Author - Chris Lindhartsen

It’s a race against development for a local nonprofit working to preserve some of the Tri-City region’s natural habitat for future generations to enjoy. (see the story at the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business) Friends of Badger Mountain is working quickly and strategically to carve a trail through development, around and up Little Badger Mountain before houses completely cover the ridge side, blocking the possibility for public access in the future. Friends of Badger Mountain is working to complete its bigger vision of having a connected ridge trail that starts in the Amon Basin, goes over three mountain ridges (Little Badger, Badger and Candy mountains) and eventually all the way to the Yakima River. In creating this connected trail, the nonprofit must connect Little Badger to Badger, and it is in the process of securing enough money to do that. “We have to get in ahead of developers, and the area is just expanding at an incredible pace,” said David Comstock, a Friends of Badger Mountain board member. “It’s kind of a race to preserve these areas that people have taken for granted all their lives … that are now being consumed by development.” “We (want) to preserve the last little pieces that are left to build this interconnecting trail system,” Comstock said. Badger Mountain, its affectionately named younger sibling Little Badger and Candy Mountain are the only real mountains in the region that the public can climb because most of Rattlesnake Mountain and ridgeline is inaccessible, as it’s part of the Hanford Reach National Monument or the Hanford nuclear reservation. The local mountains have not always been open to the public, however, and it was not until advocates like Friends of Badger partnered with cities and counties that they were accessible. Friends of Badger formed in 2003 after a group of Hanford workers had a tradition of hiking Badger Mountain every New Year’s Day cut short by local private landowners who did not want them climbing on their property due to liability reasons. The group first raised money and worked with Benton County to eventually create the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve, a nearly 200-acre space now open to the public, with a park entrance in Richland. The preserve belongs to the county, with a commitment from Friends to do trail maintenance and upkeep. The Friends’ next project was Candy Mountain, and in 2017, it opened to the public, helping cut down on some of the foot traffic at Badger Mountain. The Little Badger Mountain trail link would effectively connect Kennewick to Richland to West Richland and ultimately could go to Benton City, as that city works on converting old rail tracks and bridges to trails to meet it. For Badger and Candy mountains, Friends worked with Benton County, but for the Little Badger project, it is working with the city of Richland. The cost to complete the trail connection on Little Badger Mountain comes with an enormous price tag, in large part due to the value of the property, which private owners could sell to developers for a large profit. Recognizing this, Comstock is in the midst of working with both developers and landowners to ensure they are paid a fair price for their land — and to ensure that Friends can secure the rights to the land that’s left between where the Badger Mountain trail ends at Queensgate Drive, up to the water tanks at the summit of Little Badger Mountain. On some parcels, Friends of Badger is hiring an appraiser to determine how much the land they need to acquire to finish the Little Badger link is worth. “We go through a good process to make sure that the landowners are fairly compensated if they’re going to work with us in creating these preserves,” Comstock said. Friends of Badger does not keep the land it acquires, and the Little Badger project will eventually be a city of Richland park at the end of the process. Once Friends acquires the land needed to complete the trail, the nonprofit will quickly deed the property to the city, with conditions it must adhere to, like keeping it for public use. The Little Badger project will cost about $4 million for 80 acres when it is completed, Comstock said, mainly because some of the lots the nonprofit had to buy are prime developer real estate, with river and Tri-Cities views up on the Little Badger ridge. “We don’t want to be looking at someone’s giant back wall privacy fence for this whole center corridor, so that’s why this is so important to us to actually preserve some acreage,” Comstock said. “If we were just doing a trail, we might need 10 feet, but we don’t want to be in a utility corridor with privacy fences on both sides and no view. We want to have the Badger Mountain-type experience, where we are meandering through the sage and having an enjoyable hike across the space.” As of late last year, Friends of Badger had about three missing links in its proposed Little Badger project, but those links are slowly being connected as donations and funding sources emerge. A more than $300,000 donation from Hanford contractor AECOM and subsidiary Washington Closure Hanford late last year helped secure the necessary funding to buy three ridge view lots on top of Little Badger Mountain, so the trail could reach the summit. On April 2, the Richland City Council voted to approve $200,000 from the city’s tourism tax committee to help pay for one of the missing parcels as well. Now, Comstock is focusing on finding a way to secure the last four parcels in the middle of the Little Badger site needed to connect the lower Queensgate part of the trail to the summit. Friends of Badger Mountain is about $1.5 million short on funding for the remaining four parcels of the trail, Comstock estimated, and he is looking to various sources for help before beginning a fundraising effort later this year. The group helped the city of Richland apply for a state Recreation and Conservation Office grant, which included trips to Olympia. The Little Badger project ranked 11th of 34 trail projects on the RCO funding list, which is funded in two-year cycles through the state’s budget. RCO would need to be funded at a record level, $120 million, for the Little Badger project to see any funding. Comstock also pursued another route, appealing directly to the various District 8 lawmakers for funding from the state budget. The 2019-21 budget currently is working its way through the Legislature. In the House version of the state budget, there is a $464,000 earmark to help pay for the project, but the Senate must approve this as well. Comstock won’t know how much state funding he receives until the end of April, when the legislative session concludes and lawmakers approve a final budget. Friends of Badger Mountain plans to begin work on the Little Badger trail this spring, when a contractor hired by the nonprofit is finished evaluating soil on the slope of Badger to Queensgate. Comstock expects work to begin as soon as fall on this portion of the trail. Because the slope is steep, Friends will hire a contractor to build retaining wall structures through a competitive bidding process. After that is completed, the nonprofit will lead the volunteer effort to build the trail to the top of the ridge, hopefully this fall. The hope is to have an interconnected trail completed by the end of 2020, Comstock said. More than 200,000 people a year hiked Badger Mountain on average in the last six years, by the Friends’ count. A city of Richland park’s survey found that 19 percent of visitors to the mountain were not from Benton or Franklin counties, Comstock said, meaning the preserve and the trails have become a tourist attraction in the area. Comstock pointed to state recreation surveys that show outdoor recreation as an economic driver as well as asset to the community. He said he has conversations with small-business owners who take prospective employees up Badger to show off recreational opportunities. He said the interconnected ridge trail is a way to preserve the area’s natural habitat for future generations. “It’s incredibly powerful to know we are participating in something that will preserve this area and public access to the summit of Little Badger that will be enjoyed for generations to come,” he said. “I mean, my kids can take their kids up there and say, ‘Hey, my dad helped preserve this for everyone.’ ”

