Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 14

page b4 THURSday, aUgUST 1, 2013 aLBUQUERQUE JOURNaL INSIDe: PUZZLES B5 WEaTHER B6 TELEVISION B6 GO! Color run are you ready for the craziest 5K of your life? Color run is coming Sept. 7. Info thecolorrun.com CATCHES oF THE WEEK Carlos Zamora of Belen caught a 46-inch tiger muskie on Saturday at Bluewater Lake. He was using a gold Rapala. Travis Gentry of albuquerque caught a 36-inch northern pike on July 23 at Cochiti Lake.

He was using a black curly tail grub. rafael Dominguez, Jr. caught a 34-inch, 12.5-pound channel catfish on the Rio grande on Sunday. He was fishing the river above Elephant Butte Lake and using a night crawler. Mike rodriguez of El Paso caught a 21-inch walleye at Santa Rosa Lake on July 23.

He was using a topwater lure. nicholas Featherstone, 13, caught a 27-inch, 10-pound blue catfish at Sumner Lake on July 25. He was using cut bait. ArounD THE STATE TInGlEY BEACH: Fishing has been slow in all of the ponds. anglers have tried a variety of baits for catfish including hot dogs, liver and dough balls.

Some catfish are still being landed, but bluegill are being landed much more often. Kathy lang, curator HEron lAKE: Trolling for rainbow trout and Kokanee salmon has been extremely slow. Some small rainbows, 8 to 12 inches, are being caught in the Ridge Rock area. La Laja and Willow Creek boat ramps are out of the water and not usable by motorized boats. The park rangers are doing a good job putting fresh fill and gravel in the primitive ramp in the Ridge Rock area.

This ramp is usable by most boats including 24-foot pontoons. Four-wheel drive vehicles are advised to launch. Don Wolfley, Heron lake Guide Service SHADY lAKES: We restocked 1,000 pounds of rainbows Wednesday. Catch rates have been steady on nightcrawlers and salmon eggs primarily with most anglers able to land as many fish as they wish. Sizes are running 11 to 17 inches with a handful of 20-plus-inch trout that have yet to be caught.

They are likely hiding out in the grasses where water shoots into the pond. Currently, the Big Trout Pond is a mix of all sizes and will range from 11 inches and up. We will continue to keep our stocking up in the final weeks before school goes back in. Bass activity has picked up some with the advent of rain and cooler temperatures. Best bets remain plastic anythings frogs, crawdads or worms.

Bluegill activity as increased as well, with nightcrawlers offering the best of success. a group of truly impressive- sized bluegill have been hanging out at the fish-cleaning station. Jan Phillips, director ISlETA lAKES: Fishing is fair. Both lakes are murky with all the recent rains. a full stocking of catfish will take place this week.

Best baits for catfish are worms, garlic chicken liver and shrimp. No trout being reported caught. Katherine Gutierrez, Isleta lakes rV Park noTES from GAME FISH: a project to improve the dam and spillway at LaKE ROBERTS is scheduled to begin this week as the department of game and Fish starts to lower the water level about 10 feet. The lake and campgrounds will remain open. Trout fishing through the Quality Waters of the SaN JUaN was good using streamers, para hoppers, parachute adams, gnats, wooly buggers, small jigs and single barb- less hook spinners.

Fishing through the bait waters was fair to good using hoppers, copper John Barrs, spinners, salmon eggs and night crawlers. Fishing at ELEPHaNT BUTTE was fair to good using shrimp, liver and homemade dough bait for catfish. White bass fishing was good for the anglers who could find them. White Bombers, white grubs and sassy shad were the best baits. Trout fishing at QUEMadO LaKE was good using worms, salmon eggs, PowerBait, Pistol Petes, spinners and small spoons.

Fishing at CONCHaS LaKE was fair to good using chicken liver, homemade dough bait and night crawlers for catfish. at EagLE NEST LaKE, Kokanee and rainbow trout fishing was tough for some but good for others. anglers having the best luck were using light tackle and trolling arnies and Panther Martins tipped with corn. Fishing at COCHITI LaKE was a bit slow but there were a few catfish, smallmouth bass and northern pike caught this past week. gO! bRIeFS gO! TaKe a HIKe gO! RaCINg Fishing Line FISHING LINE gila forest road to reopen N.M.

