BE A FRIEND
Your small annual contribution will help support the bluff, while qualifying you for several enticing membership benefits.
Help us ensure that the Bluff will always be a protected, healthy, and natural ecosystem, accessible to all who wish to respectfully enjoy it.
Through education, outreach, and direct conservation efforts, Friends of the Bluff protects the bluff from development, maintains and improves public access, manages forest health & fire risk, educates the community, maintains sustainable trails, removes litter, and manages invasive weeds.
Membership Benefits
JOIN/RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP
ONLINE
You can make a secure, online donation by using the form below. We accept credit cards, Venmo, Apple Pay, and more. If you'd like to decline the "GiveButter Tip" simply enter $0 as the custom tip amount.
OTHER WAYS TO GIVE
RMDs/QCDs
You can make a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your retirement account by contacting your tax professional. Send us an email to learn more.
Planned Giving
You can help protect conservation lands on the Bluff & Hangman Creek in perpetuity in your will. Contact us to share your goals.
Memorial Donations
Contact us if you'd like to donate a bench, signage, or suggest your own unique idea.
WHAT YOU'RE SUPPORTING
Your donation helps us cover essential operating costs like insurance, trail tools and storage, website upkeep, communications, and more, allowing us to invest the rest of our funds and energy into projects and conservation.
Recent Projects
ROCKET GULCH
After identifying a dangerously steep trail near 43rd and Hatch, Friends of the Bluff worked with a landscape architecture firm (AHBL) to plan a set of stairs, then hired Washington Trails Association to complete the project in 2025. The project ensures safe, walkable access for the 1000s of residents that live within walking distance.
CREEKSIDE ACCESS
When all of the golf courses were shut down during the pandemic, hikers and bikers were locked out of the Creekside trail that starts on public land at the entrance of the Qualchan Golf Course. Since then, we have worked with the Parks Dept and golf course management to secure more regular public access. We widened the trail, installed a trail sign, planted 100s of trees, and have plans to improve parking and access to Campion Park.
INTERPRETIVE SIGNS
Prior to 2020, The Bluff didn't have an official trail map or signs. Friends of the Bluff's efforts to map the trails, get trail names approved by the city, and manufacture trail maps all led to the map and signage that we're familiar with today. Currently, there are interpretive signs (written by Jack Nisbet) at Polly Judd Park, 29th & High Dr, Bernard & High Dr, & at the entrance of the Qualchan Golf Course.
Ongoing Efforts
HABITAT RESTORATION
We are in the process of working with experts to create a Vegetative Management Plan for the bluff. This plan will help us identify and remove invasive species, before eventually restoring the areas with native vegetation. We are also working with the Spokane Conservation District to mitigate erosion and improve the riparian area along Hangman Creek.
FIRE PROTECTION
Over the past several years, Friends of the Bluff has been hiring a herd of goats to help reduce the amount of dry brush and low-hanging vegetation that help wildfires climb up trees and spread faster. We also created training videos for “Lop and Scatter” volunteers and group leaders, allowing us to ramp up our volunteer-led efforts to thin out doghair (dense stands of small trees) all over the bluff.
TRAILS
Due to a steep slope and the soil’s sandy composition, the bluff’s trails are in constant need of maintenance. The trails are also hard to navigate for those who don't visit regularly, so we are slowly adding trail signs to the bluff's most popular entrances. We also formed a partnership with the OuterSpatial app, which ensures that all of the bluff’s trails and points of interest will be available in the palm of your hand.
Friends of the Bluff is a volunteer-run, 501(C)3 non-profit organization, so every donation is tax-deductible