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South Hill bluff illegal road restoration meeting Monday

A weathered toy bear is tied to a branch at the south end of the road that was put in along the forested land along High Drive Bluff. The owner of the 50 acres of forested land is suing Swedberg Contracting Corp., owned by Adam Swedberg, who is blamed for digging out dozens of trees and scraping a milelong road into the forested South Hill bluff below Bernard Street. (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508

TRAILS — Plans are being made to restore the illegal road built last month into the South Hill bluff above Hangman Creek.

On April 26, Avista, which is taking the lead on the restoration, hosted a meeting with the Restoration Work Group.  Representatives from neighborhoods, nonprofit environmental groups and local government were invited, said Leroy Eadie, City of Spokane Parks and Recreation director.
“The goal was to quickly get focused on restoration and develop a draft plan that can be presented in a public meeting.”
In case you’re not up to date on the mess, some background:
Here are the next steps in the process listed by Eadie:
  • The Draft Restoration Plan will be sent out on Friday, May 5 to everyone signed up to receive emails through bluffrestore@avistacorp.com .
  • The Core Team will hold a meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 8 , at Sacajawea Middle School cafeteria to discuss the restoration efforts and go over the Draft Plan. Stakeholders and any interested parties are welcomed to attend.
  • Feedback on the Draft Restoration Plan is due back by Thursday, May 11, at 5 p.m.
  • The Final Restoration Plan will be used for the restoration effort.
  • Pre-construction, which includes construction staging, fencing, etc. will begin the week of May 8.
  • Field work will begin the week of May 15.
  • The plan is to be finished by the first week in June.
  • Monitoring and re-seeding will take place as needed.

This is a fine time, if you haven’t already, to join the Friends of the Bluff to be involved with managing this priceless natural asset of wild area and trails serving several South Hill neighborhoods. It’s a good way to be in the know about the restoration process, and be in position to help make sure an arrogant stunt like unleashing a bulldozer into a natural area without discussion or permits never happens again.

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Outdoors Blog." Read all stories from this blog