The link below downloads a copy of the speech given by then Chair and co-founder Rick Hastings, during ceremonies celebrating the completion and publication of the Gorge Conceptual Plan on March 28, 2002.

Speech text (80 Kb, Acrobat® file)

The link below downloads a copy of the 2002 Spokane River Gorge Conceptual Plan, the text-only version of the full-color plan/poster, setting forth the plan’s vision, primary features, and future planning process.

CP Document (956 Kb, Acrobat® file)

Here’s a copy of the study area map for the conceptual plan, showing key areas for ideas considered in the full document, and locations of the basic projects supported at the conceptual stage.

CP Area map (396 Kb, Acrobat® file)

The link below opens an interesting Christian Science Monitor article about the growing trend for U.S. cities to rehabilitate and reclaim river shorelines in the name of economic development, as grounded in aesthetics and environmentalism. The article lists and details projects in many of the cities leading the trend, and notes that in Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Memphis, “one of the keys...is the establishment of a quasi-private nonprofit agency that’s shielded from politics and bureaucratic entanglement.” Written by Craig Savoye, Special to CSM.

CSM: Towns Reconnect (661 Kb, Acrobat® file)