BURLEY — A 13-year-old boy drowned Friday after he was pinned underneath an ATV in a canal near Burley.

Cassia County Sheriff deputies were sent to 450 E. 250 S. at 5:30 p.m. in response to a 911 call saying the sister of the boy found him in the ditch underneath a 4-wheeler, according to a Cassia County sheriff’s report.

Cassia County Undersheriff George Warrell said the boy, Jared Stanley Zollinger, died after he lost control of the vehicle on a canal road and landed in a ditch that was half-full of water.

“He was eastbound on the canal bank and he lost control at a curve and overturned it in the ditch. He was pinned underneath it,” Warrell said.

The boy’s father, an emergency medical technician, was at the scene performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on him when officers arrived, according to the report.

The boy had left his residence about 4:20 p.m. When he did not return in about 15 to 20 minutes, family members started looking for him.

The boy’s sister had been out driving eastbound and found the crash.

Warrell said the boy had been wearing a helmet.

CHALLIS, Idaho (AP) — Officials in central Idaho say a Pennsylvania man had to be rescued after falling on Idaho’s tallest mountain, triggering a small avalanche.

According to the Custer County Sheriff’s office, 23-year-old Hao Yan of Devin, Pennsylvania, fell Saturday while climbing the north face of Mount Borah — which summits at 12,657 feet and attracts climbers from all over the world annually.

Dispatchers say Yan called 911 with his cellphone around 9:30 p.m. while lying partially buried in the snow.

Rescue crews then called a Montana helicopter team to help in the retrieval effort. The helicopter team spotted Yan early Sunday morning, where he was flown to an ambulance and treated for severe hypothermia.

Yan told rescue crews he was climbing alone and fell, injuring his back.

A push to get Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve designated as a national park is on hold, and the idea’s backers aren’t optimistic that it will go anywhere anytime soon given the political situation.

“We kind of had to take a step back for a while,” said Rose Bernal, a Butte County Commissioner who has been helping lead the push for the designation for the past few years.

One reason, she said, is because this is an election year, which is always a more difficult time to get anything passed. Another, she said, is the political climate in Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration has been looking to reduce the size and scope of national monuments. While the U.S. Department of the Interior didn’t recommend any changes to Craters after a review late last year, Bernal said now might not be the right time to try to create a new national park.

The third reason, she said, is that the Idaho Farm Bureau opposes the idea. With them against it, Bernal said she doesn’t expect a resolution backing a national park to pass the state Legislature.

“No matter what kind of answers we bring to their questions, it’s more of an ideological argument, ‘We hate the government,’” Bernal said. “How do we argue with that?”

Supporters of the change want the federal government to redesignate the national monument portion of Craters, which encompasses the iconic lava fields and rock formations, as a national park, saying it will boost tourism.

A May report from Headwaters Economics found that “in the Intermountain West, from 2000 to 2016, recreation visits to national parks increased while visits to national monuments decreased. Importantly, national parks saw a much faster increase in overnight visits, which have great economic impact in the surrounding region.”

Supporters have said they don’t want to see any changes in how the land is managed now and that the park designation wouldn’t change it.

However, the Idaho Farm Bureau is still against it, said spokesman Sean Ellis. He cited concerns that a national park designation could lead to the federal government putting additional restrictions on livestock grazing in the national preserve section or on alfalfa growers that use U.S. Highway 20, which passes through the monument portion, to move their product from the Upper Valley to the dairies in the Magic Valley.

“We’re not trying to restrict the economy in that area by any means at all,” he said. “We just have serious concerns about how it could impact agriculture if the monument does receive park status.”

Local county commissions have passed resolutions backing the idea, and Butte County voters gave 57 percent support to the idea in a nonbinding referendum in 2016. Bernal argued that this should count for more than an expression of a lack of support from the state, saying county commissioners are closer to the people and lobbyists aren’t a factor at the local level.

“To me that’s a purer form of support,” she said.

However, any change would require an act of Congress, and Idaho’s federal lawmakers have said they would want to see official support from the state government, which hasn’t been forthcoming.

“What we kind of all agreed to was we were going to follow the lead of the state Legislature,” Lindsay Nothern, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, said earlier this week.

A resolution backing the concept passed the Senate in 2017 but never got a vote in the House. The idea didn’t come up again during this year’s session, and one of its backers, Sen. Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, is retiring and won’t be there in 2019.

BURLEY, Idaho (AP) — Officials in south-central Idaho are trying to figure out what caused most, if not all, of the fish in a fishing pond to die.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game tells The Times-News in a story on Thursday that the die-off at Freedom Park Pond in Burley occurred between Saturday morning and Sunday evening.

