New Hanford Monument Combines Pristine Reserves Outside Of A Few Non-Native Plants, ‘Shrub-Steppe’ Unaltered

Unpublished correction: The Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge covers about 90,000 acres. The size was stated incorrectly in the story. (source: Dan Hansen)

The federal government created the Hanford Nuclear Reservation by buying out farmers on 359,000 acres of central Washington in 1943. Nine Spokanes could fit within its boundaries. Or nearly all of Asotin County, Wash. Or half the state of Rhode Island.

The government severely limited visitors to the land, which has largely been idle for more than 50 years. As a result, the reservation is the largest remaining remnant of the arid “shrub-steppe” habitat that used to cover about 15 million acres in Eastern Washington and Oregon.

Dominated by sage and bunch grass, most of the Northwest’s shrub-steppe has been converted to irrigated farms or is intensively grazed by livestock. Grazing damages the land, which evolved with few large mammals.

President Clinton on Friday created the Hanford Reach National Monument from more than half the nuclear reservation. The monument covers about 195,000 acres, comprised mostly of two unlinked portions of the reservation: the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve and the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.

Both portions are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which will also manage the monument.

Arid Lands Ecology Reserve

The reserve was established in 1967 and covers 77,000 acres east of state Highway 240. Elevations range from 500 feet in the Cold Creek Valley to 3,450 feet at the top of Rattlesnake Ridge. Precipitation varies, too, from less than 7 inches a year in the valley to nearly 14 inches atop the ridge.

Residents of the Tri-Cities watch the sun set behind Rattlesnake Ridge, which takes on a rusty, velvety appearance in spring. Random fence posts, non-native trees and rock foundations still mark the locations of settlers’ lonely homes.

Although it was marginal farm land, portions of the reserve were plowed as early as 1880 and now host cheatgrass and other non-native plants. Once-common sage grouse are now so rare that only a few lucky researchers have spotted them in recent years. A herd of non-native elk roams the reserve.

Despite those disturbances, scientists believe the land is little changed from pre-settlement days. The ridge and valley boast vibrant displays of wildflowers, including hawks beard, mariposa lily and lupine.

There’s a 100-acre patch of greasewood, a shrub that sends down roots 40 feet to find the water required to stay green in summer. Although it looks like many separate plants, the greasewood is actually a single organism that emerges from the soil in many places, said researcher Bill Rickard. He speculates that it has been growing for thousands of years.

Six springs create oases within the reserve. Scientists surmise they are fed with water that has been trapped underground since the last Ice Age flood.

The reserve is closed to most public uses.

Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge covers about 90,000 square miles north and east of the Columbia. It includes the highly erodible White Bluffs, cliffs that rise 300 feet over the river.

Geologists believe the bluffs are comprised of sediment that was left behind when water pooled in the Columbia River valley during Ice Age floods.

The refuge is dotted with ponds and marshes formed by runoff from irrigated fields from outside the refuge. Irrigation water is responsible for sloughing at the White Bluffs during the 1980s and 1990s.

The landslides have changed the course of the river in places, deflecting the current into Locke Island, which is now eroding.

The refuge includes 55,000 acres previously known as the Wahluke Wildlife Area. That area, which until last year was managed by the state, is open to hunting and fishing, and includes several boat launches.

The rest of the refuge officially has been closed to the public since 1943. However, trespassing is common and the land is scarred with the tracks of motorcycles and other off-road vehicles.