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Vol. 97, No. 27

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NESS Business brings

food, flowers and one special toad together Page 5

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TS North Bend has a world champ in teen power lifter Page 6

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North Bend’s Mountain Film Festival eyes local vistasBY SETH TRUSCOTT

Editor

For three years, the North Bend Mountain Film Festival has brought international perspectives on the great out-doors to the big screen.

This fall, Valley film-

makers get their moment in the limelight at North Bend Theatre as part of the Outdoor Amateur Film Challenge. Filmmakers were invited to submit 15-minute, PG-rated outdoor films to the challenge this fall. The

winning film and other run-ners-up will be played at the festival, which begins Sunday, Dec. 5 with showings of “Eye Trip” and “Revolver,” and culminates with the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Dec. 8 and 9.

To Martin Volken, owner of Pro Ski Guiding Service, the festival is a major coup for North Bend.

“It’s part of the plan to make the North Bend community be what we’re saying we are,” Volken said. “We want to be

an authentic town that cares about the outdoors.”

The film challenge prize includes four tickets to the North Bend Banff Film Festival. The top three films will be featured on the city’s website.

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Master hunters David Wyrick and Steve Perry eye surroundings from the Scott farm near the Snoqualmie River’s Three Forks. Wyrick, of Carnation, and Perry, of Snohomish, are among nine hunters authorized to kill elk this winter by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. A special season runs through March and is meant to increase the local herd’s aversion to humans while slowing its growth.

North Bend man, 31, slashed across chest

By Valley Record Staff

A 31-year-old North Bend man was treated for stab wounds, report-edly inflicted by his 30-year-old brother Monday afternoon in a parking lot in the 42900 block of Southeast North Bend Way.

A witness called police at 1:10 p.m. to report the incident. The two brothers had been arguing when the younger one pulled out a folding knife and slashed the older brother, leaving a six-inch-long cut in the victim’s chest.

King County Sheriff ’s Deputies throughout the Snoqualmie Valley responded to the call within three minutes, and began processing the crime scene. Eastside Fire & Rescue treated the victim on-site and trans-ported him to Overlake Hospital.

The seven deputies on the scene interviewed witnesses and tracked the suspect to a heavily wooded area about 200 yards from the crime scene. The man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for assault, first degree. Bail has not been set.

The Sheriff ’s Office Major Crimes Unit will refer charges to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Brother arrested in parking lot stabbing

In special season, master hunters aim to decrease elk-human interaction

BY SETH TRUSCOTTEditor

Dusk fell quietly as David Wyrick and Steve Perry took their positions inside the barn and readied their rifles. Motionless, without speaking, the men settled in their darkened blind, waiting for the perfect moment to make a kill.

Both men are master hunters, allowed to kill one cow elk this fall in a culling project approved by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Their vantage point, a cow shed near the Snoqualmie River’s Three Forks, allowed them a view onto a nearby pas-ture. Mist-wreathed trees in the distance marked the extent of their kill zone. The men only had a hundred yards or so to make a safe shot, and as master hunters, that is the only one they are allowed to take.

Hunting to save the herd

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“If there is any question about it, you don’t have a shot,” said Perry, a Carnation resident and master hunter of eight years. “Our number one thing here is safe-ty, and relations with landowners and neighbors. We’re in their back yard.”

Earlier, North Bend resident and Master Hunter Coordinator Jim Gildersleeve met with the hunters to show them the lay of the land and how to do their job safely.

“It’s important that they understand this area,” said Gildersleeve, who works with hunters to find permitted, private sites.

At the Scott farm at Three Forks, Gildersleeve explained how topogra-phy and a nearby road defined safe and unsafe shooting lines. From the barn, the men had an ideal view. Poised to waylay passing elk, the hunters were aiming downhill; any missed shot would pass harmlessly into the earth.

This year, hunters have been autho-rized to kill 42 cows, with master hunters receiving 25 permits. So far, nine elk cows have been killed.

Gildersleeve is expecting a good sea-son, and the Scott property is a good place for a hunter to hide. The ripar-ian habitat is prime elk country, but the animals don’t respect property boundar-ies, leading to increased run-ins with residents and property owners. This fall, Nursery at Mount Si owner Nels Melgaard canceled autumn activities and closed his pumpkin patch because a noc-turnal herd had destroyed the field.

