Crystal Mountain is pondering adding night skiing operations, ski area spokeswoman Tiana Enger confirmed recently.

The ski area sent out a 20-question survey to season tickets holders and members of its mailing list asking for feedback on what they’d like to see in terms of night skiing.

Among the questions: Would night skiing bring you to the mountain more? And would you be more likely to spend the night at the mountain if night skiing is offered?

Crystal has offered night skiing in the past, but not in recent seasons.

The Summit at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass, both smaller than Crystal, offer the most extensive night skiing operations in the state.

Crystal officials are collecting survey results through the end of the month. It is unclear how soon they will make a decision.

The first morning clam dig of the season will open Friday at Twin Harbors and Mocrocks beaches. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife just announced that clams were safe to eat.

Digging at those beaches will run through Sunday. Long Beach and Copalis will be open Saturday and Sunday only.

With the low tide occuring in the morning, digging on all beaches must be completed by noon.

As long as the weather cooperates, the weekend should be good for clam digging, said Dan Ayres, state coastal shellfish manager.

"This is the first opportunity of the season to dig clams on morning tides," Ayres said in a prepared statement. "People should start digging at least an hour before low tide even though it makes for an early day."

The low tide times are: Friday, 7:49 a.m. , 0 feet; Saturday, 8:29 a.m., -0.4 feet; and Sunday, 9:12 a.m., -0.6 feet.

Any 2008 Washington state annual shellfish/seaweed license or combination license is valid for the March opener, but diggers will need a 2009-10 license for digs scheduled after April 1. A license is required for anyone age 15 or older. Razor-clam only licenses are also available in annual or three-day only versions.

Click here for descriptions of the various licensing options.

Harvesters are allowed to take no more than 15 razor clams and must keep the first 15 they dig, regardless of size or condition. Each digger's clams must be kept in a separate container.

Ayres said more digs will likely be announced following the openers already scheduled for April. Twin Harbors is set to be open April 10-12 and April 25-27. Long Beach and Twin Harbors would be open April 11-12 and April 25-27. Copalis and Mocrocks would be open just April 26-27.

"There's a good chance we'll have enough clams to offer additional digging opportunities on some beaches in May," he said in a release.
Kalaloch Beach in Olympic National Park will remain closed because test digging showed the clams have not grown to harvestable size, Ayres said.

The state just announced that anglers will get an extra day each week to catch spring chinook on the lower Klickitat River.

Here is the rest of the release:

Action: Klickitat River anglers will be able to fish Sundays in addition to the Monday, Wednesday and Saturday weekly schedule.

Species affected: Chinook and steelhead

Effective dates: April 1 through May 31.

Location: Klickitat River from mouth to the Fisher Hill Bridge (located about 3 miles upstream from the mouth).

Daily limits: Daily limit is one hatchery chinook or hatchery steelhead. Release all wild chinook and wild steelhead. Minimum size 12 inches for salmon and 20 inches for steelhead.

Reason for action: This year, 2,000 spring chinook are expected to return to the Klickitat River, twice the size of last year’s actual return. After consulting with the Yakama Indian Nation an extra weekend day of sport fishing was added. This will allow anglers more time to target surplus hatchery spring chinook returning to the Klickitat Salmon Hatchery.