Spokane County purchases high priority conservation property near Beacon Hill

Mountain bikers and hikers will have additional room to roam and ride near Beacon Hill.

The Spokane County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to conserve a nearly 80-acre plot of wildland north of the popular outdoors area Camp Sekani Park dubbed the Fancher Property.

The vote ends a nearly half-decade bid to acquire the property covered with balsamroot and ponderosa pine through the county's Conservation Futures program, a small property tax established in 1994 to provide funding to save public lands. The county will use more than $2 million collected through the tax to purchase the property.

The Fancher plot connects to popular Beacon Hill recreation sites like Sekani. An Avista easement with established trails on it runs diagonally between the two. Those familiar with the area could start an afternoon at the top of the Fancher property, which houses a Federal Aviation Administration tower, and hike or bike down Sekani's maze of trails to Boulder Beach on the Spokane River.

The purchase means the top four of the high-priority properties identified by Conservation Futures leaders in 2021 have now been acquired. The purchase was preceded by the acquisition of more than 100 acres to add to Palisades Park, additional land for the Saltese Uplands Conservation Area and the latest effort to expand the Antoine Peak conservation area, which now sits at more than 1,200 acres.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 7:07 PM.