Doug Megargle of Idaho Fish and Game says that about 4,300 fish were planted in the past six weeks for anglers, but the agency doesn’t think there are any fish left to catch in the pond.

Megargle says results from tests on water samples are pending.

He says that if people caught fish from the pond, they can delay eating them until the cause of the fish kill is determined.

Ducks Unlimited is putting on a big outdoor show titled The Great Northwest Outdoor Expo from June 29 to July 1 in Nampa. I’m excited. I think they have a good game plan and it has the potential to quickly become the largest outdoor show in the Northwest.

One thing I like about their format is that they’re making it family-friendly. They’re not just trying to appeal to the outdoorsman, it is programmed to be interactive. It would be hard to cover everything in one day so the entry prices are designed to make it attractive to attend multiple days. They want to have enough events and seminars so it will be a two- or three-day experience for you. Look for it to grow every year.

I assume that there will be all of the exciting normal type of vendors. Fishing guides, hunting guides, dude ranches where you can take the family for the summer and so forth. And then of course there will be booths selling outdoor gear so you can stock up for your yearly outdoor activities.

On a sidenote, one thing that might surprise you is how many outdoor items are produced right here in little ole Idaho. I find out about new companies every year. For example, Cordova Coolers. Many people are blowing up their Yeti coolers since Yeti sold out on supporting the NRA and are going to Cordova. I’ve got to find out more about them.

I’m not even going to try to list all of the local outdoor manufacturers because I’d miss half of them. They include safes, knife companies, blackpowder bullets, ammo, gun manufacturers, calls, backpacks and the list goes on and on. So hopefully there are booths showing some Idaho products.

I notice on their website that they have listed “taxidermy and art championship.” I’m interested to see what that is about. Hopefully there are some displays from our local and super talented taxidermists. These guys are artists.

Seminars

I love going to outdoor seminars and it looks like they have a good selection of speakers to chose from. I know quite a few of the speakers and they’re knowledgeable and you’ll learn something. I’m interested in some of the cooking seminars for sure. I’m friends with Steve Weston and Randy King and have books from both of them. Steve used to always be doing seminars where I was and kept me nourished.

Rockie Jacobsen puts on good elk seminars. I’ve heard him speak numerous times. I’ll have three Small Game Hunting With Air Rifle seminars. Crosman donated a cool NP Elite Powered Break Barrel Air Rifle (Model: BTN2Q2CX). We’ll have a drawing after the last seminar and someone out of the three seminars will be the lucky winner.

The airgun seminars will be held on Friday at 6, Saturday at 1 and Sunday at 2. Then we will conduct a Knife Sharpening seminar at 12 p.m. on Saturday and a Choosing The Proper Knife for The Outdoorsman seminar on Sunday at 12 p.m. Dexter Russell has donated a sweet boning knife. We’ll have a drawing after both of the knife seminars and two lucky people will win a 6-inch boning knife. The first 24 attendees to the Knife Sharpening seminar will receive a little 2-step sharpener and we’ll hold a drawing for a diamond stone.

Elk Calling Contest

I think one popular event is going to be the elk calling competition, which is being held at 11 a.m. on Saturday. For more info on this event, go to their website and check out the rules.

There is no way I can cover this show adequately in one short article. I’ll wrap it up by saying that if you’re new to Idaho, this is your chance to get acclimated to one of the best things Idaho has to offer — her outdoors. Come check it out and speed up your learning curve. It should be a fun show.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana.

Basic Ticket Info

Ducks Unlimited is putting on The Great Northwest Outdoor Expo at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Friday, June 29, 12 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, June 30, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 1 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Prices

One Day Pass

Adult $8.00 + fee

Senior 60+ $5.00 + fee

Military $5.00 + fee

2 and under are FREE

Weekend Pass $16.00 + fee

Family 4-Pack $24.00 + fee

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI2) — A protective mamma coyote isn’t messing around in the Boise Foothills.

Ridge to Rivers said recently that it’s received two reports of a coyote following hikers and tussling with dogs along Crestline Trail in the Boise Foothills trail system.

“Idaho Fish and Game suspects that there is likely a den nearby and that the response from the coyote is a result of that,” Ridge to Rivers said on social media.

The Crestline Trail is a very popular hiking and mountain biking trail along the ridge line of the foothills near the North End of Boise. Officials are encouraging trail users to keep dogs leashed in the area or avoid it.

SWAN VALLEY — Three people were rescued last Friday after their boat capsized on the Snake River.

The incident took place approximately 6 miles upstream from the Conant Boat Dock.

