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Hanford Reach

On a near 100 degree day we pulled into Richland, WA, heading to Hanford Reach National Monument, our first Monument of the trip! Designated in 2000 by President Clinton, Hanford Reach is 195,000 acres along the Columbia River in eastern Washington.

Our first stop was Columbia Kayak Adventures to chat about floating the Monument. They do tours which fill quickly and sound amazing. The next Hanford Reach tour wasn’t until July, so we rented a tandem and they shuttled us to just below the Monument’s boundary. We spent … Read the rest

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Hart Mountain National Antelope  Refuge

We woke up early again the next morning for a 9:00 am group meeting including a welcome from federal employee Laurel. Laurel wears multiple hats now because of the federal hiring freeze. There are two on-site staff for Hart Mountain’s 278k acres. There are another dozen staff at headquarters in Lakeview, Oregon, but they are also in charge of Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge 573 (k) acres in northern Nevada. In other words these public lands are staffed around 50k acres per employee.

Late starts seem to be our … Read the rest