Arboretum

The establishment of the arboretum on the Spokane County Conservation District (SCCD) site, now home to the Green Zone, began in the summer of 1982, before construction of the original 1 story building on the site. 

That building was a 60’ x 80 steel structure that included a small office, storage and a walk-in cooler for the SCCD tree sale program.  The majority of the space was designated as a parking garage for District and other agency vehicle parking.

Landscaping for the new facility, finished in April of 1984 was minimal, consisting of Austrian pines planted along the west fence and Lombardy poplars planted along the south fence.

In the spring of 1985, topsoil was hauled in, drought tolerant tall fescue was planted for lawn and a rudimentary sprinkler system was installed. 

During that spring several trees were planted, including the two Colorado spruces an Engleman spruce and a Concolor fir.  The Engleman and one Colorado spruce were removed during the construction of the current facility in 1998. 

Over the years, more trees were added in an attempt to have a representative specimen of every species of tree offered in our tree sale program. 

During construction of the SCCD facility in early 1998, the irrigation system was rendered inoperable.  As a result, most of the trees went dormant in August, dropping leaves and looking quite dead.  Fortunately, they came out of the stress the following year with no apparent damage other than the two Chinese dawn redwoods that suffered die back of the top terminal leaders.

The Green Zone was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony in June, 1998.  Most of the planting around the building and in the wetlands was not completed until June of 1999. The Green Zone continues to incorporate its outdoor exhibits into the Arboretum.