The Tri-Cities’ network of ridgeline trails will soon climb Little Badger Mountain, thanks to a recent donation to Friends of Badger Mountain. Scott Sax, president of Washington Closure Hanford, presented a check for $300,761 to the nonprofit at its recent annual meeting. The contribution honors employees of the former Hanford contractor for their significant achievements to clean up the nuclear reservation along the Columbia River over 11 years. Friends of Badger will use the donation to acquire three parcels on the top of Little Badge for its proposed system of trails from neighboring Badger Mountain. Friends of Badger Mountain has worked with the city of Richland and landowners to design the route. It is in the process of raising money to buy the needed land. The trail will start at Sagebrush Trail, near the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve, and will meander near the edge of the ridge line between two new housing developments. The project includes buying three lots in Westcliffe Heights, a hilltop subdivision now under construction. The new Little Badger trail is expected to open in fall 2020. Badger Mountain is one of a series of basalt ridges in south central Washington’s shrub-steppe habit, where hikers can spot rabbits, snakes, lizards, coyotes, Western meadowlarks, chukars and a variety of wildflowers in the spring. About 200,000 people each year hike the Badger Mountain trail, which opened in 2005. On top of Badger and neighboring Candy Mountain, hikers can see on a clear day Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, the Blue Mountains and the Columbia, Yakima and Snake river valleys. See original story on the Tri-City Herald

Teacher Scott Ehrenburg helps Robert Frost fifth-graders Evelyn Miranda, left, and Santiago Garcia remove a sagebrush starter plant from a plastic sleeve Thursday during a field trip to Badger Mountain in Richland. Some 87 students from the Pasco elementary school took part in a hands-on habitat restoration project organized by volunteers from Tapteal Greenway and Columbia Basin Native Plant Society. The students planted about 100 plants along the north side lower trail of the popular hiking area.

