ei­ther. Many believe the long-term effects of the economic slump are to blame. But for Phyllis Rothauge, co-owner of The Last Resort Camp Store and Blue Moun­tains KOA Campground on Tucannon Road just inside the Columbia County line, it was still a crazy, busy week­end. "I think the numbers were about the same as last year," she said Monday. "The econ­omy

has kind of kept the numbers down."

Rothauge and her employ­ees at The Last Resort pro­cessed paperwork for close to 500 hunters between Friday and Sunday - and while the steady stream had slowed to a trickle by Monday, it contin­ued

to flow at a regular pace. Big game hunting continues into the fall with elk season starting up at the end of the month. Bird hunting heats up as pheasant season begins Saturday. The Last Resort plays an important role in the local hunting scene in addition to the cabins, RV and camp­sites, groceries, fishing and hunting supplies they sell. Since Puget Sound Energy and PacifiCorps opened both Hopkins Ridge and Marengo wind project lands to hunting in 2006, hundreds of hunters have made Columbia County their destination of choice.

"We've had consistently, for three years in a row now, over 850 people register each season," said Anne Walsh, senior project manager at PSE's Dayton office. PSE's Hopkins Ridge was built in 2005, and the project was opened up for hunting - as promised by the company - in 2006. Around 500 hunters registered in that first year. But without Rothauge and her business partners at The Last Resort, her daughter and son-in-law Angela and Jim MacArthur, the plan to open the wind projects to hunting wouldn't have happened. "The reason we do it is to keep hunting open," Rothauge said. "The state wasn't going to allow it if one of the landowners ran it and wanted to charge for the service, so we said we'd do it for free." Hunters who want to make use of wind project lands can register online, in fact Walsh and Rothauge recommend filling out the online applica­tion at pse.com, but all hunt­ers must check in and provide their identification at The Last Resort to obtain permits.

Registration lasts for one year, and no extra fees are involved. One application to hunt in both projects is a new amenity that PSE and Pacifi­Corps came together on last year, Walsh said. Maps and a four-minute video online tell hunters ev­erything they need to know to hunt on the lands. But in addition to the application and permits through the power companies, hunters must obtain written permis­sion from landowners within the project. "Actually it's a pretty neat program," Walsh said. "Other groups with wind projects have consulted with us, ask­ing how we provide access and how we've joined the two projects."

Hunting access is a big deal in the county, and during the permitting process this was a concern in the community, Walsh said. To show their sup­port

of the program, local PSE employees drive out to The Last Resort during opening week­end

to help Rothauge and her staff with the hundreds of appli­cations and permits completed. The Lower Snake River wind project in GarfieldCounty will remain closed to hunting until construction is complete, which is projected to be 2012. Once construction is finished, however, PSE intend to pull into the same hunting program, Walsh said.