By Brian Muegge
Cover photo courtesy of Brian Muegge
Have you ever seen a tree so big it takes your breath away? Well, funny enough, I’ve never really had that experience. Not that I can remember, at least. And I spend a lot of time around trees.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely seen some giant trees in my life. Growing up at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, some of my earliest core memories were camping with my family among coastal redwoods. We’d visit public areas up and down the redwood territory of California, from Mendocino County to Yosemite National Park. I’ve seen, with my own eyes, trees that were nearly 300 feet tall, and some averaging 20 feet in diameter. A lot of them.
I definitely took these relic behemoths for granted growing up in such close proximity to them from such a young age. I didn’t have the pleasure of first experiencing these trees as an older visitor from another place, so I can’t recall that moment of pure bewilderment and astonishment that most get from seeing these trees for the first time. That moment of magic. The presence of those big, beautiful trees had become normalized for me.
I have the protection of public lands to thank for this. From local, county, state to federal, I’m grateful for these protected and publicly accessible places codified by past generations. I’m certainly acutely aware of that privilege today, particularly in light of what is happening with our public lands in 2025.
Truly, our public lands are under attack. We saw earlier this year Utah Senator Mike Lee’s quest to fulfill Project 2025’s playbook and privatize over 3 million acres of public land within the drafting of the “Big Beautiful Bill.” His proposed land rollbacks so his developer buddies could amass and exploit our nation’s public land caused an immense backlash, unifying a massive bipartisan swath of citizens to oppose the sale. A rare win in our divided society.
But this shadowy quest for public land theft by corporate interests even extends into our Spokane community. Just this past fall, the DNR came painstakingly close to exchanging 200 acres of forestland off Thorpe Road on U.S. 195 with a developer for a grocery store in Bellingham, under the false pretense that this public parcel had “low ecological and recreational value.” As new information came to light of the previous commissioner’s perversion of process with that exchange, over 100 organizations statewide, many local, rallied together in unity to sway the DNR that this was an unjust deal for our community. At the 11th hour this summer, the developer backed out of the exchange due to the backlash.
Everyone should be able to experience a childhood like mine—reveling in so much accessible natural beauty, that you damn near take it for granted. Sadly, corporate interests want to deprive us of this right. Now more than ever is the time to educate and unify in defense of public lands so future generations of humans and wildlife can live in perpetual harmony in our community and beyond. Together as one, our voices are strong.
Brian Muegge is a Spokane conservationist working to promote land stewardship enhancement and protections across working and wildlands of the Pacific Northwest. He sits on the boards of both the Spokane Riverkeeper and Washington Wild, and is passionate about educating the community on the value of public land and watershed health.