View the original story on the Tri-City Herald. An epic mountain trail running event is enticing hundreds of the top athletes and outdoor enthusiasts from all over the region, the U.S. and Canada, and as far away as Ecuador, to come to the Tri-Cities on March 30 and 31 to participate in the one of the most challenging and grueling foot races in the world. The Badger Mountain Challenge, a two-day event hosted by the Nomad Trail Runners of Eastern Washington, is on track to see over 750 entrants this year. “Interest in the event is at an all-time high,” said event organizer Jason Reathaford. “We have over 105 entrants signed up for the 50-miler compared to 75 last year. The 100-mile race has 100 entrants in it so far, compared to 78 people last year. We are expecting 75 people in the 50K race and around 425 starters in the 15K race.” Each event will begin and end at Badger Mountain’s Trailhead Park and traverse nearby ridges. The 50- and 100-mile course includes footpaths, multi-use trails, rocky jeep trails, dirt roads and short stretches of pavement on and around Badger and Candy mountains and McBee Hill. The 100-mile course is a double out-and-back route, while the 50-miler is just one circuit. The 50K runs the same course but turns around earlier. Runners will face rough roads, single-track trails, and some steep, challenging climbs. There are a few short paved sections, and good aid station and crew access. The entire 100-mile course has approximately 15 total miles of pavement, but the rest is on dirt or rock. There are several steep 800- to 1,000-foot climbs, with elevations ranging from 500 to 2,000 feet. “We have runners from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Oklahoma, Ontario, Idaho, Texas, Georgia, British Columbia, Ontario, and we know of a couple coming from Ecuador”, Reathaford said. Sharon Grant, of Friends of Badger Mountain adds, “It’s a thrill – a dream come true – seeing Badger Mountain utilized for this amazing event. It benefits the people, the local economy, the health and well-being of all.” A new section on Badger Mountain will be part of the course. A volunteer effort under the guidance of trailmaster Jim Langdon completed the 1,400-foot addition to Sagebrush Trail, circumventing the steep stair steps at Trailhead Park. Last year, 35-year old Brandon Benefield from Spokane won the 100-mile race, crossing the finish line just after midnight on Saturday night, clocking in at 17 hours, 32 minutes, 46 seconds. The long-range forecast for next weekend is indicating no precipitation, low winds, and temperatures in the 50s to 60s. Net proceeds from the event will benefit Friends of Badger Mountain, Washington Trails Association, Girls on the Run and Team in Training, which is raising money to fight leukemia and lymphoma. A scholarship funded by the race will benefit one lucky local student. For more information, go to www.badgermountainchallenge.com

