Number: 1996-05
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Energy’s property along the only remaining free-flowing portion of the Columbia River known as the Hanford Reach consists of 90,000 acres of some of the best shrub-steppe habitat remaining in Washington State; and
WHEREAS, the fifty-one miles of the Columbia River comprising the Hanford Reach is home to one of the only naturally spawning runs of endangered fall Chinook salmon remaining in the entire Columbia River Basin; and
WHEREAS, the riverine habitat of the Hanford Reach and adjoining native grasslands and sagebrush steppe of the Wahluke Slope have been preserved inadvertently only by being part of the Hanford Site, or by restrictions on development imposed to protect the security of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation; and
WHEREAS, with the close of the Cold War, the Hanford Reach and Wahluke Slope are no longer needed as a security and safety buffer zone; and
WHEREAS, under normal federal disposition procedures, the Department of Energy will either sell or transfer its holding to another agency or the public; and
WHEREAS, local interests are pressuring local and federal government to open the river to destination resort development and to convert adjacent lands to irrigated agriculture; and
WHEREAS, the Yakima Indian Nations, confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and Nez Perce Tribe will recover treaty rights to fish on ceded lands including the Hanford Reach (until recently, access had been limited due to safety and security reasons); and
WHEREAS, recent polls have shown that a majority of local residents favor preservation of the Reach for fish, wildlife and recreation; and
WHEREAS, the National Park Service completed a six-year study in 1994 and recommends designating the Reach as a Recreational Wild and Scenic River and the Wahluke Slope a National Wildlife Refuge; and
WHEREAS, designating the Reach as a recreational river is the least restrictive designation under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and would allow motorized boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, horseback riding, and wildlife observation to continue; and
WHEREAS, if the shoreline of the Reach is sold to private business, these areas could be closed permanently to the public or could be severely damaged;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 1-3, 1996 in West Palm Beach, Florida, calls upon Congress to designate the portion of the Columbia River known as the Hanford Reach as a Wild and Scenic River; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation calls upon Congress to designate a new National Wildlife Refuge in the region within the Hanford Reach and known as the Wahluke Slope, to include all currently administered Federal Lands, all river islands, lands within 1/4 mile of the river on both banks within the Reach and all lands currently within the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge; and (if appropriate) Wahluke State Wildlife Recreation Area.