If you drove down South Henry Road in July, Saltese Flats probably looked like a hayfield that had lost track of its purpose. Most of the basin was dry. The 2022 Spokesman-Review account of the site's seasons described late spring and early summer the same way, with water drained into the ground and Saltese Creek and only two small ponds left.
The dry stretch is part of the plan. The restoration on the Flats is built to catch water through fall, winter and spring and then release it slowly. Ducks Unlimited's March 2024 final report on the project says this directly. For anyone in Morningside Heights or elsewhere in Greenacres, that makes October the start of the wetland's year, even though it feels like the end of hiking season.
A Lake That Was Drained for Hay
Saltese Flats held water long before anyone thought of restoring it. Peter Morrison drained Saltese Lake in 1894 so the rich lakebed could grow hay, and the land was mostly hayfields for more than a hundred years after that. The historic marsh once covered nearly 1,200 acres. Between 2011 and 2014, Spokane County Environmental Services bought about 580 acres of it.
Conservation wasn't the county's first idea for that land. According to Ducks Unlimited's report, the county first saw the property as possible storage for treated wastewater. The 2022 Spokesman-Review story called it an insurance policy. If the county ever has to stop discharging into the Spokane River, it would likely pump treated water about 15 miles to the Flats instead. As of the March 2024 report, that need "has not materialized, to date." No later status has been published, so the wetland you walk today runs on its own watershed.
The county started building a trail system around 2019, and by 2022 the site also had a parking lot and a county-built water control system. Spokane County Water Reclamation Engineer Ben Brattebo explained the approach to the Spokesman-Review in 2022:
"We're putting the water on there on purpose and trying to hold it as long as we can."
The August Mowing That Shapes October
The water is only half of what makes fall here different. Ducks Unlimited's report describes a yearly job on the county's West Central Tract: cutting and hauling off non-native reed canary grass. The work happens in late July to early August, after bird nesting season ends. Left alone, that grass shades out the native wet meadow plants. Once it's cut, the report says, the short grass gives waterfowl, songbirds, raptors, deer and elk better foraging. The county reviews the results every year to decide whether to keep doing it.
The timing matters. The grass is cut just before fall migration, which the 2022 Spokesman-Review story says starts around mid-August. So the open, cropped meadow you see on an October walk is the ground the restoration prepared for incoming birds.
The West Central Tract is one of three restoration areas covered in the report. The other two are the Pettit Tract, bought by Ducks Unlimited and Spokane County in 2015, and the Naccarato property, where a conservation easement held by Inland Northwest Land Conservancy was recorded on April 20, 2022.
| Restoration area | Emergent wetland restored | Riparian habitat restored | What was built |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Central Tract | 75.3 acres | 4.0 acres | Surface flows redirected into the old lakebed, one large excavated wetland depression, 650 native shrubs and trees |
| Pettit Tract | 54.3 acres | 3.8 acres | Three shallow depressions, a replacement water control structure, a new flow channel |
| Naccarato easement | 49.2 acres | 3.1 acres | Three shallow depressions, invasive species control, native plantings |
The replacement water control structure on the Pettit Tract is what lets that part of the site flood. The shallow depressions on all three areas give the water a range of depths, so the basin holds different kinds of wetland as it fills.
Where the Fall Water Comes From
The county's 2018 environmental checklist for the project named the sources that feed the basin:
- runoff from the surrounding hills
- Saltese Creek
- Courchaine Creek
- the old farm ditches
- high groundwater, which the checklist describes as closely connected to surface water on the site
Before the restoration, those flows mostly ran through the farm ditches to Shelley Lake, a spot where water soaks quickly into the aquifer. Now the Flats hold that water through the wet months and release it slowly toward the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer and the Spokane River. The report says the possible payoff downstream is hard to measure: later-season flow in Saltese Creek below the Flats, and cool water in summer for native redband trout in the river. Part of the reason the county and its partners hold water behind Henry Road through the wet months is to help the river in late summer.
None of the published sources gives a measured water level for fall 2026 or a schedule for operating the gates. The general pattern is that the basin starts holding water in fall and keeps it into spring.
What an October Walk Turns Up
Fall here doesn't bring the huge flocks of spring. The 2022 Spokesman-Review story reported that Chris Bonsignore of Ducks Unlimited estimated 10,000 to 20,000 waterfowl at the spring migration peak. Birder Tim O'Brien described late fall as a quieter time, though he saw short-eared owls in 2021 hunting over ground that sits under water part of the year.
A fall walk shows a wetland on the way back. One complete eBird checklist from October 23, 2025, recorded 100 Canada geese, eight mallards, five buffleheads and five common mergansers. The same checklist included three northern harriers, two American tree sparrows, 13 song sparrows and 15 red-winged blackbirds. Harriers are raptors, and raptors are one of the groups the August mowing is meant to feed.
Ducks Unlimited's report put the site's eBird total at 201 bird species. It also noted more Rocky Mountain elk using the Flats and, less often, moose. O'Brien also said mid-August through fall is when unusual birds that have strayed off course tend to appear, species that don't normally pass through Eastern Washington.
Getting There From Greenacres
The Morningside Heights homeowners association describes the community as part of Greenacres, near Liberty Lake. Washington Trails Association directions put the wetland parking lot 1 mile south of Sprague on Henry Road and the Saltese Uplands lot 0.8 mile south. You can connect the two trail systems by crossing Henry. County planning documents place the wetland generally between South Barker and South Henry roads near 32nd Avenue, with the Uplands across Henry to the northeast.
Trails. About 4.5 miles of mostly flat trail run through the wetland, separate from the climbing routes in the Uplands. Leashed dogs are allowed, no parking pass is needed, and there's a toilet at the trailhead, according to the WTA trail page.
The Learning Center. The Doris Morrison Learning Center sits on a hill at the north end of the site, and it was designed to give visitors a view out over the wetland. The address is 1330 S. Henry Road. Parking is free and the lot can take buses. The county schedules water-education field trips for grades 3 through 12 there in October, so school groups are part of the scene this month.
Guided walks. Spokane Audubon has two free community walks on the calendar, both starting at the Learning Center:
- Wednesday, October 7, 8 to 11 a.m., led by volunteers Brenda Day and Jody Morehouse. It's slow-paced on a wide, flat trail, with no registration or permit, and you can leave early.
- Wednesday, November 4, 8 to 11 a.m., same format, also free.
Going on both walks gives you two looks at the basin four weeks apart as it fills.
A couple of other dates nearby: the Liberty Lake Farmers Market has its last market of the season on Saturday, October 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Town Square Park, 1421 N. Meadowwood Lane. Spokane Valley's Mira-BOO runs Friday, October 30, 6 to 9 p.m. at Mirabeau Point Park, with a $5 haunted trail walk. Preregistration opened October 5.
Homes in Greenacres sit next to a wetland that has its own calendar, and that's part of what a home here offers. When we put together a valuation for a home near Henry Road, we look at that kind of local detail along with the comparable sales. If you'd like to know what your home is worth this fall, Graves Re Group can help. Get a Free Home Valuation.