Highway 152 is expected to be reopened on Aug. 5 after crews finish seeding and mulching the burn scar caused by the Silver Fire. Gila National Silver Fire Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) seeding and mulching are progressing well on the high burn severity said Tracy Weber, BAER Implementation Leader. About 11,500 acres of high-burn severity will be seeded with 2,800 acres mulched. An additional 1,447 acres will be seeded on the north end of the burned area.

Seeding reduces negative effects to downstream life, property and infrastructure by reducing erosion and water runoff. High-burn severity areas are being seeded with a quick germinating, annual barley seed that provides rapid ground cover for this year. After the first year of its application, the barley grass dies and does not return, Weber said. Native long-lasting species are also included in the seed mix to give the burned area a jump-start in its natural recovery, and provide for long-term ground cover. The seed mix is 47 percent barley with the remainder consisting of native seeds.

Seeding is being conducted from the air tanker base south of Hurley. Mulching also is going on at the same time with operations conducted out of Emory Pass off N.M. Highway 152. Information about the road closure is available at nmdot.com, or by calling 511. Fest for flying creatures The Summer Wings Festival at the Rio Grande Nature Center will give visitors a glimpse of the summer creatures bees, butterflies, dragonflies and hummingbirds.

Set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the event is free. Parking in the lot is $3. Activities include crafts for kids and a raffle of a painting of a sandhill crane. Information about the newest Albuquerque wildlife refuge, Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, will be presented by Jennifer Owen-White, the director.

The Rio Grande Nature Center is located at 2901 Candelaria NW. Here is a schedule of events: 8:30 a.m.: Tour of the nature native grassland restoration project with members of the Central New Mexico Audubon Society; 9-11 a.m.: Hummingbird banding and release with certified bander Bill Talbot; 11 a.m.: talk and on-site field trip with Karen Gaines of the University of New Mexico; 1 p.m.: Life Cycle of the presented by Tatia Veltkamp, director of Wings of Enchantment butterfly farm; 2 p.m.: Hummingbird talk and slide show by Bill Talbot; All day: Live birds with Wildlife Rescue. Hit bike trails at ski valley Taos Ski Valley has announced that it has opened several new attractions, including a beginner gravity-based cross-country trail, a newly designed professional disc golf course and a playground. Ski Valley is a great destination for cool temperatures and clean mountain air, especially now that the Carson National Forest is open said Alyson Hyder, executive director of the Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce. Taos Ski beginner gravity-fed flow trail and cross-country trail are free to the public and located around the Pioneers beginner slope.

The trail is .25 miles of continuous track with multiple rollers and berms which allow both novice riders to learn new bike handling skills and experienced riders to improve. Bike rentals are available in the village resort. Taos Ski Valley also is offering scenic chairlift rides, which are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under. In addition, on Saturday the ski valley will host the 8th annual 10K Up and Over Trail Run. Pre-registration is $30 and includes a T-shirt.

Race day registration is $35. Register online at active.com or visit taosskivalley.com/trailrun/registration. html. Camp out and help wolves Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, a nonprofit sanctuary for captive-bred wolves and wolf-dogs near Ramah and El Morro, will host a Saturday and Sunday A consists of making for the wolves. Guests are invited to camp, make listen to the wolves howl and take a tour.

The will be given to the wolves on the weekend of Aug. 10-11. Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary has been incorporated since 1994, and houses more than 60 captive-bred wolves and wolf-dogs. Most of them were rescued from abusive or neglectful situations. Since the animals were raised in a captive situation, they do not possess the skills necessary to survive in the wild and cannot be released.

Visit wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org for details and directions, or call 505-7753304. Stacey Glaser For the Journal A lbuquerque resident Rachel Hassler like most 18-year-olds. While her friends may be thinking about summer movies, vacations and carefree days away from school, Rachel is thinking about one thing only: How to win a national motorcycle championship. On Saturday and Sunday, the AIReS American Motorcyclist Association-North American Trials Council MotoTrials 2013 National Championship will take place at Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort, located on Highway 518, 20 miles south of Taos. The best riders will compete in this event.

