Check out our great cover story on BLM land. Just click the thumbnails above.

All of our readers deserve congratulations for this. If you weren’t so dedicated to having fun outdoors we would never have earned the distinction this year of being one of Outside magazine’s Top 10 Outdoor Towns Ever. I’ve been working to promote Spokane as a great outdoor community for over 9 years and it’s amazing to see us mentioned alongside places like Park City, San Diego, Honolulu, Greenville, Boston, Bozeman, and others. Can we win the title? You can help by voting for Spokane at Outside’s facebook page here.

Click the thumbnails above for the online browser version of this month’s issue with a great cover story about Eastern Washington State Parks by Jon Jonckers.

One more way for teachers to help give back to the community: going green in checking accounts

Starting on Earth Day, STCU members who switch to paper-saving electronic account statements will be helping plant trees. At the same time, they’ll help local students learn about conservation and sustainability.

For every member who makes the switch from paper statements to e-statements between April 22 and June 30, STCU will donate the money to plant one tree along Deep Creek, Coulee Creek and Hangman Creek (also called Latah Creek). Work will be done in North Idaho, as well, although exact locations have not been selected.

The work is being organized by the Lands Council, which hopes to plant 5,000 trees through its Project SUSTAIN. STCU hopes enough members make the switch to e-statements by June 30 to provide at least 1,000 of those trees.

Up to 400 Inland Northwest high school students will help plant the trees, said Amanda Swan, Lands Council director of development and communications. Students from Mead Alternative School, The Community School, On Track Academy, Lewis and Clark High School, Coeur d’Alene High School and Post Falls High School and St. Maries High School will participate.

“The benefits are in reducing erosion in the watershed,” Swan said. “Tree planting helps stabilize stream banks, reducing sediments and toxics from entering our watersheds and eventually the Spokane River. There’s a public health benefit that goes beyond doing something great for the environment and planting trees.”

Switching to e-statements has other benefits, as well:

• Reduces paper waste.
• Speeds delivery.
• Keeps your confidential financial records secure.
• Eliminates the risk of lost or stolen mail.
• Eliminates postage and printing costs for STCU, a member-owned financial cooperative.

Spokane Teachers Credit Union

Founded by educators in 1934, STCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative with 113,000 members, more than $1.7 billion in total assets and 16 branch locations in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Our South Valley Branch features the Valley’s first electric car charging station that’s open to free public use.

For more information, please contact
Dan Hansen, Sr. Communications Officer

STCU

509/344-2208 (desk)

509/590-8666 (cell)

danh@stcu.org

or

Amanda Swan, Director of Development & Communications

The Lands Council

509/209-2851

aswan@landscouncil.org

This just in from our friend Bob in Ferry County:

New auction item for rail trail – Longboard Skate – donated to FCRTP by Spokane City Councilman Jon Snyder. (Purchased at Spokane’s Mountain Goat Outfitters).
So far its been signed by Eddie Vedder, Neko Case (former ferry co resident/Keller), Nick Zinner, Karen O and Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nick Cave, and skateboard legend Tony Hawk – who also runs the Tony Hawk Foundation http://www.tonyhawkfoundation.org/

Details on the auction soon.

2013 Annual Meeting Announcement!!!
This year’s Annual Meeting will be held at the Carousel Building at the Ferry County Fair Grounds from 3 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 21. We hope to see you all there for a fun time for everyone with plenty of refreshments. This year we are featuring a history of the railroad presentation by the Ferry County Historical Society featuring Madilane Perry and Dick Slagle. Check ferrycountyrailtrail.com for updates. —

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=489754081090009&set=a.397490913649660.94546.100001662657702&type=1&theater&notif_t=like

Learn more about the financial side of State Parks and other related policies at the upcoming Commission meeting and work session in March.

OLYMPIA – March 13, 2013 – At its regular meeting next week in Olympia, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will consider adoption of a transformation strategy intended to provide guidance into the foreseeable future as the agency is financed primarily on use fees.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 21, in the Auditorium of the Department of Labor and Industries, 7273 Linderson Way S.W., Tumwater. The Commission will take a break from 2 to 3 p.m., when the proceedings will turn to celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the state park system, which was created on March 19, 1913.

