The Hanford Reach is the longest free-flowing, non-tidal stretch of the Columbia River, located between Priest Rapids Dam and McNary Dam.
THE INVOLUNTARY PARK
It flows through the Hanford Reach National Monument, an area untouched by development or agriculture since 1943.U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife manages this involuntary park, preserving it as a wildlife refuge with an abundance of flora and fauna exemplary of the shrub-steppe ecosystem.
Additionally, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is within the Monument. Nine reactors that produced plutonium, left over from World War II and the Cold War era dot along the shoreline, managed by the Department of Energy.