At the annual Reforest Spokane Day event on Saturday, October 23, Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, The Lands Council, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Avista Utilities hosted hundreds of volunteers at Rimrock to Riverside, a connecting corridor between Riverside State Park and Palisades City Park, to plant 2,000 native trees and shrubs.

The area, home to moose, bobcats, coyotes, and smaller mammals, is being restored to a seasonal wetland. The plants will help shade the overhauled ponds, helping to retain standing water well into the summer months for passing wildlife, insects, and frogs that call the area home.

Reforest Spokane, an annual event for the Lands Council, brings the community together every year to learn about local ecosystems and work to make them stronger. Find out more at LandsCouncil.org.

Volunteers planted 2000 trees and shrubs for Reforest Spokane. // Photos courtesy of The Lands Council

View more photos from the Reforest Spokane event at landscouncil.org/reforest-spokane-day.

Find more stories about wildlife and conservation visit the OTO archives.

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Participants can choose from a variety of activities—a birding hike with local author and historian Jack Nisbet, stewardship projects like removing trash and barbed wire to make the area safer for humans and wildlife, or a guided bike ride.

Wrap up your afternoon of adventure with a status update on INLC efforts to raise $500,000 to purchase additional recreation and conservation lands in the area and to learn about plans for the future of this important land.

Register for the event at Inlandnwland.org and share your images from the Saltese area using #MoreSaltesePlease to help us tell this story.

Visit the OTO archives to learn more and read stories about the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy or recreation and stewardship efforts at Saltese Uplands Conservation Area.

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During this field day from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. volunteers will help collect biological information including plant species identification, wildlife data collection, soil sampling, and forest canopy analysis. No experience is necessary. INLC staff and group leaders will provide the tools and resources volunteers will need. 

Visit Inlandnwland.org for more information and to sign up.

Learn more about the Waikiki Springs area in this story from the OTO archives.

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The north Spokane recreation area commonly referred to as Waikiki Springs nearly doubles this fall as Inland Northwest Land Conservancy (INLC) announces the purchase of a 95-acre parcel of land adjacent to existing 114-acre Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife property along the Little Spokane River.The land, part of the Waikiki Dairy in the early 1900s and ancestral home of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, provides beautiful habitat for local plants and animals, and is home to ideal spawning grounds for native fish.  

The newly acquired parcel was platted for development but has been conserved for public access, conservation, and habitat restoration, through a partnership among INLC, the Spokane Tribe, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Permanent protection of this vital piece of near-urban wildlife habitat has been a priority of neighbors and community groups for many years. The purchase was funded, thanks to the leadership of Representative Marcus Riccelli, support from Senator Andy Billig, and by the taxpayers of Washington State.  

The name “Waikiki,” meaning “spouting fresh water,” references the natural springs throughout the area that pour cold, clear aquifer water into the Little Spokane River. This influx of water keeps the river cool in the summer and moderate in the winter, further enhancing its value as habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife.

The hiking trails can be accessed from the north end of Fairwood Drive off Mill Road near Mead High School. As land manager, INLC will work closely with the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Department of Fish & Wildlife to improve habitat and enhance recreation opportunities. More info at Inlandnwland.org.

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Traditional travel corridors for many wildlife species have been blocked or are under threat. Agriculture and urbanization account for over 43 percent of the earth’s land, and the remaining habitat is intersected by roadways and resource extraction. In some cases this has led to fragmentation or decline in populations. 

Wildlife use corridors to move from areas of low resources to areas of high resources. Elk, pronghorn, caribou, and other large mammals travel hundreds of miles from lower elevation winter grounds to higher summer ranges. These summer grounds are abundant in food with enough resources to rear offspring and store calories for the winter. The almost 200,000 member porcupine caribou herd is one of the only barren-ground herd that is thriving. These animals travel 1,500 miles, the longest mammal migration on Earth, from their calving grounds on the coastal plains of Alaska’s Beaufort Sea Arctic (parts of which are in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to their winter shelter of the boreal forest of northwest Canada.  

Movement through these corridors allow for genetic diversity. Animals can find mates outside their family group, reducing issues that stem from low genetic diversity—including more susceptibility to diseases and populations being unable to cope with changes to their environments. One of the struggles to grizzly bear recovery is the movement of animals between different recovery zones where they can find mates and broaden their gene pool. 

There are several nearby projects that are helping to enhance wildlife movement. Just east of Snoqulamie Pass is an overpass designed to move animals, not cars. This area of I-90 sits in the middle of the North Cascades and creates a blockage for many animal species, not to mention collisions with wildlife. The overpass is planted with native vegetation and fences paired with an underpass crossing lets animals move north and south along the mountains.  

In the greater Spokane area, the work of Spokane’s Inland Northwest Land Conservancy helps to maintain habitat and connect corridors. The Rimrock to Riverside project is working to connect land between Palisades Park to Riverside State Park, allowing animals like moose, mule deer and coyotes to travel from the river to upland habitats. Hikers, runners, and mountain bikers will also take advantage of such corridors. 

Maintaining and creating wildlife corridors is a way we humans can support healthy wildlife populations, but they also give us green zones and trail connections to recreate and enjoy nature.

Adam Gebauer enjoys running and biking along his local wildlife corridors and his dog enjoys that deer use them too. He last wrote American white pelicans. 

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First, it will connect two of the biggest public recreation land areas on the edge of downtown Spokane together for hikers, mountain bikers, trail runners, and equestrians.

Second, it will protect an 11-mile habitat corridor that connects downtown Spokane northward to Long Lake.

Best of all, this project is not just a whimsical dream; the groundwork has already been laid. Community agencies and government support is already in place, and the only remaining piece of the puzzle is rallying user support.

You can donate to the Rimrock to Riverside Project through the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy and learn more at Inlandnwland.org.

Find more stories about Inland Northwest Land Conservancy in the OTO archives.

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