Q: I’m wondering if you know where a bunch of Boy Scouts can camp this winter where they might be able to be indoors without it being too expensive?

JEFF MOORE, via email

A: My first suggestion is the three group yurts at Lake Cascade State Park.

You get all three yurts for $175 per night and they sleep a maximum of 30 people (10 people per yurt).

Depending on the number of scouts and leaders involved, it could be less than $6 a night per person. That’s a deal.

What’s cool about Lake Cascade State Park in the winter are the activities like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice fishing and just playing in the snow. The yurts are great for star gazing, too.

Lake Cascade State Park is about 75 miles from Treasure Valley, which makes it fairly close for a weekend.

You can check out information on Lake Cascade’s group yurts at parksandrecreation.idaho.gov and go to “Find a Park.” From there look for reservations.

COMMERCIAL FISHING

Q: Could you please find out why the Nez Perce Indians were issued a commercial license by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to catch and sell salmon to a coastal buyer this year for the first time.

EARL, via email

A: I went to Idaho Fish and Game for a response on this one.

The agency works and coordinates with Idaho’s Indian tribes to manage Idaho’s salmon fisheries, but during the fishing seasons, F&G manages only the sport fishery and the tribes manage the tribal fisheries, which are separate.

Neither the State of Idaho, nor Fish and Game, issue any permits for the tribal commercial fisheries. Thus, no such permit was issued, Fish and Game officials said.

F&G manages the sport fishery to harvest up to half of the harvestable portion of the run, which is the part that is greater than the brood-stock needs at the hatcheries.

Some of Idaho’s Indian tribes have treaty fishing rights, which means they have an opportunity to harvest and sell salmon in the state through tribal fisheries, F&G said.

Decisions about how, when and where tribal members fish are made by the tribes as part of their management process.

In the specific instance the reader referred to, the Nez Perce Tribe first opened a tribal fishery for ceremonial and subsistence purposes and later opened a commercial fishery (allowing commercial sales of chinook salmon) on portions of the Clearwater and Salmon rivers.

That commercial fishery involves only the tribal fishery, and did not require Idaho Fish and Game permits.

LOW-ELEVATION CAMPING

Hey Zimo!

I really liked your article on the extended camping seasons (Sept. 27), but I sure wished you had included the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers’ campgrounds in your story.

From New Meadows through Grangeville there are campgrounds that cater to the winter activities.

We just recently purchased Canyon Pines RV Resort in Pollock, 9 miles south of Riggins, and have a Winter Store & Stay Program that offers a place for those enjoying skiing at Brundage Mountain in McCall, snowmobiling, fishing and hunting to keep and use their RVs throughout the winter.

The Pollock/Riggins area sits at a very low elevation and stays very mild throughout the winter with little snow accumulation, but is within minutes of anything you would want to do in the winter.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you in promoting this often neglected part of Idaho.

DAVID EVANS, via email

Zimo Note: Thanks for the tip on another place to go late season or winter camping.

You’re right about the Riggins area and its lower elevation.

I’ve camped along the Salmon River in November and February, but never in December or January.

Pete Zimowsky: 377-6445, Twitter: @Zimosoutdoors