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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Group will plant trees along north-south freeway

Jonah Bates, and his mother, Tabitha, of Spokane, Wash., planted over 30 Ponderosa pine seedlings, April 12, 2014, at the Parksmith Interchange on the North-South Freeway. Spokane Ponderosa, WSDOT and the Inland Northwest Boy Scout Council partnered to plant some 4200 seedlings at the yellow markers. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

Developer Larry Stone’s long crusade to get ponderosa pines planted on the North Spokane Corridor has paid off.

Stone has received permission from the state Department of Transportation to allow planting of the trees on the newest stretch of the north-south freeway.

On Sunday, Stone will lead a group that will plant 5,000 trees. They will meet at the southern end of the corridor and work north before circling back south.

In previous years, Stone worked with the WSDOT and Boy Scout volunteers to plant about 5,000 pine seedlings along the corridor.

In 2017, Stone commissioned a study at Gonzaga University that showed how the pine trees would save the state money on chemicals for spraying noxious weeds.

“Spokane has always valued its ponderosa pines as part of its landscaping,” Stone told The Spokesman-Review in February 2018. “It’s not a conservative issue; it’s not a liberal issue. It’s an everybody issue.”