Dec. 20, 2001: Reach monument gets formidable budget boost

Reach monument gets formidable budget boost

This story was published Dec. 20, 2001

By Mike Lee
Herald staff writer

The Mid-Columbia got a big Christmas present from the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday when the agency gave the Hanford Reach National Monument the largest operating budget increase in the history of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

After weeks of haggling over finances, a top agency official in Washington, D.C., announced the monument will get an additional $612,000 this fiscal year. That will be added to the monument's old operating budget of $571,000 to create a new total of $1.18 million.

"It's not just for this year - it's the baseline budget" for the future, said Jim Watts, chairman of the Reach advisory committee. "It's a real coup."

The final budget shows an increase of three staff positions at the Reach monument, along with increases for maintenance, invasive species control and equipment replacement.

Also, the Fish and Wildlife Service directed $100,000 to the advisory committee, convened by the agency to bring local perspectives to monument planning.

The committee money is about two-thirds of what monument manager Greg Hughes estimated the advisory group would need earlier this year. He was not available for comment Wednesday.

"That's plenty adequate to get us going," Watts said. "We got treated real good."

While the refuge staff in Richland has welcomed citizen involvement, the money was a sign from headquarters that top officials also support the local involvement process, which was put on hold this fall after it ran out of money.

Local involvement in land-use decisions has been a sore spot for years, with a county- and farm-based contingent fighting for local decision-making authority over the objection of environmentalists.

The advisory committee, which includes 13 members from various segments of the community, represents something of a compromise even though it can't make decisions.

"The work of the advisory committee and planning are high priorities, and we will work with you to accomplish these in a timely manner," said James Kurth, acting refuge system manager, in a letter to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "Taken together, these projects will greatly enhance the partnerships to conserve this important area."

The Hanford Reach National Monument, created by President Clinton in 2000, includes about 200,000 acres of shrub-steppe land and a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River upstream of Richland. The river is critical for salmon spawning, and the land provides habitat for many dwindling or rare species.

The budget announcement also goes a long way toward establishing the only national monument under the agency's control - but that's not to say the money came easily or that local monument enthusiasts didn't want more.

Murray spokesman Todd Webster said at one point the agency had allocated $402,000 to the monument, about half the amount indicated in earlier conversations, Watts said.

"Murray really went to bat and had numerous conversations with the service, and as a result they increased the funding significantly," Webster said.

Watts also credited Murray with keeping the pressure on federal officials. "The senator kept her foot on them until they came up with an adequate budget," he said. "She did a super job."

Questions over monument funding date back to late October, when Congress gave the Fish and Wildlife Service an additional $10 million for operations and maintenance without detailed directions about how to spend it.

Instead, Congress said the agency "should place a high priority on the staffing and planning needs" at the Reach monument, sparking a long debate about how to divvy the money.