Little Badger Mountain is now an approved City of Richland Park! FoBM is not a land trust so we want the City to preserve this land for generations to come. FoBM has completed the south slope trail on Little Badger providing public access to the highest point in the City of Richland with spectacular views of the surrounding area.
Major Milestone: As of March 2024, FOBM has completed the first trail to the summit of Little Badger Mountain. The trail starts from Morency Drive on the south slope of Little Badger and traverses past the largest Ice Age Floods rock found anywhere on our local ridges. The new trail is less than a mile long to the summit with spectacular views of the surrounding area.
Major Milestone: As of March 2025, FoBM has grant funding to design the Little Badger Trailhead, build a pedestrian crossing for the trail to cross Queensgate Drive and FoBM volunteers will build a new public trail from Meadow Hills Drive through the saddle and up to the east boundary of the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve.
Future Plan: March of 2026, FoBM & City of Richland will apply for WA State RCO grant funding to build the Little Badger north face trail and trailhead (the final two projects to complete the Little Badger Preserve, construction planned during 2027 & 2028).
The Proposed Trail
The new trail will start from the Sagebrush Trail near the eastern boundary of the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve. Like the Sagebrush Trail, the new trail will meander near the edge of the ridgeline, showcasing the wonderful views to the north as the trail descends toward Queensgate Drive.
The trail will continue east through City facing slope land between two new residential developments.
The trail will then have an exciting section across the steep north face of Little Badger Mountain to a North Face Overlook in the middle of steep slope.
Next the trail will gain the ridgeline and have an exciting knife edge ridge section with precipitous slopes on both sides of the trail. The ridgeline trail will provide public access to the Summit Overlook near the water tanks at the top of Little Badger mountain.
Latest Updates
Land Acquisition
December 2019: FOBM purchased Westcliffe Heights Phase 2, Tract E, critical land to get off the steep north face and allow the trail to go up the ridge top. (SEE parcel shaded in BLUE in map to the right). Tract E complements the land the City of Richland has secured (shaded in green). The ridge trail corridor to the summit of Little Badger Mountain is now secured.
February 2020: FOBM purchased Viking, Tract A & Tract F totaling about 19 acres. This is critical City facing slope land in the saddle between Badger Mountain and Little Badger. (SEE parcels shaded in YELLOW in map to the right). The Viking land connects to the City of Richland land (shaded in GREEN). The ridge trail corridor from the saddle to the summit of Little Badger Mountain is now secured. Only 2 parcels are left to connect the Viking land to Queensgate Drive.
May 2020: FOBM flagged a new trail section across the saddle of Little Badger Mountain. We’re hopeful to build this in the Fall (post COVID-19 lockdown).
October 2020: FOBM sold Westcliffe Heights Tract E to the City of Richland (City). The City now owns continuous park land from the summit of Little Badger all the way down the west ridge of the mountain. The City has also distributed the 2019 Hotel/Motel Tax grant to FOBM and FOBM used those funds to close our $200,000 loan from the purchase of this property.
November 2020: FOBM repaid our second land loan and are now debt free!
January 2021: FOBM has received a new land donation on the Little Badger Mountain ridge top (Tract Q). Another piece of the puzzle has been secured, that will allow the public trail to traverse the ridge top towards the summit of Little Badger Mountain. FOBM is another significant step closer to creating a 3rd local mountain park; another step closer to a public trail to the highest point in the City of Richland; another step closer to linking 3 local mountains (Candy to Badger to Little Badger).
April 2022: FOBM purchased the final twenty-one acres needed to finish the Little Badger Preserve. The new property is located east of Queensgate Drive and has some nice sagebrush at the north end of the property. FOBM now has a continuous trail corridor from Badger Mountain through the saddle and up the ridge to the summit of Little Badger Mountain.
April 2023: The City of Richland has approved the master plan for the Little Badger Mountain Preserve. The City master plan includes the trailheads, restrooms, trail layout and many other details. This City of Richland is now working on the trail design for trail section “D” across the steep north face of Little Badger Mountain.
Trail Building
Fall 2024: FOBM hired PBS Engineering to design the pedestrian mid-block crossing of Queensgate Drive. City of Richland approved final design Fall of 2025.
Fall 2024: FOBM started trail construction in October on trail section “F” from Morency Drive up the south slope of Little Badger Mountain, past the large Ice Age Floods erratic and to the summit. This public trail is now open to the highest point inside the City of Richland.
Spring 2025: FOBM hired APEX Engineering to design the Little Badger Mountain Trailhead parking lot and the 30% Design Public Comment meeting was completed on 11/6/25. FOBM will seek City Lodging Tax funding Spring 2026 to complete the Trailhead parking lot design during 2026.
Fall 2025: FOBM hired Alta Engineering to design the trail across the steep north face of the Little Badger ridge. This will be the final section of trail needed to open the City of Richland, Little Badger Mountain Preserve.
Spring 2026: FOBM has hired Ellison Earthworks, LLC to build the Queensgate mid-block crossing during 2026. Next FOBM volunteers will build the public trail to connect Queensgate Drive to the eastern boundary of the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve.
Visit our Trailwork page for future work party dates and how to volunteer.
Click image to view full size map
Fundraising
100% To Goal ($1.5 Million)
Updated January 23rd, 2021
Businesses and Organizations that have Donated
Key Milestones
April 2019
City of Richland Council approved $200,000 from the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund for the Little Badger Mountain Public Trail project.
Public access to 3 peaks for the Tri-Cities will make Richland a regional destination for outdoor recreation. City of Richland Park Rangers interviewed almost 300 hikers at the Badger Mountain Trailhead and found 26% of hikers are from Richland, 32% are from Pasco, and 19% are from Kennewick, and 19% are from outside of Benton & Franklin Counties. This public ridge trail project will benefit the entire Tri-Cities metropolitan area and beyond.
May 2019
WA State Legislature approved $450,000 in the 2019–21 Capital Budget for the Little Badger Mountain Public Trail project.
Our local WA State representatives Senator Sharon Brown, House Rep. Brad Klippert, Rep. Matt Boehnke and Rep. Bill Jenkin know how important local, high quality, public hiking trails are for our community. Our local WA State representatives lead the charge in this year’s legislative session to help buy land for the Little Badger Mountain Public Ridge Trail. Please send them an e-mail and thank our representatives for their support of this project.
December 2018
Hanford contractor, AECOM, and subsidiary, Washington Closure Hanford (WCH), are the lead donors with their legacy gift of $300,761.
The donation honors the employees of the former Hanford contractor WCH for their significant achievements to clean up along the Columbia River over the past 11 years. The donation will be used to secure ridge top access parcels needed to complete the eastern potion of the trail to the summit of Little Badger. In addition, a portion of the donation will be used to start trail construction Fall 2019 and build basalt monuments in honor of the WCH employees and their Columbia River Corridor Clean Up accomplishments.
Get Involved
Donate
You can help toward the Little Badger Mountain Trails by making a donation, either online to our Network For Good account or by mail. Friends of Badger Mountain (FOBM) is an all-volunteer organization with 501(c)3 tax-exempt status. In whatever ways you can contribute your help, we thank you!
Volunteer
We’re always in need of new volunteers to assist in building trails. If you’re interested, contact Jim by email at Trailmaster@friendsofbadger.org and let him know. Mention “add me to your trail work list” so you’ll always know when the next work party is coming up.
Learn More
Part of an organization or group who’d like a presentation about this project? Contact David Comstock at (509) 521-8226 or dccjmb@yahoo.com