Features
Wildflower Galleries
It may be arid, but the Monument comes alive in the spring with wildflowers. Here are some of our most colorful.
Wildflower Galleries
Hanford Bats
Legend. Myths. Folklore. Bats figure prominently in our primal fears, the things that scare us in the chill dark of the night. Are we silly!
Bats
Rare Species
"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?'" – Aldo Leopold, Round River
Rare, Threatened or Endangered Species
Insects
The Monument is paradise for entomologists. Especially lepidopterans. You have to find out what that means.
Insects
Elk
What do visitors want to see? The White Bluffs, of course. Coyotes, deer and birds have their fans. But everyone wants to see the massive elk found here.
Elk
Watching Wildlife
Want to see more animals on your trip to the Hanford Reach National Monument? Here are some tips from the "experts."
Watching WildlifeAbout the Complex
The Mid-Columbia River Refuges are eight refuges within the Columbia Basin.
Hanford Reach is managed as part of the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Learn more about the complex About the NWRS
The National Wildlife Refuge System, within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, manages a national network of lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife, and plants.
Learn more about the NWRS
Of Special Interest
January 28, 2017Let's go ALL OUT! You're invited to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and REI on January 28th for a Winter Skills and Local Trails Class and a nature walk at McNary National Wildlife Refuge. Let's kickoff 2017 in the right direction.
Registration & Information
March 15, 2017The deadline for submitting entries for the 2017 Jr. Duck Stamp contest is rapidly approaching. Are you a student in K-12? Do you have artistic talent? Care about wildlife? Looking for fame and fortune? Then you should at least take a look at entering the 2017 contest. And we would love to see winners selected from this area, painting the ducks found here. So, check this out.
2017 Jr. Duck Stamp Contest
This past summer, a large wildfire once again swept through the shrub-steppe of the Columbia Basin. Designated as the Range 12 Fire, this fire, and the backfires set to contain it, ultimately charred 176,000 acres, much of it in the Rattlesnake Unit of the Monument. The wildlife and habitat devastation is obvious, but what isn’t so evident are the deep impacts felt by the biologists and managers who see their efforts to protect this landscape hammered again and again by repeated, often carelessly set, wildfires. Hanford’s Biology chief has blogged about her efforts and setbacks.
Wildfires at Hanford Reach: A Repeat of Defeat?
Once a national wildlife refuge itself, Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge still exists, but as part of the much larger Hanford Reach National Monument.
Learn more
Page Photo Credits — Kangaroo Rat - Chuck & Grace Bartlett, Globe-mallow - Gordon Warrick, Little Brown Myotis - Ann Froschauer/FWS, Sage Thrasher- Tim Lenz, Monarch Butterfly - Jane Abel, Elk - Walmart, Elk In Snow - Cathy Haglund, Saddle Mountains - Rich Steele, Pale Evening Primrose - Mark Turner
Last Updated: Dec 28, 2016