Connection: Mount Spokane Plan Calls For Compromise

A meeting last year about the future of Mount Spokane State Park illustrates the difficulty of trying to balance conflicting uses of public lands.

Cross-country skiers wanted a bigger buffer between their trails and areas where snowmobiling is permitted. Snowmobilers said they already face too many restrictions.

Dog-sledders wanted trails designated specifically for their use.

Mountain bikers wanted more trails, while horse riders wanted some trails declared bike-free.

With more people using the park every year, state parks officials and members of a citizens advisory group say everyone will have to compromise. They’ve written a trail plan that calls for some changes.

The plan, which lacks only the signature of the regional parks director before it becomes policy, calls for closing some steep trails to mountain bikes. But the bicyclists may eventually get new trails in the alpine ski area.

The plan recognizes a need to move snowmobiles farther from the cross-country ski area. But that wouldn’t be done until there’s money to build new trails for the machines.

Trails will not close to horses. But equestrians cannot build new trails.

The plan designates 4,500 acres of the park as “natural areas” where recreational uses would be limited. But most existing trails within those areas would remain open.

The park itself would grow from 13,643 acres to about 15,000 acres if the state succeeds in buying adjacent land. Left for future studies is the contentious issue of whether the alpine ski area should be expanded.