Progress Seems Possible On Valley Trail Project Tribes Concerned About Impact On Cultural Site Called Coyote Rocks

The beginning is near.

Two years after county engineers planned to add bike and pedestrian paths to Upriver Drive near Plantes Ferry Park in the Spokane Valley, the project remains stalled by disagreements on how it should proceed.

But there’s hope.

A meeting later this month with the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the county and the Federal Highway Administration could get the project started as soon as January.

The original plan called for straightening parts of Upriver Drive and adding 6-foot-wide shoulders for a bike and pedestrian path. The 1/4-mile stretch of road gets heavy foot and bicycle traffic.

New plans are evolving that would lessen the impact on a cultural site for the Spokane Tribe of Indians called Coyote Rocks, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Plans called for scraping away about three acres of the large site. In compliance with federal regulations, the county is studying new plans suggested by the Spokane Tribe to minimize impact.

Before this point, most everyone involved in the process was frustrated.

The tribe felt their input was being ignored.

Project manager Gary Nelson said he was in contact with the tribe and a tribal member had surveyed the area. He was confused by the tribe’s concerns.

Brian Flett, director of the Spokane Tribe Culture Office, said some turnover early on complicated the process. Flett said he had asked the county for a meeting to express tribal concerns, but a meeting was never set.

From the beginning, the project began on the wrong foot. The county became aware of Coyote Rocks but not until after the initial planning was completed, which caused the delays.

Ross Kelley, assistant county engineer, said no one informed the county about the site.

“We’re kind of at the mercy of the agencies who know,” Kelley said. “Frankly, a lot of people didn’t know anything about it.”

Upriver project plans were designed without any knowledge of Coyote Rocks and its cultural and historic significance.

The Department of Natural Resources informed the county about the site after a contractor applied for a permit to extract trees from the area.

That was about the time the tribe first heard of the Upriver project.

“They already had heavy equipment on the site when we first heard about it,” said the tribe’s historical preservation officer, Louis Wynne.

“The tribe is not against the project,” said Flett. “But we want to preserve the integrity of the area as much as possible.”

The site holds a deep meaning for the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene tribes, Flett said.

The county stopped the project and waited for federal agencies to sign off on plans, a common procedure when a federally funded project hits a historic site.

In October last year, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., asked for more information on the project. The advisory council reopened the case because of a problem, said Mary Ann Naber, a historic preservation specialist.

“We were not informed of the Native American concerns of this project,” Naber said. Documents showed the Spokane Tribe found the plan acceptable, she said.

“You have a county here that is not used to doing this process and does not understand it,” Naber said. “It’s hard when you’re working backward, when you have a decision and you’re trying to justify it,” Naber said.

Kelley disagrees. “I don’t think her office is particularly concerned with the health and safety of Spokane County,” Kelley said. “It’s one of those things where big brother is watching but not doing a lot to help.”

After several consultations with the Spokane Tribe and some restructuring, Naber signed off on the plan, which must go through at least one more revision.

“We all hope it doesn’t happen this way,” Megan Hall said, of the Federal Highway Administration based in Olympia. “The county has learned a lot in how to handle situations with tribes.”

Kelley praised the project manager, Nelson, for his work.

“I thought he did a good job considering all the agencies going over what could and should be done,” Kelley said. “It never was our intent to damage a historical place.”

A meeting held earlier this month in Wellpinit on the Spokane Reservation gave the tribes a chance to offer alternatives to the county to save the site and the project.

On Nov. 23, tribal members, federal officials and county engineers will walk the site with the proposed road marked by stakes.

“I think that there was a lot of progress made,” said Wynne.

“The tribe does have an interest in what goes on in Spokane and we do need to be consulted. I think we made pretty good strides in that area.”