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Bill contains grant to promote Hanford ReachThis story was published Oct. 31, 2000 By the Herald staff Grant money is on its way to help the Tri-Cities capitalize on the new Hanford Reach National Monument. President Clinton has signed a federal appropriations bill that includes $250,000 to analyze opportunities created when the administration established the monument earlier this year. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., added the money to the 2001 spending bill covering the Veterans Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and independent federal agencies. The grant will be coordinated through the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau. Kris Watkins, the bureau's president, said the Three Rivers Foundation, a relatively new nonprofit group, will apply for the grant money now that it has been appropriated. The money will pay for two or three studies related to the new national monument, Watkins said. The studies will look at possible sites for an interpretive center, economic development opportunities and conceptual designs for the monument. Watkins said the monument could be a major draw for tourists, so organizers need to be careful to find a proper balance that allows people to visit, but not to overrun, the natural area. "I do believe if the infrastructure is there, there's a greater opportunity for visitation. The Tri-Cities certainly does have that infrastructure in place," she said. The national monument designation includes 195,000 acres configured in a giant "C" shape around central Hanford. The Reach monument includes the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve on the west edge of Hanford and the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge to the north and east of the Columbia River. It also includes the 51-mile freeflowing stretch of the Columbia River north of Richland. An additional 163,000 acres of Hanford's shrub-steppe habitat that is not yet part of the monument will be managed as if it were included in the monument under a Clinton directive. | |