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94 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, May 26, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Britt Festival Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Biz Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 29, 2005 BOW to offer scuba diving and spearfishing programs By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune The state’s popular Becoming an Outdoors Woman seminars has been taking women into Oregon’s woods and waters to introduce them to the outdoors. Now the BOW program is going under water to do the same. BOW plans to hold two programs this summer, teaching scuba diving and spearfishing off the Oregon coast. The course is a pilot program offered through BOW by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Participants will earn basic open-water scuba certification through a specialized National Geographic-designed diving course. The course will include focus on Oregon marine identification and diving difficulties in Oregon’s largely cold and murky near-shore seas. The courses will be offered in Salem. Graduates will be invited to join other certified divers for a spearfishing training session July 30 at Waldo Lake, a high-Cascade lake 58 miles east of Eugene. Advertisement They will follow up with an Aug. 27 spearfishing trip to Cape Lookout, 12 miles southwest of Tillamook. "A lot of folks are really excited about it," says Paula Booth, ODFW’s outdoor skills and natural resources education coordinator in Salem. "We plan on continuing the spearfishing events throughout the summer, assuming it all goes well." One of the certification classes begins Saturday in Salem and runs seven consecutive Saturdays. A second course series starts May 10 and includes evening courses on Tuesday and Thursdays for five weeks. Each certification course is limited to 10 people. The fishing classes are limited to 30 divers, all of whom must be certified. The certification courses cost $400, while the fishing seminars cost $40 each. However, participants can pay just $420 to be certified and attend both seminars. "We got a deal on the certification course," Booth says ."If it goes well, we hope we can work something out with dive centers across the state." Divers who are scuba-certified and have experience in Pacific Northwest waters can skip the certification and participate in the dives. For more information and registration, call Booth at 503-947-6016 or visit ODFW at www.dfw.state.or.us on the Web. Booth says BOW’s move into the sea came after talking with certified divers who showed an interest in trying their hands at spearfishing. "After that, we just got talking around the office and got excited about it," Booth says. "We’re always looking to find new opportunities out there." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Auto Insurance Mesothelioma Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Payday Loans Advertisement s