If you pay a visit to Ambush Rock—a nearly 11-acre piece of undeveloped land that sits along Idaho’s Kootenai River—you’ll come across an engraved wooden bench that symbolizes the enduring friendship between Goodfellow Bros. and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho.
The inscription on the bench reads: “This bench is dedicated to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho for environmental cleanup and restoration. Dedicated by Goodfellow Bros., Partners in Restoration.”
Goodfellow Bros. (GBI) unveiled and presented the bench to the Tribe during a commemorative event at the Ambush Rock site in November. The event also marked the completion of the Ambush Rock project, one of the many remediation and restoration projects GBI has completed for the Kootenai Tribe since 2011.
Looking at it now, it might be hard to imagine Ambush Rock as it once was—a contaminated dumping ground. But for more than a century, the site had been used as an uncontrolled and unpermitted landfill; it was laden with wood waste, metal debris, and household garbage.
In 1993, the Ambush Rock site was formally returned to the Kootenai Tribe. Apart from being a spiritually and culturally significant piece of land, Ambush Rock is home to a one-acre wetland and borders a critical spawning habitat for endangered sturgeon. Therefore, restoring and protecting it was of great importance. In 2023, with grant writing assistance from Goodfellow Bros., the Tribe received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up and restore the site. In July of 2024, the Tribe and GBI broke ground on the project with the help of Northwest Tree & Reclamation and GEUM Environmental Consulting, Inc.
Led by GBI Washington Region Senior Manager Ron Jordan and Heavy Equipment Operator Dave Swansen, the GBI project crew cleared roughly three acres of land at Ambush Rock. They removed layers of household garbage, abandoned cars, barrels, and wood and metal debris—some of which had been languishing there since the early 1900s. The debris removal process required extreme care and caution, given the presence of hazardous materials. GBI also performed earthwork, removed vegetation that impeded access to the debris, graded the surface of the disturbed areas, and placed a clay-based soil and vegetative cap over the disturbed areas.
GBI completed the project in early November, shortly before the engraved bench was presented to the Tribe. The bench is one of several gifts the Kootenai Tribe has received from GBI over the years. To mark the culmination of other meaningful projects for the Tribe, GBI has also bestowed a Hawaiian canoe, an outrigger paddle, and a Hawaiian lei as expressions of appreciation.
Now that Ambush Rock has been cleaned up, the Tribe will begin to revegetate it with drought-resistant native plants and trees, with the aim of ultimately returning the site to its natural state.
