Dispatches

Women’s workshop will teach outdoor skills

Registration is open for a women-in-the-outdoors workshop that will be held in September. Women will learn the basics of fishing, hunting and other outdoor skills at the weekend workshop.

The annual workshop will be Sept.18-20 at Camp Waskowitz near North Bend. It is presented by Washington Outdoor Women, a nonprofit program that teaches outdoor skills and natural resource stewardship to women.

Now in its 18th year, Washington Outdoor Women is an educational outreach program of the Washington Wildlife Federation.

Certified and experienced instructors will teach 16 classes, including sessions on archery, basic freshwater fishing, fly fishing and fly tying, big-game hunting basics, map and compass reading, survival skills, beekeeping, birding, duck hunting, and first aid.

Several state Department of Fish and Wildlife staff members are among the workshop’s 28 volunteer instructors, including biologists Stacie Kelsey, who teaches “Basic Freshwater Fishing,” and Laura Till, who teaches “Map and Compass.”

Workshop participants must be at least 18 years old and must have a current Washington recreational fishing license to participate in the fly-fishing sessions.

Registration is $275 a person. More information about the conference is available at washingtonoutdoorwomen.org. Partial scholarships are available from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for first-time participants.

Surfrider chapter plans Purdy beach cleanup

The South Sound chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will hold a beach cleanup Saturday at the Purdy Spit.

Chapter members and volunteers will work from noon-2 p.m. removing trash and debris from the beach along state Route 302.

The chapter holds a cleanup somewhere in the South Sound each month.

For more information, send an email to sssurfrider@gmail.com.

Youths can shoot shotguns at JBLM event

Youths ages 8-16 will have a chance Saturday to learn safe firearms handling and to fire shotguns at clay pigeons.

The Joint Base Lewis-McChord Youth Shotgun Shoot will run from 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at the JBLM MWR Shotgun Shooting Complex, Building 3969.

This event is put on with volunteers from JBLM Pheasant Releaser and Pheasants Forever Chapter 257. State-certified hunter education instructors will give a safety briefing prior to handling any firearms.

There is no cost for participants, including the use of the range and free shells. Hearing and eye protection will be provided.

A free lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soda will be provided to all by Mount Rainier Railroad Dining Co. and Pizza Express in Elbe.

For information and registration, contact Bill Ostrander at 253-847-3979 or 253-967-7056.

This story was originally published August 8, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Dispatches."