Welcome to another installment of Spokane's wild winter!  It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were writing about massive snow fall, and yet here we are again - buried in fresh powder.
But there is nothing like a fresh, clean cover of snow to make you realize how beautiful this region is.  This is beautifully portrayed in a recent multimedia presentation by The Spokesman-Review's Colin Mulvany - seen HERE - titled Spokane Falls in Winter.

And speaking of the Spokane River, Becky Kramer of The Spokesman reports that Avista and the Coeur d' Alene Tribe have reached a land and water use settlement where, "Avista Corp. will pay as much as $168 million over the next half-century to compensate the Coeur d’Alene Tribe for storing water for hydropower generation on the tribe’s submerged land in Lake Coeur d’Alene." 

The decision ends a decade of negotiations in which the tribe opposed Avista’s trespassing on Coeur d’ Alene  reservation land by storing water on submerged land without tribal authorization.  However, as part of the settlement, the tribe has agreed to support the 50-year renewal of federal licenses for Avista’s Spokane River dams – a critical decision that will have fundamental influences on the future of the Spokane River.  And don’t for a second question the pull that the local tribes have in this community, we sure aren’t.  To read more of this story, click HERE. 

If this Spokane River issue effects you, or others like it do - mark your calendars for:

The Spokane River Forum Conference

January 22 - 23, 2009
Centerplace Regional Event Center
2426 N. Discovery Place
Spokane Valley, WA 99216

Spokane River Forum
2206 S. Sherman, Spokane, WA 99203
Phone 509-535-7084
Fax 509-535-3986
info@spokaneriver.net

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