On September 21, Avista significantly lowered the Spokane River above Nine Mile Falls Dam in order to complete some maintenance projects. Local paddlers and divers have known about a significant collection of old tires in the area, but the water was always too deep to retrieve them. Thanks to volunteer efforts from the Spokane Riverkeeper and the Spokane Mountaineers, over 200 tires were removed from the Spokane River on Saturday, October 26. According to Danny Murphy, a program assistant for Washington State Parks, most of the tires were probably dumped in the river upstream, were caught in the sand bar above the dam, and became stuck at the bend. Once they were removed, the Department of Ecology disposed of the tires. This is an amazing community achievement and another great step towards cleaning up the Spokane River for future generations.