Deputies with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene at approximately 1:20 p.m. Friday, where they found that the reporting party was able to pull all three occupants of the capsized boat out of the water.

Authorities said none of the three occupants, two adult males and a male juvenile, were injured, but they needed to be warned up because of the river’s cold temperatures. The juvenile was the only one who was wearing a life jacket.

After the incident, the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release adising boaters to be prepared for an emergency and to always wear a life jacket.

Due to cold temperatures and high water levels in the Snake River, police said multiple hazards exist, including floating debris and hypothermia.

“Even with warmer temperatures outside, the cold water this time of year can quickly put a person into a hypothermia emergency and severely hamper the ability to self-rescue or assist in rescuing others,” the news release.

BURLEY — Shoshone Falls will soon give one more show before going dry in August.

The Bureau of Reclamation is releasing water from dams on the Snake River above Shoshone Falls because heavy rains since Saturday maxed out the Upper Snake River system. The result will be 10,000 cubic feet per second of water over the falls for about a week, said Brian Stevens, a civil engineer with the bureau in Heyburn.

Several inches of rain fell since Saturday morning at Glade Creek (2.5 inches) and Snake River Station (2.1 inches), both above Jackson Lake in Wyoming, a bureau press release said. About 1.65 inches fell at Valley View, above Island Park.

That’s a big watershed,” Stevens said Tuesday. “Just a couple inches of rain means a lot of water.”

Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir are large lakes that were able to contain a lot of the runoff, he said.

“At 97 percent capacity, Palisades still had a lot of storage left.”

But Grassy Lake, Henrys Lake, Island Park, Ririe Reservoir and American Falls Reservoir are 100 percent of capacity, according to the bureau.

On Monday, the bureau planned to increase discharge from 16,200 cubic feet per second to 19,000 cfs at American Falls Dam, and from 14,900 cfs to 15,400 cfs at Minidoka Dam.

Closer to home, Milner Reservoir was 83 percent full as of Tuesday. The bureau increased discharge at Milner to 7,500 at noon and will increase it to 10,000 Wednesday, Stevens said.

The bureau looks about 10 days ahead to plan for flood control, he said. Most of the rain recently forecasted has fallen, but small pockets of rainfall continue.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The long-billed curlew bird population is declining in southwestern Idaho because of poachers, researchers said.

One of the birds was poached in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area southwest of Boise on June 1, Boise State University researchers said.

Of the 16 birds fitted with transmitters, it’s the seventh that has been killed by suspected poachers since 2013, the Idaho Statesman reported.

None of the 50 birds fitted with transmitters located in other parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have been poached, according to researchers.

Curlews are migratory birds that reside in the Mountain West from March to June and spend their winters along the coasts of California and Mexico.

In southwest Idaho, their numbers are on a steep decline, with as much as a 90 percent decrease in some areas.

One of the main reasons for the decline is humans, researchers found.

“The proportions are alarming,” said Jay Carlisle, associate research professor at Boise State University and research director of the Intermountain Bird Observatory.

Carlisle and his group focus their research on understanding the reproductive success of the curlews in different habitats as well as studying migratory patterns using lightweight satellite transmitters.

The curlew poached earlier this month was found by two of Carlisle’s researchers, Stephanie Coates and Joni Clapsadle. The female bird had been shot through the wing and body, indicating that she was sitting on the ground when killed, close to her nest.

“This female was simply shot because she was there,” a release from the Intermountain Bird Observatory said.

Recently, the birds appear to have been killed for no other reason than target practice — or worse, for no reason at all, Carlisle said.

The curlew is neither an endangered nor threatened species, but it is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Killing a curlew is a federal crime — a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $15,000 fine and six months in jail.

Public outreach is the key to saving the species, Carlisle said. He stresses the importance of informing land managers and the community at large.

“In a decade, we may have a place named the Long-Billed Curlew Habitat Area of Critical Environmental Concern that doesn’t have curlews anymore,” he said. “How sad would that be?”

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Researchers say long-billed curlews are declining in southwestern Idaho due to poachers.

The Idaho Statesman reports researchers at Boise State University say a curlew was poached in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area southwest of Boise on June 1.

It was the seventh of the 16 birds fitted with transmitters that have been killed by suspected poachers since 2013.

Researchers say none of the 50 birds fitted with transmitters located in other parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have been poached.

Curlews are migratory birds that reside in the Mountain West from March to June and spend their winters along the coasts of California and Mexico.

In southwest Idaho, their numbers on a steep decline, with as much as a 90 percent decrease in some areas.

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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com