When combined with accidents, pre-dation and natural causes, the hunt is believed to keep the Valley herd stable in size, more spread out and more averse to human beings.

“The goal right now is to keep it level,” said Gildersleeve. A major study of elk habits and numbers is underway, and a constant population will help in getting that data, he said.

Elk have overbrowsed the Valley floor, Gildersleeve said.

“If we don’t keep the numbers under control, we’re going to have significant die-off, especially in a hard winter,” he said.

Hunted for the first time last year, the herd has already become more wary of humans.

“That’s a good thing,” Gildersleeve said. “That keeps the distance between the humans and the animals, and mini-mizes a lot of problems.”

Hunters must dress in orange, and hunt in permitted areas. They cannot shoot in city limits or a number of rural no-shooting areas. Meadowbrook farm elk are protected by custom.

Only cow elk are hunted. Individual property owners may relax some rules or make them more stringent, at their preference. The special season runs from August 1 through March 31.

Sometimes, residents contact law enforcement when they hear shots after the close of the regular season.

“People thought we were hunting illegally,” Gildersleeve said. “We’re doing

something that is legal and, we believe, in the best interest of the elk herd.”

Gildersleeve has advised some agen-cies of the harvest, but police visits some-times take a while to straighten out.

With the regular season over as of last Tuesday, he hopes to make the public aware of the project.

The special elk hunt can be cold, tir-ing work, but Wyrick, Perry and fellow hunter Fred Valenta, also of Carnation, are in their element.

On Monday afternoon, a snow-dusted Valenta emerged from the brush to greet his fellows.

“I love the snow,” said Valenta. The ground cover helps him see and track animals. “It’s more enjoyable to be out. You’ve just got to dress for the occasion.”

“You have to really man up,” Perry said. “It’s a test.”

Hunting offers a pursuit diametrically opposite from Perry’s workaday life. He became a master hunter to avoid oth-erwise-crowded public hunting venues, and enjoys the solitude of the pastime.

“You get to do a little soul searching, a little processing that you can never do at home,” he said. “When you’re out here by yourself, that’s a good day—whether you harvest anything or not.”

• When the special hunting season ends, the Upper Snoqualmie Valley Elk Management Group will resume its col-laring project, participating with local students. Sponsors are sought to partici-pate. Learn more at snoqualmievalleyelk.org.

Plane flip under investigationA single-engine plane flipped on its top in a landing

accident Sunday afternoon, Nov. 28, at the Bandera State Airport near Snoqualmie. No one was injured in the acci-dent, the King County Sheriff ’s Office reported.

The pilot, a 53 year-old Kirkland man, was flying the A-1b Aviat Husky airplane alone. The runway had about three feet of snow on it, but the pilot explained to authori-ties that he’d successfully landed on snow in the past and decided to try it. The wheels of the landing gear sank into the snow and caused the plane to flip upside down.

Sheriff ’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart said the Federal Aviation Administration was alerted about the incident and has taken over the investigation.

School to host bond info meetingsThe Snoqualmie Valley School District will host three

informational meetings about the February 2011 school bond proposition, starting next week. The public is wel-come to the meetings, all scheduled at Twin Falls Middle School, 46910 S.E. Middle Fork Road in North Bend, to learn and ask questions about the planned improvements to various district buildings.

Meetings will be Tuesday, Dec. 7, from 7 to 8 p.m., and Wednesday, Dec. 8, from noon to 1 p.m. A third meet-ing will be conducted online. Participants can watch the e-meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15. To attend the online meeting, visit the school district’s website (www.svsd410.org) and then click the E-meeting icon. Log in a few minutes before the presentation starts.

All of the meetings will include the same presentation.

Transition group looks at barterTransition Snoqualmie Valley will explore a local barter

exchange program at its “Potluck with a Purpose,” 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Carnation Tree Farm Loft.

Visitors can meet Francis Ayley of Fourth Corner Exchange and learn about a complementary currency option in its fourth year of operation.

To learn more, e-mail to launchpath@gmail.com.

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