Tri-Cities get their geek on with science tourism initiative

Next summer, the Tri-Cities will host the American Chemical Society’s regional meeting.

While the event doesn’t have the sizzle of, say, Comic-Con, it has local officials excited.

Landing a major scientific conference is a big get for the Tri-Cities and echoes a new tourism initiative. Visit Tri-Cities is promoting the community as a prime vacation and convention destination for scientists, educators and meeting organizers interested in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

The chemical society was reportedly attracted by the opportunity for members to visit the Hanford B Reactor museum and the Hanford LIGO Observatory, where scientists helped confirm the existence of gravitational waves.

And the chemists aren’t the only ones who think this is a community worth visiting. Next fall, the Eastern Washington Section of the American Nuclear Society will hold its own gathering in the Tri-Cities, a joint venture with the Health Physics Society.

The Tri-Cities has long boasted an above-average community of people with advanced degrees — nine percent of all Tri-City adults hold graduate or higher degrees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The results are written across the community in the form of laboratories, reactors, schools, businesses and even an archaeological dig.

Visit Tri-Cities hopes to leverage that STEM identity to build a new brand to woo not only scientists but anyone interested in learning about the world around them. That covers science and history, but also wine production, agriculture and power generation.

The region is rich in examples of science in action.

Science tourism can build on the Tri-Cities’ existing strengths, said Kris Watkins, president the region’s tourism bureau. It just needs a marketing push and visitor-friendly touches like interpretive centers, tours and speakers to bring its assets to life.

Science tourism could set the Tri-Cities apart in the fiercely competitive market for tourism dollars and convention and meeting business.

“No one else is as concentrated on a brand identity through science, “ Watkins said. “We would be the model if this took off.”

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park, established in 2015, is providing the seeds for the science tourism initiative. The newish designation, which covers Hanford, Los Alamos and Oakridge, promises to attract visitors interested in the history of nuclear weapons and power.

And many of the sites that played a role are already open to the public, to some degree.

Hanford’s B Reactor, the world’s first large-scale nuclear reactor, is a museum now, staffed by volunteers who give presentations and tours to school groups and other visitors. It even hosted a Mid-Columbia Mastersingers concert in the fall.

Tours of the Hanford site are offered during the warmer months. Tours are available at LIGO as well.

The Tri-Cities has made great strides toward cementing its STEM identity since Visit Tri-Cities began working on a brand identity a decade ago, Watkins said.

At the time, the Manhattan Project National Park was just a dream. The LIGO Observatory hadn’t yet detected gravitational waves, a fete that culminated this year when the founding scientists won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work to detect gravitational waves a century after Albert Einstein predicted their existence.

The REACH Interpretive Center hadn’t opened in Richland. The Walter Clore Wine & Culinary Center hadn’t opened in Prosser.

“It is quite a portfolio that we can all be proud of,” Watkins said.

A science identity isn’t only linked to Hanford. The Mid-Columbia is a center for agriculture as well as power production, all powered by science and technology.

Watkins said there could be opportunities to showcase the area’s state-of-the-art food processing plants, such as Lamb Weston’s new $200 million french fry processing plant in Richland.

And the region hosts almost every type of power production facility.

Energy Northwest operates the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant north of Richland. Portland General Electric operates a coal-burning power plant at Boardman , which is highlighted at the Port of Morrow’s SAGE Center. The McNary, Ice Harbor and Priest Rapids dams each welcomes visitors.

Creating a visitor center for the nuclear plant is on the science tourism wish list, as are interpretive centers for the solar and wind farms in the region.

Tourism is a key driver of the Tri-City economy. Visitors spent more than $44 million in 2016, according to a study by Dean Runyan Associates on behalf of Visit Tri-Cities. Tourism dollars flow to hotels and motels, restaurants, retailers and gas stations, and support arts, entertainment and recreation.

The industry supports more than 6,100 jobs in the Tri-Cities, accounting for roughly 5 percent of the total labor force.

Some additional destinations for science tourists

• USS Triton Sail Park — The “sail” and control room of the first submarine to circumnavigate the globe sits in a small park on Port of Benton Boulevard in Richland. The port is working to develop a more robust visitor center with restrooms to honor the former U.S. Navy nuclear submarine, which followed the route Ferdinand Magellan used 440 years earlier.
• Coyote Canyon Mammoth Dig — Monthly tours are offered in the warmer months at the Ice Age excavation site near Kennewick. Visit mcbones.org for information and reservations.
• Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail —The catastrophic Ice Age floods remade the region. Maps highlighting key features are available at the Tri-Cities Visitor Center, 7130 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick.
• Bechtel National Planetarium — Columbia Basin College hosts the planetarium, which offers shows and presentations as well as movies. Visit bit.ly/BechtelPlanetarium for visitor information and prices.

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Tri-Cities get their geek on with science tourism initiative."