If Hassler snags first place, be the youngest female ever to do so, said Chris Johnson, the past president of the New Mexico Trials Association. The MotoTrials 2013 National Championship is like the Grand Prix of motorcycle racing, although in this competition, the fastest rider get first prize. Unlike motocross (motorcycle racing) mototrials (or observed trials) are not about speed. Instead, trials are all about precision and technique, said Sipapu managing partner and trials rider Bruce Bolander. events are not a he said.

are a slow-speed, controlled balance and agility event done on a The New Mexico Trials Association is a strong one, Johnson said, and he expects Hassler, along with her older brother, Nathan Hassler, 20, to do well. Hasslers have been competing as a family since they were he said. running over the rest of us like got tire tread on our backs. some of the top riders in the had a lot of Rachel admits when she discusses her success. parents have given me a lot of opportunities to ride with really great riders.

Plus, the local people are always out there giving me tips or spotting Nathan (along with another Albuquerque standout, Samuel Fastle) will compete in the expert division, the class just below the professional division. Rachel will compete in the expert sportsman class, the highest level available this year in the division. Stacey glaser is the marketing director for Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort. Balancing act Young competitor is skilled in precision and technique of motocross PHOTO COURTESy OF THE HaSSLER FaMILy rachel Hassler, 18, rides a course near San Ysidro. By Nancy Tipton Of the Journal A recent Government Accountability Office report showing that the U.S.

Forest Service annual trail maintenance allocation amounts to 16 percent of the money needed does not surprise Kerry Wood, wilderness and trails program manager for the Sandia Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest. Nor does it surprise volunteers such as Tim Garner, secretary of the Placitas Area Trail Association. always a lack of money available for Wood said on a recent Sunday, as he and a group of about 20 volunteers headed up a trail in Tunnel Canyon, south of Tijeras, to repair damage caused by recent heavy rains. The trail segments the crew fixed over a four-hour period were part of a trail put in more than a decade ago, much of it by volunteers. Wood said because the trail was well- built, it sustain extensive damage.

Wood and one other employee are the only ones assigned to trails in the Sandia Ranger District, which covers 1,625,542 acres. The district has about 85 miles of established trails south of I-40. This area has gotten much of the attention from the Forest Service since Wood took the job nearly three years ago. And, much more work to do, he said. certainly more fun to build new Wood said.

But he said the goal is to take the network of existing trails and develop it into a system, adding that well-designed trails require less maintenance. In these days of where basic services such as trash pickup and restroom maintenance are threatened due to budget cuts, ranger districts across the country are counting more and more on volunteers to work on trails. And, Wood says, the Sandia district has been lucky for more than a decade to have groups willing to volunteer to do trail work. people come to volunteering on the trails because they use Garner said. really is a way to pay it Garner said he and about 100 other members of the Placitas group are anxious to get working on the Placitas Area Trails Project, which is in the first stages of the approval process.

group is pleased with how the plan is developing and are ready to do the he said. Other groups, Wood said, have interests in trails elsewhere in the district. And, he said, he hopes as the plans move forward, he can entrust the work to more trained volunteers. Wood said the trail projects now in the works be possible without a continuation of volunteer efforts. got some very dedicated he said.

NaNCy ABoVE: Kerry Wood, wilderness and trails program manager for the Cibola national Forest Sandia ranger District, works on the Tunnel Canyon trail south of Tijeras. lEFT: A crew rebuilds part of a rock wall damaged by recent heavy rainfall on the Tunnel Canyon trail. Maintaining Sandia mountain trails with shrinking Forest Service budgets takes a lot of volunteer effort on the If you go What: aIReS american Motorcyclist association North american Trials Council MotoTrials 2013 National Championship When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Where: Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort How much: Cost for entry is $10 for one day or $15 for both days, and the entry fee includes unlimited scenic chairlift rides.

Kids 12 and under are free More info: Sipapu Resort website at SipapuNM.com or call 800-587-2240.