Lack of respect
Hey Zimo!
I loved your Sunday Note to Campers (July 20). I'm an avid camper and I agree with everything you wrote. I'm baffled by people's obvious lack of respect for the next campers who will inhabit the camping spot where they had been.
I have the same complaints, and as our Boise Valley population increases, so do the thoughtless people who apparently think that someone else will pick up their garbage.
Ultimately, their lack of respect for the land and other people will cause camping to be outlawed in undeveloped areas and will entitle the Forest Service to enforce fees to cover the costs of cleaning up after these idiots who think they can do whatever they want in the forests.
Thank you for a wonderful article, but I'm sure those who are the culprits aren't seeing themselves as the guilty parties.
SHERRY H., e-mail
An outdoor code?
Hey Zimo and the Idaho Outdoors Gang:
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your Sunday article on packing out trash from campsites.
I've been camping in the state for over 30 years and have seen the trash problem grow out of control.
Places I've camped all my life - like the Middle Fork of the Boise - are strewn with trash in fire pits and along the river.
It's often a major cleanup effort before a campsite is usable.
I don't understand why people insist on using fire pits as their trash can.
I'm a long-time reader of your columns and the Idaho Outdoors section in the Idaho Statesman. I've enjoyed the many excellent articles that you, Roger and the Idaho Outdoors gang have written helping people discover our great outdoors.
I appreciate when you give the message to treat the outdoors with respect, and I think this message needs to be repeated often.
How about a contest with the readers to come up with an Idaho outdoors code that you could include with every Idaho Outdoors magazine?
It would be a great way to involve your readers and educate people on how to responsibly enjoy the outdoors.
Keep up the good work, and I'll see you in the outdoors!
TROY PEARSE, e-mail
Zimo Note: That sounds like a good idea.
What is the Code of the Outdoors or the Code of Camping?
How close do you camp to someone?
Whom do you call if you see someone trashing a campsite, especially out in the boonies? The sheriff? The Forest Service?
What about noise? When is music a no-no?
There are probably lots of good tips. Let's hear them. Share your ideas on our "Into the Outdoors" blog at voices.idahostatesman.com/outdoors.
White-fronted goose
Hey Zimo!
Just wanted to pass along a sighting of a greater white-fronted goose.
I saw it Sunday at the Boise River underneath the Idaho 21 overpass.
It was hanging out near the shore line amidst the underbrush.
Thought maybe other bird lovers would want to know, so they could try and get a picture.
Of course, I forgot my camera!
L.L., e-mail
Q: Have you noticed the lack of yellow wasps this summer?
We live in the Foothills, and by this time of the year we will have emptied out our wasp catchers at least twice.
We have actually enjoyed eating outside on our deck without being dive-bombed by the pests!
What is up? In the 10 years that we have lived in the Foothills, this is the first year we have not had them crawling all over.
I counted four wasps in our catchers. They have been out since April.
I was just wondering if you and your readers have noticed the same?
CINDY ARMSTRONG, e-mail
A: I've noticed the same thing. There aren't many yellow jackets around this summer - knock on watermelon rind.
I talked with a bug guy at the U.S. Forest Service, and he said it's because of the cold, wet spring. There aren't many of them up in the mountains, either.
Yellow jackets don't do well in a cold spring. The mated queens are the only members of a colony that survive over the winter. If the weather's bad when they emerge in the spring to establish a nest, they could be hit hard.
The queen lays eggs in the nest, and they hatch to produce adult workers. Because of the cold and wet conditions, yellow jackets can use up their fat reserves fast, and basically they can't get their act together for the upcoming season.
By the way, I've heard that it may have been a hit-and-miss thing, depending on where the cool weather hit the most. Some areas in the Valley still have plenty of yellow jackets.
Hoping for huckleberries
Q: Would you advise me where I may go huckleberry gathering in the Boise National Forest and when you recommend going to catch them ripe?
TOM N., e-mail
A: That's a tough question. It all depends on weather, elevation and timing.
Some huckleberriers believe it's going to be a late crop because of the large amount of snow last winter and the late spring and late melt.
I know, we're pinning everything on a late spring, from yellow jackets to berries, but when the huckleberries are still green at 4,500 feet in elevation right now, well?
Huckleberry timing is what it's all about. You just have to keep checking out your huckleberry stash in the mountains and get there before everybody else.
I remember we ate some huckleberries near Payette Lake in late July one year at about 5,000 feet in elevation. Not this year.
They're also green at 5,000 to 6,000 feet this week, according to one of the huckleberry watchers at the U.S. Forest Service in McCall.
Sometimes the huckleberries have been ripe along the South Fork of the Payette River the third week in July.
I saw some last week, and they didn't look like they were going to make it that early this year.
We've picked huckleberries as late as Labor Day weekend at 6,000 to 6,500 feet in elevation around Stanley, but they were starting to get old.
Like I said, it's a hit-and-miss thing. I've missed them more than hit them.
Again, I would think you'd better visit your huckleberry patch every once in a while to scout them out, then to get them before someone else does.
Oh, about places to pick them. I've sworn on a stack of canned huckleberry syrup jars that I wouldn't give away huckleberry sweet spots.
Rocks at C.J. Strike
Q.: I thought I'd give you a heads-up in case you haven't already heard that there are shallow rocks between the new break-water jetty that they just installed at the Air Force launch at C.J. Strike Reservoir and the first buoy towards the dam.
I came in close to the buoy and hit some rocks just under the surface and tore up my prop.
When I took it to the prop repair shop I told them about it, and they said they had already heard and have had to repair several props that hit the same rocks I did.
I wonder if Fish and Game knows about this and is going to do something?
BOB HUNTLEY, e-mail
A: Thanks for the heads-up. I'm sure boaters and anglers will appreciate knowing about the rock jetty.
I've been trying to track this thing down for a couple of weeks.
It's a break-water to protect the shoreline while work is being done on the North Park Campground at the reservoir.
The Idaho Statesman is pleased to offer this opportunity to share information and observations about what's in the news. Some comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate but ask that you remain on topic. Comments that are profane, personal attacks or otherwise inappropriate are subject to removal.
@Nyx.CommentBody@