It’s no secret that Badger Mountain and new sister trail on Candy Mountain, have turned into a leading outdoor recreation destination for Eastern Washington. The mountain parks, with their majestic views, offer more than nine miles of well-maintained trails and support year-round hiking, mountain biking, wildflowers, bird watching and stargazing. Badger has been hiked by 200,000 people this year alone. But keeping the mountain trails in great shape for all to enjoy is no small undertaking. “We hear a lot that the trails are great, but it takes a little work to keep them that way,” trailmaster Jim Langdon said. “These trails have been built and maintained all by volunteers.” In that spirit, the Friends of Badger Mountain seek volunteers to help with trail maintenance throughout the year. The mission is regular maintenance to maintain the best possible trail conditions. Recently, teams of volunteers from REI, Bechtel NextGen and Boy Scout Troup 126 worked to recover the gravel along Sagebrush and Canyon trails, completing more than a mile. This past Sunday, a crew worked on the Candy Mountain Trail parking lot and then worked the first 100 yards of the Badger Flats Trail. Volunteers also installed information kiosks and a set of basalt educational monuments at the Candy Mountain trailhead. The Boy Scouts also worked with the landowner and placed two new resting benches on the summit of Candy Mountain. CH2M Hill also will add basalt benches along the Candy trail — two along the trail, and three benches and two tables at the summit. “We’re really happy to see anyone — teenagers to retirees, come out,” Langdon said. “It’s a great way to spend a morning, get in a good walk and a good workout.” Upcoming work will focus on the Canyon Trail, recovering gravel that has moved off the edge and any other repairs that are identified. The Friends of Badger Mountain are waiting for approval to work on a second Candy Mountain trail. TThe project will convert the old road that parallels the lower part of the Candy Mountain trail to form an approximately one-mile-long loop, all on easy trail. Trailmaster Jim Langdon said that there will be work parties most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until Thanksgiving or until snow fall prevents further work. The work will use rakes and hoes to cut back weeds, recover gravel that has left the trail and re-level the trail bed. To help, call ahead and arrive early. Volunteers will walk to the summit before work starts. Bring gloves, snacks and water, and dress for the weather. “This is a wonderful way help our community,” Langdon said. “You get to look up at the mountain and feel good that you did something great.”

Fire scorched about 250 acres at Candy Mountain early Friday, prompting the evacuation of dozens of nearby homes. One firefighter suffered an eye injury while battling the blaze, but no one else was hurt and no houses or other buildings were damaged. By the time fire crews had the wildfire contained at 6:30 a.m., 90 percent of Candy Mountain was blackened. The nearly 1,400-foot hill is a familiar and beloved part of the Tri-Cities landscape — and a popular recreation spot. Despite the damage, the new and long-awaited trail from Dallas Road to the summit is still passable, said Adam Fyall, sustainable development manager for Benton County. The Candy Mountain Preserve and Trail is joint venture between the county and Friends of Badger Mountain. Fyall said the lower part of the preserve and trail escaped significant damage, while the upper part was burned. “This was a fast-moving cheatgrass fire that doesn’t appear to have settled-in for a slow, hot burn. We’ll hope that means it looks worse than it was, and that many of the perennial shrubs and bunchgrasses will be able to rebound,” the county parks department wrote on Facebook. “We are not closing the trail. We always ask that users stay on the trail, but especially now because the landscape is so particularly vulnerable,” the post said. “There are a couple of bench and monument installations scheduled to happen in the coming weeks and those will go on as planned” and the county may look to do restoration work in the fall and winter in coordination with Friends of Badger Mountain and Columbia Basin Native Plant Society. Dozens of firefighters and police from around the Tri-Cities quickly responded Friday when the flames were reported about 12:20 a.m. Firefighters began working to contain the fast-moving blaze, which started along Interstate 82 near where Interstate 182 merges east of Benton City. The wind-driven fire ripped up the south side of Candy Mountain, also burning the west and east sides. Meanwhile, police officers began evacuating people living north and south of Kennedy Road around the intersection with Candy Mountain Avenue. An estimated 25 to 50 homes were evacuated, starting about 12:30 a.m., said West Richland Police Chief Ben Majetich. Officers from the Richland Police Department and Benton County Sheriff’s Office helped his department notify residents. “Officers went door-to-door, knocking. They did it very fast,” Majetich told the Herald. “Some people stayed in place, but a lot of people did leave.” The Bombing Range Sports Complex became a temporary shelter for evacuees. Residents were able to start returning to their homes between 4:30 and 5 a.m. Firefighters had much of the blaze under control by 3 a.m., with total containment at 6:30 a.m., said Capt. Ed Dunbar of Benton County Fire District 4. The fire appears to have been sparked accidentally, perhaps by car debris — like from a tire blowout — on the interstate, Dunbar said. He praised the quick reaction and hard work of emergency crews. “They did an excellent job getting this taken care of,” he said. Along with Benton Fire District 4, firefighters from Benton Fire Districts 1 and 2, Franklin Fire District 3, Walla Walla Fire District 5, West Benton Fire & Rescue and the Richland and Hanford fire departments also battled the blaze. Dunbar estimated between 75 and 80 firefighters were on scene all told. Original article from the Tri-City Herald

The City of Richland's Explore Richland segment focused a recent episode on the brand new Candy Mountain Trail. The video includes our own Sharon Grant, plus volunteer Kent Richert.

