Richland is a city in Benton County, Washington, United States. It is located in southeastern Washington at the confluence of the Yakima and the Columbia Rivers. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 60,560. Along with the nearby cities of Pasco and Kennewick, Richland is one of the Tri-Cities, and is home to the Hanford nuclear site.
Benton County is a county in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 206,873. The county seat is Prosser, and its largest city is Kennewick. The Columbia River demarcates the county's north, south, and east boundaries.
The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It covers 668,000 km2 or 258,000 sq mi. In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin that lies within eastern Washington.
The Hanford Reach is a free-flowing section of the Columbia River, around 51 miles (82 km) long, in eastern Washington state. It is named after a large northward bend in the river's otherwise southbound course.
The Arid Land Ecology Reserve (ALE) is the largest tract of shrub-steppe ecosystem remaining in the U.S. state of Washington. It is managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute). The 320 km² area is a portion of the 1500 km² National Environmental Research Park located on the Hanford Site on the northwest boundary of Richland, Washington.
The Hanford Reach National Monument is a national monument in the U.S. state of Washington. It was created in 2000, mostly from the former security buffer surrounding the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The area has been untouched by development or agriculture since 1943. Because of that it is considered an involuntary park.
Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay located 45 miles (72 km) north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state, in the United States. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flooded the Chehalis River. The bay is 17 miles (27 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide. The Chehalis River flows into its eastern end, where the city of Aberdeen stands at that river's mouth, on its north bank, with the somewhat smaller city of Hoquiam immediately to its northwest, along the bayshore. Besides the Chehalis, many lesser rivers and streams flow into Grays Harbor, such as Hoquiam River and Humptulips River. A pair of low peninsulas separate it from the Pacific Ocean, except for an opening about two miles (3 km) in width. The northern peninsula, which is largely covered by the community of Ocean Shores, ends in Point Brown. Facing that across the bay-mouth is Point Chehalis, at the end of the southern peninsula upon which stands the town of Westport.
Established in 2006 The Wahluke Slope AVA Wahluke, was named after a Native American word for "watering place," is an American Viticultural area located within Grant County, Washington and is home to more than 20 vineyards and at least three wine production facilities. It is part of the larger Columbia Valley AVA. The 80,490 acre region features approximately 8,931 acres of vineyards: nearly 15 percent of the total wine grape acreage in the state. Top grape varieties: Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay, and Chenin Blanc, but this area is primarily known for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science, and Technology (CREHST) was a non-profit museum and science center located in Richland, Washington, dedicated to telling the story of the Columbia Basin and surrounding region. Permanent exhibits include displays about the history of the Hanford Site and Richland, the geology of the Pacific Northwest, and others. The museum was founded in 1995 following the closing of the Hanford Science center, and it closed on January 31, 2014. The museum transitioned into the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center which opened in July 2014. Many of the exhibits from the CREHST were moved over to the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center.
The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fault. It was named for the Salinas Valley in Monterey County, California.
Camp Columbia or Columbia Camp was a prison labor camp established on the north shore of the Yakima River opening on February 1, 1944 near Horn Rapids. The camp was operated between February 1944 and October 1947 by Federal Bureau of Prisons to provide labor supporting the Hanford Site. The camp was used to house "minimum-custody-type improvable male offenders," who had no more than one year to serve. These were violators of national defense, wartime and military laws. Included were conscientious objectors, violators of rationing and price support laws, those convicted of espionage, sabotage and sedition and those convicted by military courts martial. Aliens who failed to register were also in this category but none of them were sent here because the camp was located on the southern edge of the 670 square miles (1,740 km2) Hanford Site.
Umtanum Ridge is a long anticline mountain ridge in Yakima County and Kittitas County in the U.S. state of Washington. It runs for approximately 55 miles east-southeast from the Cascade Range, through the Yakima Training Center to the edge of the Columbia River at Priest Rapids Dam and Hanford Reach. The eastern end of Umtanum Ridge enters Hanford Reach National Monument and the Hanford Site. Umtanum Ridge is paralleled on the north by Manastash Ridge and on the south by Yakima Ridge. The Yakima River cuts through the ridge at the Umtanum Ridge Water Gap.
The East Branch Mattawamkeag River is a tributary of the Mattawamkeag River in Aroostook County, Maine. From its source in Dudley, the river runs 36 miles (58 km) south and southeast to its confluence with the West Branch Mattawamkeag River in Haynesville, about 10 miles (16 km) west of the Canada–United States border.
The West Branch Mattawamkeag River is a 52.6-mile-long (84.7 km) tributary of the Mattawamkeag River in Maine. From its source in Maine Township 6, Range 6, WELS, the river runs 10 miles (16 km) northeast by Pleasant Lake and through Mud Lake and Rockabema Lake, then 42 miles (68 km) south and southeast through Upper Mattawamkeag Lake and Mattawamkeag Lake to its confluence with the East Branch Mattawamkeag River in Haynesville, about 10 miles (16 km) west of the Canada–United States border.
Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a group of protected areas in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. Headquartered in Burbank, Washington, its administrators manage seven national wildlife refuges (NWR)s and one national monument on or near the Columbia River. They are Cold Springs, Columbia, Conboy Lake, McKay Creek, McNary, Toppenish and Umatilla NWRs and Hanford Reach National Monument.
The Ringold Formation is a geologic formation in Eastern Washington, United States. The formation consists of sediment laid down by the Columbia River following the flood basalt eruptions of the Columbia River Basalt Group, and reaches up to 1,000 feet (300 m) thick in places. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period.
Wahluke Slope is a geographic feature in Grant, Benton and Adams Counties of Eastern Washington. It is a broad, south-facing slope with a grade of about 8%, situated between the Saddle Mountains and the Columbia River's Hanford Reach. It has been described as "basically a 13-mile-wide gravel bar" created by the Glacial Lake Missoula floods at the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago. Much of the Slope, part of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, was added to the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in 1999. Much of the remainder is used for viniculture.
Locke Island is an island located in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in Washington, United States. The island is protected as part of the Hanford Reach National Monument, which was created out of lands surrounding the Hanford Site. The island is an important archeological site and is on the National Register of Historic Places. These cultural resources are being threatened by erosion resulting from a landslide changing the river's course.
Vulcan Island is a small island in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. It is part of San Joaquin County, California. Its coordinates are 37°59′21″N121°24′22″W, and the United States Geological Survey measured its elevation as 7 ft (2.1 m) in 1981. It appears on a 1952 USGS map of the area.
