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Outdoors

National park asks for some help

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its nonprofit science research partner, Discover Life in America, need the public’s help with their Smokies Most Wanted program. The initiative allows visitors to help preserve park species by recording sightings on their smartphones using the iNaturalist app. Smokies Most Wanted encourages visitors to document any organism they encounter while exploring the Smokies. Discover Life in America uses the data to record new park species, detect invasive species and learn more about understudied or rare species. Smokies ...

Senators introduce bill to end wolf protection

The Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin’s two U.S. senators are moving to end protections for gray wolves across most of the United States. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday that Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill earlier this week to remove protections for the wolf. Wyoming’s two Republican U.S. senators, Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso, have joined them. The bill comes after a federal judge in California last month ordered protections be restored for wolves across most of the U.S. after the Trump administration removed them ...

If spring is in the air, turkey hunters will smell it

By Shirley Grenoble sports@altoonamirror.com The turkey hunter’s heart begins to flutter in anticipation when the month of March is close. Wildlife science has always maintained that it is not weather, the moon or any other thing that sets off the breeding season for wild things but ...

Everett rifle wins state titles

DUBOIS — The Everett Area High School rifle team captured its 11th and 12th state championships last weekend. Everett won both the smallbore and air rifle titles in the 2022 PA Interscholastic High School 3-P Smallbore and Precision Air Rifle Championships. Joey Kovach led the way in smallbore with a score of 563, which was good for third overall in the state, followed by Laim Tegeler (561, seventh), Trey Myers (557, 11th) and George Kuhne (547, 19th). Everett won with a 2,228, followed by Conemaugh Township (2,199) and DuBois (2,186). Tegeler finished fifth overall in air ...

Back to business as usual for PGC

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners will be able to conduct official business at its next meeting. Commissioners Stanley I. Knick Jr., of Dupont, and Michael F. Mitrick, of York, were recently reappointed to the District 7 and District 6 seats on the board, respectively, bringing the board to a quorum of commissioners. The board, which is required by law to hold a meeting in January, met Jan. 28 and 29 in Harrisburg, hearing reports from Game Commission staff and accepting public comment. The board, however, was unable to take up its prepared agenda because ...

Snow goose migration underway

HARRISBURG — The annual snow goose migration is expected to peak in the next few weeks at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, offering wildlife enthusiasts a unique viewing experience. “The lake is still partially frozen, except for the center, which is completely full of snow geese right now,” said Lauren Ferreri, Game Commission Biological & Visitor Manager at Middle Creek. “We should be at 50,000 soon and experience peak numbers toward the end of February,” she added. Snow geese and tundra swans begin their migration when the first new plant shoots emerge in the ...