BRIEFLY

BRI E FLY

Beware the bears

OLYMPIA - The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) warns the public of bear activity in northeast Washington. Northeast Washington has seen a significant amount of bear activity in recent weeks.

From black bears in trees in Colville neighborhoods to a grizzly traveling around the area, it has been a busy time for WDFW staff as they work to keep our communities safe for both humans and wildlife.

In many of the bear interactions the agency encounters, they find that there is something either attracting a bear to an area or something keeping it there. That is often unsecured garbage, bird feeders, barbecues, or chicken coops or beehives that don’t have electric fencing around them.

The common denominator is usually that the bear is finding an easy meal so is tempted into an area that is too close to humans or overstays its welcome in an area instead of moving on quickly.

April showers arrived in

May

SACHEEN LAKE - The April showers that were missing in action last month, finally arrived this month, local weather watcher Bob Lutz says. With high pressure finally retreating, several moist frontal systems were able to pass through the Northwest providing several opportunities for some much-needed precipitation.

“In fact, temperatures were even cool enough at times to produce some snow in the higher mountain peaks,” Lutz says. Lutz runs the local weather Climate Hawk website. Overall, precipitation for the month came in above normal for a change, thanks in part to an exceptionally wet storm on May 22. The unsettled conditions also resulted in a wide fluctuation in temperatures, and some gusty winds at times.

The temperature averaged 52.8 degrees Fahrenheit, with the temperature reaching 85 degrees May 10 and again May 12, the highest temperatures of the month. The lowest temperature came May 1, when he says the low reached 24 degrees.

Lutz measured 3.14 inches of precipitation for the month. It rained on 15 days, he says.

First awards to state employees for improving efficiency

OLYMPIA — The Productivity Board, a state employee incentive program of the Office of the Secretary of State, voted unanimously to award two state workers up to $200 each for their ideas to save the state money.

The Productivity Board encourages all state employees to help save taxpayers’ money by offering up to $10,000 for a successful employee proposal to increase government efficiency. First created by the Legislature in 1982, the Productivity Board saved the state millions of dollars before it was shut down in 2011 due to budget constraints.

More than 65 suggestions have been submitted since Secretary of State Steve Hobbs restarted the Productivity Board in January.