News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 31, 2000
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke urges Clinton to protect Hanford Reach as a national monument

OLYMPIA - Gov.Gary Locke today urged President Clinton to support Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's recommendation to designate the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River and its uplands as a national monument.

"The Columbia River has played a vital role in the history of our state, region and nation. The Hanford Reach is the last remaining stretch of this great river above the Bonneville Dam that is free flowing and has seen relatively few human impacts," Locke wrote in a letter to the president.

"In so many ways, it remains a snapshot of an earlier time," he added.

The governor's letter followed Secretary Babbitt's announcement today that he would ask the president to protect the area with an executive order designating it a national monument.

Locke endorsed Babbitt's approach, noting Congress had declined to protect the Reach through legislation.

Locke also asked the president to give local citizens and governments a partnership role in managing the monument.

The governor urged the president to include in the monument the surrounding landscape, especially the sweep of the great white bluffs on the Hanford Reach itself, known as the Wahluke Slope.

"The area contains many Native American cultural sites, making it a place of religious and spiritual significance for the Yakama Nation and other tribal people," Locke wrote.

He also emphasized the reach contains the largest spawning grounds for wild fall chinook salmon in the Columbia's main stem.

"This spawning area can only be protected if the Wahluke Slope is strictly off limits to future development, including irrigation," Locke noted. "This area is also a premier refuge containing rich and diverse wildlife and plant life that is increasingly scarce."

The Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge contains the Wahluke Slope.

Locke urged the president, "The Hanford Reach is a national treasure. It has been studied enough. We have waited long enough. It is time to preserve this exceptional area for generations to come."

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