A full Commission meeting agenda is available online at www.parks.wa.gov/agency/commissionmeetings/. Time for public comment is provided at all regular meetings, which are scheduled six times a year at pre-determined locations around the state.

The Transformation Strategy under consideration stems from a fast and dramatic shift in State Parks financing in recent years. For decades, Washington State Parks has provided recreation and stewardship of natural, cultural and historic resources from a financial base primarily made up of general tax support. In 2008, when the Recession hit and the state was faced with significant revenue shortfalls, the Legislature began to make dramatic decreases in general funding for State Parks. In 2011, the Legislature created the Discover Pass to help replace lost general fund revenues, but Discover Pass fee revenues are not meeting projections. The Commission concluded in 2012 that State Parks needs a “right mix” of funding that includes use fees and donations as well as continued general tax support, if it is to meet its mission to provide benefit to all citizens.

During the past two years, the Commission established the need for a Transformation Strategy to make the changes needed to continue appealing to visitors who now must choose state parks from an array of offerings. Other principles in the strategy include building stronger relationships with volunteers, friends and partners; acquiring appropriate data needed to make strong business decisions; and embracing innovation and technology to ensure relevance and sustainability.

In other business, the Commission will consider policy revisions relating to utility placements on state park land and new fee schedules for authorizing these uses of park lands. Staff each year receive numerous requests for easements for a variety of non-recreational uses of parklands, with the majority for utility placements and roads over, under or through parkland. More than half of State Parks’ easement agreements are within former railroad corridors known as rail-trails, properties that were acquired beginning in the early 1980s. Of more than 500 utility placements, nearly half exist without a documented legal agreement authorizing placement. The new policy and fee schedule would standardize fees, make for more efficient management and provide easement holders clear direction and process for new easements.

The Commission also will consider authorizing the exchange of  the agency’s former Puget Sound Region Office for a commercial property owned by the City of Auburn, which can be used by Parks as working endowment land or divested through public auction. The City property is currently vacant and undeveloped, with a 2013 assessed land value of $833,000. The former Region Office property is currently zoned Public Use and is currently assessed at $582,600.

The Commission will hear several reports, including one on the status of ongoing conversations around the future governance at Fort Worden State Park. In December 2012, the Commission authorized staff to negotiate a management agreement with the Fort Worden Public Development Authority for the area of Fort Worden State Park generally referred to as the campus area of the park. All related Commission agenda items are available online atwww.parks.wa.gov/FortWorden/ (select Governance 2012).

Other reports include a capital construction program update, a forest health update, an annual Washington Administrative Code review and financial and legislative updates.

Click the thumbnail above to read an exact copy of our print edition in your browser. We have a great cover story on Inland Northwest running from Jon Jonckers.

• The alignment and location of the 12 ft. wide pathway;
• The types of landscaping desired in the surrounding Right-of-Way area;
• The location of convenient access points;
• Amenities to include such as benches, lighting, bike racks or others; and
• Making it a safe place for everyone to enjoy; and other considerations.

Fight cancer by skiing on the slopes of Mt. Spokane next Saturday, Feb. 23. All funds raised for Hope on the Slopes will be directed to the American Cancer Society for cancer research. Events, which include raffle drawings, a scavenger hunt and after-party, last from 9am to 4pm.

Hope on the Slopes is a team and individual skiing event. Participants engage in a virtual competition with other Hope on the Slopes participants in two categories: Dollars Raised and Vertical Feet. Separate registration is required for individuals and teams.

Those who skied the most, measured by vertical feet, will win a pair of K2 skis.

This Hope on the Slopes event has a website where you register and make donations, get event info and each participant is provided an easily customizable page where stories and photos can be uploaded. To make a donation or to learn more about a Hope on the Slopes event, see www.mtspokane.com/hopeontheslopes.

The goal of Hope on the Slopes is to not only have fun, but also raise money for the American Cancer Society, helping in its mission to eliminate cancer. Pledges raised through Hope on the Slopes help provide cancer patients and their families with information and support, fund research that leads to improved treatments, educate the public about cancer prevention and early detection, and help ensure that everyone has access to lifesaving cancer screenings.

Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is very proud to host this event and be a part of such a great event to raise money to combat cancer, a terrible disease which has no doubt touched all of us at some point.  Please join us on Saturday, February 23^rd in the fight against cancer.