Visit these lands in 2025!
December 27, 2024
As the sun sets on 2024, you may be already planning your New Year adventures. While much of our work is done on private land, did you know your Conservancy collaborates with many people and partners to conserve open space with public access? These projects are complex, so many are unaware of the Conservancy’s involvement.
Follow this timeline of places you can visit because of Inland Northwest Land Conservancy. Do you enjoy visiting any of these beloved lands?
This timeline is not exhaustive. To learn more about where we work across the Inland Northwest, visit inlandnwland.org
1993 – In 1993, the young Inland Northwest Land Conservancy intervened to save the Liberty Lake Cedar Grove from logging and sale, giving Spokane County Parks time to negotiate a deal to buy it from the owner and secure it for public access and enjoyment.
1994 – In 1994, your Conservancy stepped in to safeguard a 103-acre gift of the Holmberg Conservation Area at the eastern foot of the Five Mile Prairie to Spokane County Parks, accepting a position to serve as backup owner if certain conditions are met.
1999 – In the late 1990s the Conservancy accepted the 51-acre Mirabeau Point property along the Centennial Trail from Inland Empire Paper Company and served as caretaker landowner for several years before deeding it over to the new City of Spokane Valley.
2000 – In the late 1990s, INLC championed the creation of the 628-acre Slavin Conservation Area southwest of Spokane, a marvelous potpourri of nature trails, wetlands teeming with birdlife, and fragrant forests. INLC teamed up with the Slavin family and Spokane County Parks to bring it into being.
2003 – In the early 2000s, the Conservancy came up with clever ideas that enabled John Pointner to sell his 157-acre Cougar Bay property to become a magnificent nature preserve just miles from downtown Coeur d’Alene.
2005 – In 2005 INLC helped the McKenzie family persevere in selling their 406-acre Newman Lake property to Spokane County Parks, ensuring protection of cherished family lands and lush habitat and opening it up for people to enjoy.
2007-2011 – During the 2000s, INLC worked hand-in-hand with the landowner and the Trust for Public Lands to see 1,054 acres overlooking the Spokane Valley become the Antoine Peak Conservation Area.
2015 – Thanks to advocacy by INLC’s Eric Erickson, in 2015, the Trautman family sold their 280-acre Nine Mile Falls property along the Centennial Trail to Spokane County Parks, which Riverside State Park
now manages.
2018 – In 2018, your Conservancy helped shepherd Inland Empire Paper’s sale of 898 acres on Mica Peak to Spokane County Parks, adding to a network of parkland open to the public east of Spokane.
2020 – In 2020, INLC secured $1.5 million in state funding with help from Representative Marcus Ricelli to purchase 94 acres of land slated for development along the Little Spokane River but now turned into a permanent wildlife refuge and network of foot trails, our Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve.
2022 – In 2022, INLC guided 89 acres of land in the Beacon Hill area into permanent conservation, land available for people to enjoy, through a series of transactions involving Avista, Spokane County, and the City of Spokane.
2022 – In 2022, the Conservancy used its Conservation Opportunity Fund to buy 55 acres of the Saltese Uplands that recreationists were using but were actually privately owned and vulnerable to development, then sold the land to Spokane County Parks to expand the Saltese Uplands Conservation Area between Spokane and Liberty Lake.
2023 – In 2023, your Conservancy bought the 1,060 acre Glen Tana property along two miles of the Little Spokane River from the family that had owned it for a century, forestalling unwanted development and allowing for a future of Spokane Tribe and Washington State Parks ownership and the return someday.
Cheers to another successful year of conservation here in the Inland Northwest! Catch you on the trails in 2025 🙂