The Moose Call
2021-2022 Years in Review
The year 2021 would be best described as the year of change at Mt. Spokane, in many respects. For the Friends group, 2021 brought a new board and slate of officers as the founder of the original Friends group, Cris Currie, retired after almost 26 years of faithful service. At the same time new park rangers were hired and the new General Manager at Mt. Spokane Ski concession was kicking off many new initiatives for uphill skiing, Vista House hospitality services, etc. So it was an interesting new set of faces around the mountain in general.
Covid: Make the outdoors popular again
First and foremost, regional popularity combined with Covid brought huge increases in park usage over the last several years. This has impacted trail wear and tear, trail conflicts, not to mention significant parking congestion (especially in the winter). It has been said that more people are loving our mountain to death! This has been playing out across all State parks and is not isolated to Mt. Spokane alone. It makes the Friends group even more useful and important in terms of educating users through guided hikes, trail maps etc.
Board Members: Effective February 2021
Officers
President: Jeff Gibson
Vice President: Darrell Soyars
Treasurer: Ken Carmichael
Secretary: Mike Henneberry
Re-elected members
Dean Meakin
George Momany
Holly Weiler
Anita Boyden
Chris Conley
John Nelson (retired from board in September 2021)
New members
Duane Crockett
Don Story
Mary Ann Sullivan
Carol Corbin
Sean Harrington
Introducing our community to the Park
The new Friends board has focused primarily on education through guided hikes and snowshoes in conjunction with State Parks and Spokane Parks and Recreation.
Most of our activities in 2021 consisted of monthly board meetings via Zoom in addition to the following activities:
February 2021- A City of Spokane Parks Snowshoe hike.
March 2021- A City of Spokane Parks Snowshoe hike.
April 2021- meeting at RSP with New State Parks Commissioner. New Friends Facebook page established.
June 2021- Interpretive Sign for CCC Woodshed installed by Cris, Don, and Duane. Snowshoe cabin cleanup, trail maps updated. Provided funds for the interpretive signage and trail maps. Letter of support for Inland Empire Paper to purchase a large conservation easement surrounding Spirit and Twin Lakes.
July 2021- A State Parks Commission meeting at Bald Knob, City of Spokane Parks Summer hikes- A Huckleberry Hike and a CCC Cabin hike.