Kittitas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. At the 2020 census, its population was 44,337. Its county seat and largest city is Ellensburg. The county was created in November 1883 when it was carved out of Yakima County. Kittitas County comprises the Ellensburg, Washington, Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Cle Elum is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,872 at the 2010 census. About 84 miles (135 km) by car from Seattle, Cle Elum is a popular area for camping and outdoor activities. It is also unofficially considered the starting point of Eastern Washington when driving east on I-90 from Seattle, although this is somewhat arbitrary since many consider either the town of Easton, anywhere east of Keechelus Lake, or the wildlife crossing bridge over I-90 to be the starting point.
State Route 970 (SR 970) is a 10.31-mile-long (16.59 km) state highway serving rural Kittitas County in the U.S. state of Washington. The highway connects Cle Elum to Blewett Pass and begins at an interchange with Interstate 90 (I-90) in Cle Elum. Traveling east, SR 970 intersects SR 903 north of the interchange and SR 10 in Teanaway before ending at U.S. Route 97 (US 97) in Virden. The highway was first added to the state highway system in 1909 as part of the Snoqualmie Pass Road and State Road 7. It was later signed as the Sunset Highway in 1913 and State Road 2 in 1923 before becoming part of US 97 and US 10. State Road 2 became Primary State Highway 2 (PSH 2) in 1937 and was replaced by US 97 during the 1964 highway renumbering. US 97 was realigned onto SR 131 between Thorp and Virden in 1975 and SR 970 was created on the former route.
Wenatchee National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington. With an area of 1,735,394 acres, it extends about 137 miles along the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range of Washington, USA from Okanogan National Forest to Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The forest is located in Chelan, Kittitas and Yakima counties.
State Route 10 (SR 10) is a 16.16-mile-long (26.01 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Washington. The highway is a remnant of U.S. Route 10 (US 10) in Kittitas County, traveling southeast along the Yakima River from SR 970 in Teanaway to US 97 northwest of Ellensburg. SR 10 was established in 1970 as the successor to US 10 after the completion of I-90 across the Snoqualmie Pass in 1968. The highway was previously part of State Road 3 from 1923 to 1937 and Primary State Highway 3 (PSH 3) until the 1964 highway renumbering.
The 2012 Washington wildfires were a series of 1,342 wildfires that burned 259,526 acres (1,050 km2) over the course of 2012. The fires primarily occurred in the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests during September and October 2012. A severe lightning storm on September 8 caused hundreds of fires across the east side of Cascade Range. Smoke caused hazardous air quality conditions in the cities of Ellensburg and Wenatchee, and was noticeable in Seattle. The cost of fighting the largest four fires was estimated to be $67.5 million.
The 2014 Washington wildfires were a series of 1,480 wildfires that burned 386,972 acres (1,566 km2) over the course of 2014. The first occurred primarily on the east side of the Cascade Range in Chelan and Okanogan counties. The fires burned private land, state land, and within the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, ultimately covering over 350,000 acres. The first fire began on July 8 near the Entiat River. On July 14 a lightning storm started dozens more fires across the eastern Cascade Range. Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency, activating the Washington National Guard. More lightning strikes later in the summer started additional fires.
The 2015 wildfire season was the largest in Washington state history, with more than one million acres burning across the state from June to September. As many as 3,000 firefighters including 800 Washington National Guard members were deployed to fight the fires. The 17th Field Artillery Brigade of the United States Army also deployed 200 soldiers from Joint Base Lewis–McChord to help fight the fires.
The 2016 Washington wildfires season were a series of wildfires in the U.S. state of Washington, notable because of brush fires near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and because of brush fires near Spokane, Washington.
The 2017 Washington wildfires were a series of wildfires that burned over the course of 2017, a year that set weather records for heat and aridity in both Western Washington and Eastern Washington.
The 2018 Washington wildfire season officially began June 1, 2018. A statewide state of emergency was declared by Governor Jay Inslee on July 31.
The 2020 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2020. The season was a part of the 2020 Western United States wildfires. By September, wildfires had burned over 713,000 acres, 181 homes had been lost, and one death occurred as a result. The 2020 fire season saw more individual fires than in any other recorded year.
Hawkins Mountain is a 7,160+ ft double-summit massif located in Kittitas County of Washington state. Hawkins Mountain is the sixth-highest point in the Teanaway area of the Wenatchee Mountains. The lower (7,080-ft) east summit is also known as Hawkins Thimble. Hawkins is situated three miles southwest of Ingalls Peak, and 1.7 mi (2.7 km) northwest of Esmeralda Peaks, on land managed by Wenatchee National Forest. Precipitation runoff from the peak drains into tributaries of the Teanaway River and Cle Elum River. This mountain was named for prospector Samuel S. Hawkins.
The Evans Canyon Fire, ignited about eight miles north of Naches, Washington, during the afternoon of August 31, 2020. The wildfire expanded by 8,900 acres to almost 13,000 acres between September 1 and 2, then grew to 30,000 acres on September 2. Evacuations of over 400 homes began on September 1 and the entire Yakima River Canyon was closed to recreation, while the city of Selah was threatened. By September 2,900 homes had been evacuated. By the morning of September 3, it had grown to 52,000 acres, 900 homes were ordered evacuated, State Route 821 in the Yakima River Canyon was closed down, and air quality in Yakima County was deemed unhealthy due to smoke. By September 6, it had burned almost 76,000 acres and was 40% contained.
The 2020 Washington Labor Day fires were part of the 2020 wildfires in the U.S. state of Washington. The Labor Day fires began on September 7, 2020, driven by high winds and some of which were sparked by downed power lines. More than 330,000 acres (130,000 ha) burned across the state of Washington, a one-day total greater than any of the last 12 entire fire seasons, according to the governor's office, and larger than the state's largest single fire, the Carlton Complex Fire of 2014.
The 2021 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2021. By late April, all of Eastern Washington had been classified by the United States Drought Monitor as "abnormally dry" with moderate to severe drought conditions. The state had more than 630 wildfires by the first week of July, on par with the state's record 2015 wildfire season.
Teanaway Community Forest is a state owned 50,272-acre (20,344 ha) dual-use community forest and recreation area in the central Washington Cascades near Cle Elum. It was created through a public-private partnership involving Forterra and both Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington Department of Natural Resources acting towards the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. When the land purchase from a private timber company was made in September 2013, it was described as the single largest transaction in Washington state in the past 45 years. The forest is about the size of the city of Seattle, 65 miles (105 km) to the west.
The 2022 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2022. As of August 4, 2022, there have been four large wildfires that have burned 30,800 acres (12,500 ha) across the US state of Washington. This season started quieter than normal due to unusually colder weather that kept Eastern and Southeastern Washington burning index's largely below normal into July. As of October 2022, a total of 140,000 acres (57,000 ha) of land in the state was burned – the fewest number of acres burned since 2012.
The 2023 Washington wildfire season officially began in March 2023 in the US state of Washington.
The Kittitas are a Sahaptin tribe closely related to the Yakama, sometimes described as a band or subtribe of the Yakama. Their traditional territories are found within Kittitas and Yakima counties within Washington state, chiefly in the Kittitas Valley, Naches Valley, Wenas Valley, and upper Yakima Valley. Individuals of Kittitas descent are today enrolled in the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, but the Kittitas are not recognized as a distinct band by either tribal government.
