Wide-ranging land conservation effort gets $25,000 grant from Innovia

An effort to coordinate conservation and recreation efforts regionwide received an early Christmas present last week.

The Inland Northwest Land Conservancy’s Olmstead 2.0 effort, modeled after the 1907 Olmsted park plan, received a $25,000 grant from the Innovia Foundation.

“It’s an exciting next step,” said Todd Dunfield, INLC’s community conservation program manager.

Dunfield called the Innovia grant the “lead gift” in the Olmstead 2.0 effort.

The Olmstead 2.0 plan hopes to preserve natural and wild spaces in the Spokane area. Only 10 percent of Spokane County is public land and a growing population is putting pressure on traditionally natural areas.

INLC hopes to work with stakeholders – including public agencies and private individuals – to create a “shared vision for the protection of natural open spaces and interconnecting trail systems.”

That work will include looking at current trails systems and conservation plans and looking for ways to connect them.

“It’s ambitious but we’re excited,” Dunfield said.

Part of the process will involve visioning meetings with the Olmstead 2.0 steering committee and at least four public engagement meetings to solicit input from the broader community, according to an INLC news release.

“We have a long and successful history of partnership with INLC and I have no doubt that their well-earned reputation for bringing people together through collaborative partnerships and creative problem solving will ensure the success of the Olmstead 2.0 project,” said Doug Chase, director of Spokane County Parks, Recreation & Golf Department, in a news release.

For more information, call Dunfield at (509) 328-2939 or email tdunfield@inlandnwland.org.