For A Wild Time, Visist Open Land Open House Today

Most people take for granted the undeveloped land that’s been available for outdoor recreation near Spokane. We play on it and enjoy the wildlife that thrives on it as though this is the way it will always be.

Until the bulldozers move in.

By that time, of course, it will be too late.

Members of recreation and conservation groups are joining today to make sure people have a chance to appreciate the benefits of Spokane County’s Conservation Futures Program.

Canoe trips and dayhikes will be led on the former McLellan property, which is now managed by the Spokane County Parks Department. The canoe trips begin at noon off Highway 291 west of Tum Tum.

The 410 acres of wooded land and 1.5 miles of Long Lake shoreline was purchased for $1.1 million with funds raised by a property tax levy. The land has a variety of wildlife habitats, plus a bald eagle nest in an old-growth ponderosa pine tree.

County voters will get a chance to continue the Conservation Futures on the Nov. 4 ballot. The program, enacted by county commissioners in 1994, levies six cents per thousand dollars of property value.

The tax annually raises about $800,000 earmarked for preservation of natural open spaces. The McLellan parcel is one of five properties that have been acquired. At least one more is being negotiated.

As development swallows open space in the county, conservation futures lands will slowly but surely soar to a value that no one will take for granted, supporters say.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Visit the Futures