Coronavirus (COVID-19) Notice
Although most refuge lands and outdoor spaces have remained open for the public to enjoy, we encourage you to:

  • Check local conditions on this website and call ahead for current information
  • Follow current CDC safe practices by maintaining a safe distance between yourself and other groups
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
  • Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze
  • Most importantly, stay home if you feel sick


Features

  • Wildflower Galleries

    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

  • Little Brown Myotis

    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

  • Sage Thrasher

    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

  • Monarch Butterfly

    Insects

    The Monument is paradise for entomologists. Especially lepidopterans. You have to find out what that means.

    Insects

  • Elk Viewing

    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

COVID-19 Updates

75 Year Remembrance

August 9, 2020 B Reactor - 75

August 9th marks 75 years since the nuclear explosion in Nagasaki, Japan. The Hanford Reach National Monument, the FWS’s first national monument, is part of the 520-acre Hanford Site, where the plutonium for the world’s first nuclear explosion at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico was produced. It was also the source of the plutonium for the Fat Man bomb that devastated Nagasaki. Today, the Monument protects chinook salmon, massive Rocky Mountain elk, and plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth, but there are reminders of WWII and the Cold War everywhere. We invite you to join us and the National Park Service in observing this moment in time and reflecting on how the world changed on that day 75 years ago.

National Park Service Commemoration

Baby, It’s Hot Outside

Hot Rabbit

It surprises a lot of people that the “Evergreen State” of Washington is largely arid—and it gets hot, often into triple digits for long stretches. We can beat the heat by heading to air conditioning. However, the animals of the Hanford Reach National Monument don't have that luxury. How do they cope?

Beating The Heat
Enjoying Wildlife

Watching Wildlife

Watching Wildlife

Want to see more animals on your trip to the Hanford Reach National Monument? Here are some tips from the "experts."

Watching Wildlife

About the Complex

Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Hanford Reach National Monument is managed as part of the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

Read more about the complex
About the NWRS

National Wildlife Refuge System

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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
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