The new Candy Mountain Trail parking lot is 99 percent done, the trail work is finished and the Tri-Cities has a new year-round, outdoor recreation destination. The wildflowers, wildlife, scenery and views are every bit as good as its highly popular neighbor, Badger Mountain, and getting to the top is easier – it’s not as steep or quite as long. The Candy Mountain Trail fulfills a significant part of a visionary plan created by Friends of Badger Mountain, supported by local city, county, state and federal agencies, and numerous businesses in the community. The idea was to create a 20-mile network of ridge-top trails that start at Amon Basin on the Kennewick-Richland border and extend to the Yakima River by way of the summits of Little Badger Mountain, Badger Mountain, Candy Mountain and Red Mountain. Last fall, over 150 volunteers led by trailmaster Jim Langdon devoted 54 days and about 1,500 hours to build the easy-to-walk, packed gravel path. Benton County managed the contract for the parking lot. The official ribbon-cutting is June 2. The trail is 1.6 miles to the top — a 3.2-mile roundtrip — and takes 60 to 90 minutes, if you take it easy. It should be popular with hikers, mountain bikers and runners in the summer. And, next winter, people who like to snowshoe or cross country ski will enjoy it too. The trail leaves the north side of the parking lot and is pretty much flat for the first three-quarters of a mile. Then it begins to rise and makes a few gentle switchbacks, never going over a 10 percent grade.

Ice Age geology lesson

Along the trail, you’ll see hundreds of rocks and boulders, including quite a number of rather large Ice-Age-flood erratics, dug out of the trail by the volunteers before the gravel was placed to make the walking easier. Geologist Bruce Bjornstad says the granite boulders you see were deposited during the last Ice Age, which ended 15,000 years ago. Most boulders rafted to the Tri-Cities on icebergs from the breakup of the ice dam for Glacial Lake Missoula. A rock monument has been placed on the trail at elevation 1,250 feet to show you where the highest shoreline was for ancient Lake Lewis. At the maximum flood level, the top 380 feet of Badger Mountain and the top 190 feet of Candy Mountain and parts of Red Mountain poked out above Lake Lewis forming a line of islands. The fine, sandy soils that now support the grape industry in the area are the result of the numerous floods that repeatedly washed over the Tri-Cities. Each time, Lake Lewis lasted just three weeks or less — the time it took the floodwater to back up and then break through a chokepoint at Wallula Gap. Geologists calculate this happened dozens of times with several dozens of years in between mega-floods. The core of Candy Mountain is an upfolded ridge of basalt — a dark volcanic rock which flowed from the ground in large parallel cracks during the Miocene Epoch 17 to 6.5 million years ago south and east of the Tri-Cities. A suspected ancient fault line trace runs northeast to southeast parallel to the line formed from Badger Mountain to Candy Mountain on the north side, which are now covered by glacial deposits and wind-blown soils.

