WHERE WE CAME FROM AND WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED

History and Achievements:

Larry Stone founded  Spokane Ponderosa in 2011 in pursuit of the goal of preserving and revitalizing Spokane County’s cities’ urban Ponderosa Pine forests.

In 2014, successful lobbying by Spokane Ponderosa and other groups led the Spokane City Council to designate the Ponderosa Pine as Spokane’s official city tree. The Council passed this measure with a unanimous vote and Mayor Condon signed. 

Also in 2014, Spokane Ponderosa organized hundreds of Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, and their families to plant 4,200 Ponderosa seedlings along the North Spokane Corridor near Mead.

In 2017, Spokane Ponderosa achieved another landmark victory for the Ponderosa Pine with the passage of a second resolution. By collaborating with researchers at Gonzaga University, we were able to demonstrate to the City of Spokane that the Ponderosa Pine offered immense value to the landscapes along our region’s highways. This, in turn, led to the adoption of Resolution No. 2016-0032, which requests that the Washington State Department of Transportation include Ponderosa Pine in all natural landscaping along the North Spokane Freeway, I-90, and all other state highways and roadways within the City.

Spokane Ponderosa founder and President Larry Stone regularly advocates on behalf of the Ponderosa Pine in the press, notably with interviews and an editorial in the Spokesman-Review. 

Together with volunteers, researchers, and municipal leaders, Spokane Ponderosa is catalyzing change in our region. Find out more about our mission, or check out our FAQs.