Natural area opens in style at Newman Lake

Nature has a way of rising to the occasion.

As if on cue, this year’s crop of bald eagles at Newman Lake hatched just before Earth Day, and were strong enough on April 23 to raise their wobbly heads from the nest and thrill dozens of people touring the latest large addition to the Spokane County Conservation Futures Program.

The McKenzie Conservation Area, purchased in February, was on display last weekend as another jewel in the crown of a program that assures that reasonably natural areas and open spaces will always be accessible to city and county residents.

The newest conservation area covers 421 acres at the northeast corner of Newman Lake, including 3,000 feet of shoreline and acres of wetlands.

“This property has been logged over the years and the owners selectively cut out most of the big, marketable trees,” said Jim O’Donnell, a private forestry and wildlife consultant who managed the property for the owners before he helped usher the sale to the county.

“But what you have here is a working, growing forest with nine species of trees and it’s a magnet for wildlife.”

The land is open to the public with restrictions to protect the area. Prohibited activities include hunting, rock hounding, plant collecting, driving motorized vehicles and building campfires. Dogs are welcome, but they must be kept on a leash.

The eagle nest is in a shoreline cottonwood and people are asked to stay away. However, from the ridge above, the mother and the newly hatched chicks can easily be appreciated with binoculars and spotting scopes.

The county has installed signs at several access points off Newman Lake Road where old logging roads will be the skeleton for a trail system. Development will be gradual and minimal, said Randy Barcus, chairman of the Spokane County Parks Advisory Committee.

The property includes two well-known lakeside landmarks, one natural and one man-made.

Turtle Rock rises on the northwest shore for one of the best lakeside viewpoints and picnic spots next to a photogenic old Douglas fir. Canoeists and kayakers can paddle from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife public boat launch across the lake to the old private launch and grassy shore at Turtle Rock.

Nearby is an old boathouse. “We haven’t really figured out what we’re going to do with that,” Barcus said.

“One of the first priorities will be safe parking areas,” he said, noting that virtually no convenient parking is currently available.

A group of Spokane Mountaineers touring the property crossed paths with a tour of Newman Lake-area property owners, many of whom are relieved to know that this corner of the lake will never be threatened with development.

Since the program was authorized in 1993, the voter-approved Conservation Futures tax on property values has allowed the county to raise and spend more than $11.6 million to acquire parcels at 20 geographic areas totaling nearly 4,100 acres.

Although the Newman Lake property is the most recent large acreage added to Conservation Futures, the program continually looks for land that could enhance existing conservation areas. In April, the county was able to buy another 80 acres to expand the Iller Creek Conservation Area to 796 acres in the region north of the Dishman Hills Natural Area.

“We had a willing seller for a very important parcel that included part of the footpath from the access off Holman Road,” said Steve Horobiowski, county parks planner.

The county generates about $1 million a year by the tax on property values and leverages the money to get additional funds from state and federal sources “to stretch the purchasing dollars,” Horobiowski said.

The McKenzie Conservation Area was purchased for $1.534 million with $83,500 donated by the family back to the county for an endowment that will help maintain the area, he said.

Nominations for a new round of selecting Conservation Futures areas are due by Monday at noon, said. Horobiowski. He said he expects several dozen proposals from various groups and individuals.

The areas will be inspected by city and county parks staff and then by the program’s citizen lands committee before the proposals are presented at public meetings in July, he said. The finalists in the process are scheduled to be presented to the Spokane County Commission in August.