Decades of gravel at Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve to be excavated to restore wetland

In the 1960s, the Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve looked a little different than it does today.

It's now an urban network of trails along the Little Spokane River and owned by the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy. But decades ago, it was the site of a neighborhood sewer treatment facility and water district.

A series of sewage ponds sat along shores of the meandering waterway. When the neighborhood joined the larger sewer system, the county purchased the land and decommissioned the ponds that had been hemmed in by gravel embankments meant to stop the Little Spokane River from flooding and spreading waste from the sewage facility.

Once the ponds were emptied, the gravel walls were pushed into the pond areas and leveled. And that was largely the extent of the decommissioning.

"All the waste was removed or used on site for fertilizer in some places, and then the big holes that were created for those ponds were just filled in," said Private Lands Biologist Brian Walker, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

While the course of action seemed like something of a solution at the time, filling the ponds in left a mound about 3 feet higher than the rest of the floodplain.

"So it doesn't have hydrology anymore," Walker said. "It doesn't get wet. Because of that, we've ended up going from wetland plants like cattails and bulrush and alder and cottonwood to nothing but upland weed species."

For a biologist with a trained eye like Walker, it sticks out.

Starting July 15, crews with the land conservancy will excavate the gravel fill in the area to begin the process of returning the Waikiki Springs back to its original wetland state.

The preserve's trails will be closed from July 15 to Aug. 15 to bring in large machinery to restore a 10-acre work zone that interrupts the normal trail route.

"Typically when folks enter the property, they're coming from that trailhead," said Rose Macaulay, the conservancy's stewardship director. "They'll walk down a series of switchbacks and across a small bridge that crosses the Little Spokane River, and then they'll come out into what looks like a big open meadow. And that big, perfect open meadow, that's actually where the sewage lagoons were."

The removed gravel will be put in a large pit just up the hillside from the floodplain, Walker said.

"We're not moving it far away, but we're moving it out of that river corridor up to where it likely came from," Walker said.

The excavation process will also include the construction of side channels and oxbows, which will be dug deeper than other parts of the area.

After the excavation work is completed, the land will sit for about a month, Macaulay said. Then, the real magic will happen.

"We'll have hundreds of volunteers out planting," Macaulay said. "We expect about 15,000 trees to go in the ground in the month of about mid-September through the end of October."

There will also be wildlife fencing put up for about five years to prevent moose, deer, elk and beaver from disturbing the freshly planted trees. Once the restoration is complete, Walker said the area can expect to see more wildlife.

Walker warned that, after the first month of excavation, the area may look like a "moonscape," with bare soil, rock and gravel. But by next summer, people will begin to see what it will look like long term.

The project is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners Program, meaning the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy and the Fish and Wildlife are working hand in hand - with the conservancy on the lead - to restore the area, Macaulay said.

The work is funded through a $250,000 grant from the North American Wetland Conservation Act. The restoration at Waikiki Springs will use $190,000, and the rest of the money will be put toward projects at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. To receive the money, Walker and Macaulay had to come up with a $500,000 match.

"The Little Spokane River has been kind of a gem for I would say Spokane for quite a while," Walker said.

The area offers easy access to public lands only a five-minute walk from a fairly busy neighborhood and Whitworth College, which Walker said makes it really valuable for the community.

"When you've got this beautiful 10-mile stretch of the Little Spokane River, and you've got a sore thumb sticking out there," Walker said, "you need to take care of it."

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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 11:40 PM.