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In July of 1948 the AEC decided to permanently restrict farming in a "central zone" of about 88,000 acres on the Wahluke slope. On either side of the central zone were "secondary zones" where irrigation was indefinitely deferred. The AEC justified these actions by claiming there were security needs and and possible dangers to inhabitants. There real reason was that Hanford scientists had discovered that emissions from the smoke stacks in the 200-Area had been carried by heavy wind drift had causing contamination of the slope. This was evident by air and vegetation monitoring as well as thyroid checks of sheep, cattle, jackrabbits, and wild fowl in 1946-47. One survey in February 1947 found at least twenty-seven places on the Wahluke Slope where radioiodine levels exceed the tolerable concentration standards of the time.

In 1948, the AEC's Advisory Reactor Safeguards Committee (ARSC) evaluated the risks of Hanford's operations. In the classified report the committee affirmed that there was a hazard to prospective residents of Wahluke Slope because of the "violent increase in pile activity leading to fire and dispersal of fission products and plutonium through the countryside. For a person just across the river from the pile, the danger would be most acute." The report acknowledges the dangers of the stack emissions that the been distributed over Wahluke Slope and other places and regards their elimination as "essential." In December of 1948, the AEC reported that it was highly improbable that the closed off areas on Wahluke Slope would be opened for settlement in the foreseeable future. In 1953, the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project was granted right-of-way acreage on the Wahluke Slope for roads, canals, and power lines.

In 1958, the ARSC was evaluating the idea of increasing power levels in Hanford's reactors. During this time the issue of opening up the Wahluke Slope to agriculture and settlement was raised. The scientists at GE reported that "in absence of gross accidents" contamination of Wahluke Slope is comparable with that of the Tri-City area. They also reported that in the event of a meltdown or explosion "a release of reactor contents" would mainly effect the Wahluke Slope. In December of 1958, the AEC decide to increase the levels of reactor power at Hanford. They also released the secondary zones of Wahluke Slope for farm development.

In 1999, President Clinton ordered federal protection of Wahluke Slopes along with other areas of the Hanford Reach. Unable to persuade Congress to declare the Reach a Wild and Scenic River, the administration ordered that 57,000 key acres along the Reach be managed as part of the existing Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.

At the time the Wahluke Slope was one of the few remaining parcels of undisturbed shrub-steppe habitat in the Columbia River Basin. It was home to more than 200 species of birds, unique plant communities, as well as mule deer, elk and mountain lions.

In the past decade, the Wahluke Slope area has gained recognition as one of the premier grape growing regions in Washington State. Home to one of the driest and warmest climates in Washington, the Wahluke Slope has over 5,000 acres of land planted with wine grapes.

References

Gerber, Michele Stenehjem. On the Home Front: the Cold War Legacy of the Hanford Nuclear Site. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2002. Print.

http://www.seattlepi.com/printer/index.asp?ploc=b

http://www.washingtonwine.org/washington-wine/regions-avas/wahluke_slope.php!Wahluke 1!