U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryane Zinke announced Thursday that the Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho won’t lose their federal designation.
The Trump Administration issued an executive order in April to review the monument status of nearly 30 sites across the country.
The Hanford Reach monument in southeast Washington, includes the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River. It’s home to gravel bars where endangered salmon spawn. And it’s home to many rare plants and sagebrush-dependent species.
“We believe in the nature value of the Hanford Reach, but also the value that it brings to people in terms of recreation and how they have the opportunity to recharge,” said John Brosnan of the Seattle Audubon Society.
Craters of the Moon is made up of ancient lava fields, cinder cones and sagebrush covering hundreds of square miles in central Idaho. It was first established as a national monument in 1924 and later expanded in 2000.
Still to be reviewed is the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument outside of Ashland, Oregon.
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