This year’s seventh-annual Spokane River Clean-up was another smashing success. Thanks to everyone that took part, and we hope that you, like us, had a great, gratifying time!

Here are a few highlight statistics:

• Over 750 volunteers took part
• 16,447 pounds of trash collected (eight-plus tons), up from the 12,020-pound total last year
• 5,207 pounds of trash recycled by Earth Works Recycling - up from 4,101 pounds recycled in 2008

As in years past, a “Most Interesting Trash” competition was held, with judging in four categories performed by by Spokesman-Review columnist Doug Clark, with local artist and garbologist Gabriel Brown. For more on the winners, details on sponsors, links to on-line coverage and more, check out the FOF news release below. We’ve also prepared an image gallery of the U-District area effort, with images contributed by John Moore, and linked a second gallery of the High Bridge effort posted by Russ Nobbs.

But most of all, be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s event, to be held on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010!

News release (127 Kb, Acrobat® file)
2009 Snapshots - U-District (Flash™ gallery)
2009 Snapshots - High Bridge (Facebook™ gallery)

Last year’s Spokane River Clean-up had more volunteers, which gathered more trash than the year before...which bested the previous year...ditto the time before that...and the time before that.

So mark your calendars for Saturday, September 26, the date for this year’s Spokane River Clean-up, and plan to help keep the string of record-breaking years going. We’ve got an even larger coverage area - from the University District to Riverside State Park - so there’s more river shoreline to love, and more room for fantastic volunteers.

Click on the link below for tons of details about the event, including safety tips, what to bring and where we’ll be working. Check back after September 1 for our on-line pre-registration page

In the meantime, start recruiting your friends, class-mates, favorite group or club.

Love the Spokane River? Join about 800-1,000 folks from across our region in the annual Spokane River Clean-up. Saying “good riddance” to tons of trash is tons of FUN!

Clean-Up info page (weblink)

Much of the experience of a park or recreational activity is often related to the agency that oversees it. In Spokane, of course, that agency is the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, led by a volunteer Board and served by City staff.

Recently, the Department took the unusual step of beginning a comprehensive planning process for itself, led by a consultant group from Broomfield, Colorado called GreenPlay.

Here’s a copy of a press release issued by the Department on June 30, outlining dates and times for the first planning session, which will be held a total of six times on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 13-15. From the statement, the meetings “...will be held to gather opinions from residents regarding the Spokane community’s values and vision for the Parks and Recreation Department as it moves towards the future.”

The details:

Monday, July 13 – Southside Senior Activity Center Ballroom, 3151 E. 27th Avenue, from 7:30 – 9:30 am, or from 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Tuesday, July 14 – East Central Community Center Gym, 500 S. Stone Street, from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Tuesday, July 14 – Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook, from 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Wednesday, July 15 – Browne Elementary School (Multipurpose Room), 5102 N. Driscoll Boulevard, from 7:30 – 9:30 am, or from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Interested? Mark your calendar for the most convenient date, time and place and make plans to offer your thoughts. The Department is asking attendees to call or e-mail Administrative Secretary Jacki Faught at 625-6203, jfaught@spokanecity.org, to RSVP.

Workshop Press Release (224 Kb, Acrobat® file)

As FOF’s work on behalf of the proposed Spokane whitewater park continues, so does progress for permitting the feature. On May 13, the City of Spokane completed its application for a Hearing Examiner Shoreline Conditional Use Permit and an Administrative Floodplain Development Permit. This triggered the customary 30-day public comment period, which began on May 27 and will close on June 26, 2009.

Members of the public may learn more, and/or comment on the proposed feature through the City at:

Planning Services Department
Attn: Tami Palmquist, City Planner
808 West Spokane Falls Boulevard
Spokane, WA 99201-3329

Tami may also be reached by phone at 509-625-6157, or via e-mail at: . Additional information is of course available here (just search through the articles under the “Whitewater Park” tab at top, or at the City’s website, linked here. A copy of the Notice of Application is linked below.

Notice of Application