Hanford Reach National Monument

Hanford Reach National Monument
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Location	Benton / Grant / Franklin / Adams counties, Washington, USA
Nearest city	Richland, WA
Coordinates	46°35′00″N 119°31′00″W / 46.58333°N 119.51667°W / 46.58333; -119.51667
Area	194,451 acres (78,692 ha) [1]
Created	June 8, 2000
Governing body	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Department of Energy
Website	Hanford Reach National Monument
U.S. National Monument

The Hanford Reach National Monument is a national monument in the U.S. state of Washington. It was created in 2000, mostly from the former security buffer surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The area has been untouched by development or agriculture since 1943. For this reason, it is considered an involuntary park.

The monument is named after the Hanford Reach, the last non-tidal, free-flowing section of the Columbia River in the United States, and is one of eight National Monuments administered by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service; part of the monument within the Hanford Site is also managed by the Department of Energy. President Bill Clinton established the monument by presidential decree in 2000. In May 2017, the Interior Department announced that Hanford Reach was one of 27 National Monuments under review for possible rescinding of their designation.^[2]

Ancestors of the Wanapum People, Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and the Nez Perce used the land for hunting and resource collecting.^{[citation needed]}

Geographically, the area is part of the Columbia River Plateau, formed by basalt lava flows and water erosion. The shrub-steppe landscape is harsh and dry, receiving between 5 and 10 inches (250 mm) of rain per year. The sagebrush-bitterbrush-bunchgrass lands are home to a wide variety of plants and animals, and the Hanford Reach provides one of the Northwest's best salmon spawning grounds. Forty-eight rare, threatened, or endangered animal species have found refuge on the monument, as well as several insect species found nowhere else in the world.^[3]