WHERE WE WORK

It's in our nature

Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve

*Note: Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve will temporarily close July 15-August 15 for the Floodplain Restoration Project. Learn more about the Project here and stay tuned for progress updates.

Waikiki (or “spouting water”) Springs rests on the banks of the Little Spokane River. The 95-acre Nature Preserve is adjacent to Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife property of the same name. It is named for the myriad springs that flow from the hillside, into the river, keeping it a moderate temperature year-round. The vegetation along the riverbanks shade the water from the elements and create ideal habitat for local fish. In the intricate food web, these fish draw many other plants and animals. A bald eagle’s nest is visible from the Preserve and it is frequented by deer, coyotes, beavers, moose and many more.

Trail Details
Under INLC’s management and ownership, this property is open for the enjoyment of this community. Discover passes are required.

WDFW Trail = 0.9 miles (easy)
Aster Trail = 0.7 miles (easy)
Eagle Trail = 1.0 miles (easy)
Granite Trail = 1.3 miles (moderate)

Take a birds-eye view of Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve and take in the views of the Little Spokane River and the beauty of this property.

Thanks to a growing partnership among Spokane Tribe of Indians, Inland Northwest Land Conservancy, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tribal Fisheries was able to release 51 adult Chinook salmon into the Little Spokane River in Waikiki Springs.

A Community Conservation Story

Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve exists because a community decided this place was worth saving. When Fairwood neighborhood residents grew concerned that beloved open space along the Little Spokane River was about to be sold for residential development, INLC stepped in. With the property already platted for housing, INLC saw a bigger opportunity — and with strong community support, secured funding and purchased nearly 100 acres in October 2020. In the years since, that same community has continued to show up: volunteers have joined INLC staff for stewardship work parties, built sustainable trails, and welcomed local school groups for hands-on learning. What started as a neighborhood effort has grown into a living conservation area that belongs to everyone.

Issue Report Form

Local residents and users of Waikiki Springs should use this form to report issues seen on the property from vandalism, trash dumping, improper use of the preserve and all other issues. The goal is to streamline the reporting process for the quickest action from Conservancy staff and the authorities.

Click the button below for a list of prohibited activities and to submit a report. We encourage you to provide photos if you have them.

Thank you for working to keep the preserve both beautiful and safe for all to enjoy.

First People: The Spokane Tribe and Salmon

The lives and cultures of the peoples of the inland northwest have long been shaped by rivers–and for the Spokane Tribe, the river meant salmon. For thousands of years, people in the Columbia Plateau gathered around the monumental spring salmon runs.

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The Geology of Waikiki: Gneiss Rocks

If you’ve spent a lot of time on the hiking trails of Spokane, chances are you’re well accustomed to the sight of basalt! However, you might not know what it is–basalt, as it turns out, is actually the memory of lava. This might seem unlikely. After all, here in Spokane, we’re about as far away from the Cascade Volcanoes as you can get in the state of Washington.

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Ice Age Formed by Floods

The Inland Northwest is a land written by floods. Somewhere between 15 and 30 thousand years ago, during the last Ice Age, a glacial lake half the size of Lake Michigan existed just north of present-day Missoula. This Lake Missoula was what scientists today call a proglacial lake–a body of water held together by massive ice dams. As temperatures fluctuated, however, so would the ice dams. When temperatures became warmer and the ice less thick, Lake Missoula was prone to bursting toward the east and present-day Spokane.

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The Little Spokane: A Healing River

Keeping a river clean isn’t easy. A river is clean only when all the branches of nature work together in harmony to keep it that way. And it’s all the more difficult when the river is recovering from years of industrial occupation. Did you know the land you’re standing on used to be a dairy farm? It doesn’t look that way now, but one hundred years ago, those bountiful ponderosa stands and mammoth black cottonwoods would have been cleared away to make room for grazing land.

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Who Lives Here: Wild Residents of Waikiki

As you explore the preserve today, you’ll be lucky enough to traverse through several distinct habitat types. When you first entered Waikiki, you walked through a flourishing riparian habitat, nurtured by the springs that give this land its name. Riparian ecosystems are those that exist on the banks of rivers and streams–they attract plant species that thrive in wet soils and the animals that depend on them.

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Nature's Humans: Are We Helping or Hurting?

The first humans to leave their fingerprints on the springs of Waikiki (native Hawaiian for “spouting water”) were the Spokane Tribe of Indians, who gathered along the banks of the Little Spokane to fish for chinook salmon during their annual runs into the inland northwest. Thousands of years later, an influx of European settlers brought industry to the region–and new environmental stress that fundamentally altered the shape of the land you stand on today.

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Waikiki Springs Partners

Spokane Tribe of Indians

This land was once a gathering place for the Tribe and remains critical to native plants and animals.

Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW)

WDFW manages adjacent recreation property and the trailhead.

Clearwater Paper

Clearwater Paper generously funded stewardship and care of the Nature Preserve through a $20,000 grant used to fund equipment, noxious weed removal, native plant restoration, and community engagement.

Fairwood Farmers Market

The local community rallied around the protection of this beautiful urban oasis.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program

Supports Waikiki Springs with assistance in improving wildlife habitat and improvements to the land and water.