Badger Canyon DNR land offer would be a big win for Benton County | Editorial

The rolling hills south of Kennewick are changing. Housing is going up, and open space is disappearing.

Luck is going the public’s way, though. Benton County has a chance to secure 269 acres of undeveloped land in the area. County commissioners must jump on the opportunity.

The county is in this fortuitous position thanks to the Washington Department of Natural Resources’ Trust Land Transfer program. DNR currently owns the land between Interstate 82 and East Badger Road and could transfer it to the county free of charge.

It is an extraordinary opportunity to secure a major community asset, but time is of the essence. The county must apply by the end of the month and then wait for the Legislature to act.

The benefits of local ownership would be immense. Benton County could ensure that the people who live in the surrounding subdivisions and the entire region have a place to recreate in perpetuity. Current access to the land is unofficial. Acquiring it also would preserve some of Washington’s disappearing shrub-steppe ecosystem, a unique habitat home to many indigenous species.

Mountain biking enthusiasts have championed the acquisition. The Tri-Cities lack high-quality, sanctioned mountain biking trails. If the county acquires the land, a local chapter of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance says it could provide volunteer trail maintenance and construction.

That means taxpayers would not be on the hook to pay for trails for mountain bikers, and mountain bikers could ensure that the trails provide the challenges and fun that they want.

However, a county park should not be a niche facility for only one sport. It should serve the entire public. The thousands of residents in surrounding neighborhoods as well as those who might visit from elsewhere in the region deserve a place for quiet recreation, too.

Families with children, seniors seeking gentle exercise, dog walkers, nature photographers and anyone else who wants to experience the desert landscape should be able to do so.

Hiking and walking trails should be separated from mountain biking trails for safety, but there is no reason multiple uses cannot share 269 acres. Let more people enjoy the serenity of the area and the magnificent vistas. An inclusive public planning process is the key to getting this right.

Prohibiting motorized recreation – ATVs and dirt bikes – will be important. They don’t mix well with people on foot, and they disrupt the natural environment that this new public space should protect.

This will not be Benton County’s first successful public-private park partnership. About 20 years ago, Friends of Badger Mountain organized a grassroots fundraising campaign for public acquisition of what would become the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve.

The group’s members remain stewards of the mountain, building and maintaining trails. Critically, those trails accommodate multiple uses, including both hiking and mountain biking.

This land acquisition could be just the start of something even greater. A 160-acre plot of federal land and a 106-acre plot of DNR land (currently under an agricultural lease) are adjacent to the property under consideration. If all goes well, both could someday become part of a huge regional recreational preserve.

The county must act quickly to meet the Sept. 30 application deadline. And then there will be more work to do. There’s all the planning, of course, but also some lobbying in Olympia.

A DNR advisory committee will rank applications from around the state by spring of 2026. The Legislature would then make a final funding decision in 2027.

Local lawmakers and community leaders have about a year and a half, then, to get familiar with the property and prepare to convince lawmakers to support transferring it.

Opportunities like this do not come along very often. Benton County must not miss it.

This story was originally published September 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.