Habitat Malled?

Native plants

The Spokane Valley Mall, the area’s glitziest new place to buy pantyhose, is situated across Sullivan Road from one of the region’s classic examples of no-maintenance wildlife habitat.

“That parcel of land from east of Sullivan from I-90 to the Centennial Trail is one of the most superb native serviceberry stands I’ve seen in Eastern Washington,” said Doug Pineo, Department of Ecology shoreline program coordinator.

In spring, the area explodes with the white blossoms of serviceberry and mock orange and arrowleaf balsamroot despite surviving each hot summer with absolutely no irrigation other than what weather provides.

A 1979 inventory conducted by Spokane naturalist Tom Rogers found most of the vegetation to be native. The dominant grasses are Idaho fescue, bluebunch, wheatgrass and junegrass. The rocky nature of the tract apparently spared it from farming, Rogers said.

But with the sprawling new mall across Sullivan Road, there’s no telling how much longer this natural attraction will carry on. , DataTimes