Wildfire smoke has triggered an air quality statement for areas in the South Thompson, including Ashcroft and Cache Creek.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Feb. 16, 17, 18 and 19, at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve.

One rancher told the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal that he and a herd of 100 cows were nearly trapped by the back-burn and that he had to abandon some of them in a bid to get to safer ground.