bateman island

We expected this, the City of Richland announced Monday afternoon Bateman Island will be closed indefinitely, due to fire and habitat damage. It will likely be months before mainstream hiking, recreating and bird and wildlife watching traffic is allowed.

The last time Bateman Island burned, the area was largely closed to the public for nearly two more years. That was in 2001. Now, even beyond firefighting efforts, it's likely the same will happen.

With the fire still burning on Bateman Island near the Richland Y and shrouding the area in smoke, this fire should reinforce the idea that removing the island's only entry and exit is a bad idea.

Others, not so much. After a flurry of discussion earlier this year, the subject of removing the causeway, or land path that joins Bateman Island to the shoreline is again on the table.

Technically Bateman Island isn't really a true island, it's joined to the shore of the Columbia River, just south of the merger between the Yakima and Columbia Rivers. There's a narrow causeway, or path, that allows people to access the area. But a plan to breach the causeway to help fish might change that.