What to see — views to blooms and critters

The views from Candy are awesome. To the south and east you see Badger Mountain. To the east, you get a grand sprawling view of the Columbia River Valley and the Pasco basin from Burbank through the Tri-Cities and north to the White Bluffs and beyond. To the north, you see West Richland and the Hanford Reach National Monument, along with several of the nuclear facilities including the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant. To the west, you see Benton City and the Lower Yakima Valley, filled row after row with grape vineyards. To the south, is the spine of the Horse Heaven Hills with Chandler Butte and Goose Hill. From the very top, on a really clear day, there are spectacular views of Mount Adams, the Goat Rocks, Rattlesnake Mountain and Mount Stuart and the Enchantments. The habitat changes as you go up the mountain. Elevation and sun exposure and the variation in soils and rock produce a variety of ecosystems some wetter and some drier. Plant ecologist Gretchen Graber, with the Columbia Basin Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society, says you’ll encounter slopes full of native bunch grass, Indian rice grass, blue grass, fescue and sage. The plant list she and others have compiled on spring field trips is lengthy and ranges from balsamroot and buckwheat to buttercups and lupine. Some of the common names of the plants on the list are quite fascinating: Bugloss fiddleneck, Devil’s lettuce, Dusty maidens, Bastard toadflax, Slim-leaf goosefoot, Wingnut cryptantha, Oregon sunshine, Columbia puccoon, Filaree, Jagged chickweed and Hoary aster. Plant lists, including the moss and lichen in dozens of colors, can be found on the plant society’s website www.cbwnps.org and at the Friends of Badger Mountain website www.friendsofbadger.org. Like Badger and Rattlesnake mountains, Candy Mountain is home to a variety of migratory birds and animals, from meadowlarks, hawks, and raptors to coyotes and rabbits. The mountain is also home to Townsend’s ground squirrel, a threatened species native to the area. There also are garter snakes, bull snakes and rattlesnakes, so keep your eyes open, stay on the trail, and don’t be reaching underneath brush with your bare hands. To get there from Richland, get on Keene Road heading west and go to the new roundabout. Then head south on Bombing Range Road which shortly becomes Dallas Road. Just before you go under Interstate 182, make a right turn west at the trail sign onto East 669 PR N.E. Road. Drive about a hundred yards and the parking lot is on the right. There’s room for 45 cars and four horse trailers.

Spokane’s Brandon Benefield posted the top overall time in the signature 100-mile race at last weekend’s Badger Mountain Challenge. The 35-year-old crossed the finish line just after midnight Saturday, clocking in at 17 hours, 32 minutes, 46 seconds to post the third-fastest winning time in the seven years of the race. Evgeny Sotnikov of Victoria, British Columbia, was second in 18:15:53, with another Victoria runner, Jerry Hughes, finishing third in 18:37:42. Jess Mullen of Seattle won the women’s race in 22:32:29, the eighth best time overall. Van Phan of Maple Valley was 24 minutes behind; it was another 5 1/2 hours before third-place finisher crossed the line. Full results are available at http://ultrasignup.com/results_event.aspx?did=28196. In the 50-mile event, Mark Hammond of Salt Lake City took home top prize with a time of 7:34:50, 31 seconds ahead of Nathan Stroh of Klamath Falls, Ore. Bothell’s Genia Kacey-McKnight topped the women’s field in 8:55:56, good for eighth overall. Stephanie Gundel of Seattle was 7 minute back in second place. Pasco’s Taylor Farnsworth won the 50-kilometer race — the longest of Saturday’s events — in 4:37:33. Seattle’s Stuart Baker finished second, but more than 1 hour, 22 minutes behind. Anja Goetzinger of Spokane finished fifth overall but won the women’s race in 5:08:19, more than an hour ahead of Valerie Nussbaumer of Hood River, Ore. Dana Cadwell of Pasco was third in 7:09:00. Matt Rock of Billings, Mont., won the 15K in 56:51, while Kennewick’s Kyle Paulson just missed a sub-hour mark by seven seconds. Clinton Purdy-Cordova of Richland was third (1:04:40). Richland’s Briana Butler won the women’s 15K in 1:09:47, eighth overall. Connie Morgan of Ellensburg was second in 1:10:26. The “stick to it” award goes to 55-year-old Daro Ferrar of Richland, who was on the 100-mile course for more than 31 1/2 hours — an entire day plus nearly all of an eight-hour shift at work. The “age is just a number” award is destined for Gunhild Swanson, a 72-year-old woman from Spokane who finished the 50-mile race in 11:20:47, seventh overall among the 17 women runners and 31st among all 50-mile competitors.