Bill seeks protection for Hanford Reach

An estimated 60 percent of the Columbia River fall chinook salmon that make it past the McNary Dam spawn at the Hanford Reach

March 26, 1999
Web posted at: 11:30 AM EST

Legislation to designate Hanford Reach on the Columbia River in Washington as a national Wild and Scenic River will be weighed by the 106th Congress.

The legislation, prepared by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., would permanently protect the 51-mile section of the Columbia River that flows through the northern portion of the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation.

"The Hanford Reach and its adjacent federal lands offer our very last chance to protect a fully functioning remnant of the once-vast mid-Columbia River ecosystem," said Elliot Marks, state director of The Nature Conservancy in the state of Washington.

"Migrating birds, salmon and hundreds of other native plant, animal and fish species rely on its diverse, and otherwise scarce, natural habitats. This irreplaceable natural legacy is a gift we can and must deliver intact to future generations."

Protection of the Hanford Reach has garnered broad support from local sporting, recreation, fishing and environmental groups, said Laura Smith, a spokeswoman for The Nature Conservancy.

Up until 1988, the Department of Energy produced weapons-grade plutonium at the Hanford Reservation. The Hanford Reservation has since changed its mission to one of environmental clean up.

However, the free-flowing state of the river was preserved, in part, thanks to the security and safety restrictions associated with the Hanford Site.

Wild and Scenic River designation for the reach would charge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in consultation with an advisory board, with management responsibilities for the Hanford Reach corridor and its critical salmon spawning grounds.

"The scientific community urges immediate protection of the Hanford Reach ecosystem as the core strategy to recover Columbia Basin salmon," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers.

An estimated 60 percent of the Columbia River fall chinook salmon that make it past the McNary Dam spawn at the Hanford Reach. It is also a spawning area for steelhead trout and sturgeon, and it is a popular boating destination.

Entities as diverse as the Northwest Power Planning Council, the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, commercial fishing groups, and outdoor recreation organizations have recognized the designation as critical to ensuring the long-term protection of the Hanford Reach.

The towns of Kennewick and Richland have voted to support the designation, and recent polls have shown that 76 percent of local residents favor preservation of the Hanford Reach for fish, wildlife and recreation.

The conservation group American Rivers named the Hanford Reach the nation's most endangered river of 1998 after Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., introduced legislation that would have made lands adjacent to the reach available to developers and farmers.

These lands -- 90,000 acres north of the Hanford Reach known as the Wahluke slope -- represent an important shrub-steppe ecosystem and are home to rare plants and animals.

"Development of the Wahluke Slope threatens the existence of the only reliably harvestable runs of chinook salmon in the Columbia system, runs that provide important and rare commercial, sports and tribal fisheries," said Wodder.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manage the Wahluke Slope as the Wahluke State Wildlife Recreational Area and the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.

Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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