A boulder approach to fundraising

Friends of the Falls needs some rock before plans for Spokane’s future whitewater park can really roll.

A recent consultant’s study shows the nonprofit organization will need an additional $225,000 to develop the Spokane River feature that will create standing waves almost year-round just below the Sandifur Bridge, about a mile west of downtown.

Whitewater enthusiasts, such as kayakers and canoeists, like to play in the waves while other people watch the acrobatics. Developing the parks, which usually include picnic areas and spectator seating, is a growing economic development trend nationwide. Friends of the Falls landed a $400,000 state appropriation to build the park.

But a topographical study of the riverbed and design analysis shows the need for about 500 four- to six-foot-diameter boulders, in addition to numerous one- to two-foot-diameter rocks, preferably granite. The rocks will be placed in the river to create the hydraulic features and will be used to stabilize the bank and help prevent erosion.

So Friends of the Falls is launching an “Adopt a Rock” campaign, hoping individual donors will kick in $200 to $300 apiece for the boulders and delivery.

“We’re also looking for developers who might have rock on their site that they would donate to the park,” said Steve Faust, executive director of Friends of the Falls.

The firms hired to design and build the park are David Evans and Associates of Spokane and Recreation Engineering and Planning, a national company that has designed more than 70 whitewater parks. The companies are planning a “double-U” structure, which will funnel the water into standing waves.

The consultants say the design of the feature will create a wave at river flows as low as 1,500 cubic feet per second (cfs). Though record highs and lows are more extreme, mean stream flows for the Spokane River range from 1,800 cfs in August to about 18,000 in May, according to the consultant’s study.

“The way these features work is they’re designed to draw the water toward the middle of the feature so that even at lower flows you get a wave,” Faust said. “We really want to have something that is enjoyable for most of the season, from April to October.”

Faust said the consultants also paid special attention to protecting and enhancing the fishery in that portion of the river. The pooled drops created through the design should foster better habitat for juvenile and adult fish, he said.

The second phase of the whitewater park development calls for $384,000 worth of work to enhance the north and south banks of the river for the public. That could include terraced spectator seating, bank re-grading and restoration, additional parking and restrooms on the south bank, surface trails and picnic areas. Faust said Friends of the Falls is talking to the Spokane parks department about ways to raise money for that separate project.

If the permitting process begins by spring, Faust said in a letter to supporters, Washington’s first whitewater park could be complete by fall of 2007.