Letter: Community treasure

Written by Tri-City Herald

Monday, June 07, 2010

We treasure Amon Basin Community Preserve! On our first visits we knew little about shrub-steppe habitat, but we enjoyed glimpsing resident beaver, jackrabbits, otters, coyotes, herons, hawks, red-winged blackbirds and side-blotched lizards.

Those first years were also deeply disturbing: We'd see many old growth Wyoming sage ravaged by off-road vehicles and trucks. Garbage was everywhere -- sofas, tires, toilets, car "carcasses," even jugs of antifreeze dumped in the wetlands.

Thankfully conditions are improving. Tapteal Greenway Association, working with the city of Richland, has created a wonderful urban open space for all to enjoy. Amon is now cleaner and off-road vehicles are less common. There are signs, trails, even benches. The sage is slowly making a comeback on paths and trails. Many are learning about Amon's fragile treasures and committing to protect them. They are helping to restore native vegetation -- taking on the backbreaking work of planting native vegetation in a former roadbed. And some are volunteering to hand-water those plants through the hot summer months -- more back-breaking work, but worth it to help restore Amon's delicate habitat!

Amon Basin is a joy for us, and we encourage everyone to visit soon. Get directions at www.tapteal.org. And volunteer for the Amon bucket brigade now forming -- we can sure use the help!

Kathy Dechter, Richland

Source: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/06/07/1044305/community-treasure.html

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State by State Momentum

Community Voices

“It’s frustrating having a hunt ruined by people riding ATVs where off-road vehicle use is prohibited. Many ATVs look the same so there’s no way to identify violators when reporting the incident to law enforcement. There should be a requirement that off-road vehicles used on public lands have license plates or large decals. Any ATV user who follows the law and land management directives on where they can and can not use these machines should have no objection to this type of identification.”

- Holly Endersby, hunter from western Idaho