Facts About Badger Club
The Columbia Basin Badger Club is in southeastern Washington State. The Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is comprised of Benton and Franklin counties with a combined population in 2024 of 320,150, making it the fastest growing metro area in the State.
The area has a rich history. The topography is of a river basin confluence of the Columbia, Snake and Yakima rivers which has defined the area development. With fertile soils and rivers systems created from Ice Age floods and watered by federal irrigation and water control projects―including the Columbia River dams―the Mid-Columbia is an agricultural powerhouse where almost any crop can be grown. The region was unpolluted until the government selected it as the center of plutonium production for the Manhattan Project―part of the effort to develop an atomic bomb in World War II. Today, Hanford is one of the nation’s largest environmental cleanup sites, bringing more than $4 billion a year into the community.
It is no coincidence that the important level of scientific and technical research at Hanford led to the establishment of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, one of the 17 United States Department of Energy National Laboratories. These labs work on some of the world's most pressing challenges, including energy technologies, sustainable building design, medical discoveries, and national security, and bring together scientific and technical professionals from around the world and employs more than 7,000 scientists, researchers, and support staff.
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Today, the Columbia Basin is the center of the $9.5 billion Washington Wine industry. Other important economic sectors include agribusiness, tourism, wholesale and retail trade, professional services, manufacturing, energy production, and education, including Washington State University Tri-Cities, Heritage University, and Columbia Basin Community College.
About the Columbia Basin Badger Club
Formed in 2008, the Columbia Basin Badger Club is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes civil discourse by providing public forums on important issues of the day. The program committee works to select topics that will challenge and inform the club members and the wider community. Notable speakers from around the world have given presentations. Past forums are available at the Video Gallery found on our website.
Club Contact: Website www.columbiabasinbadgers.com
Email: info@columbiabasinbadgers.com
Phone: 509-800-7621
Name: Columbia Basin Badger Club
Type of Organization: 501 (c)(3)
Incorporated: April 2, 2008
Format: 2008 to 2020: Luncheon meeting/occasional dinner meetings. 2020 to date: Zoom online seminar mode.
Forums are normally one hour in length. Originally, all programs followed the model created by the National Press Club in Washington DC and adopted by the various Tiger Bay clubs in Florida consisting of a half-hour presentation by the speaker(s), followed by half-hour Q&A session.
When the pandemic forced us out of hotel meeting rooms, we moved to the Zoom digital platform using the same format.
In November 2021, we began to include an optional half hour program called Table Talk, where we switch from a Zoom online seminar to a Zoom meeting, encouraging our viewers to interact with our speakers and each other.
Holding our forums on Zoom has allowed us to experiment with different formats, including a model developed by the non-profit Braver Angels organization committed to political depolarization.
Frequency: The Columbia Basin Badger Club presents 12 and 15 forums a year, excluding December.
Attendance: 2008 to 2020 average annual attendance was 731; 2020 to date on Zoom average annual attendance was 1,734. Our largest in-person attendance was a free in-person program featuring former Secretary of Defense and four-star Marine Corps general, James Mattis, was 433 in June 2024.
Our largest attendance for a Zoom meeting was 1,115, also featuring then-recently resigned Secretary of Defense Mattis in 2020.
Programs: Programs are divided almost equally over the course of a year between international, state/regional, and local topics. To learn more about the Columbia Basin Badger Club visit our website: www.columbiabasinbadgers.com.
Past Programs: All our programs on Zoom have been recorded and are available for free viewing on our website. Click on Video Gallery.
Membership: The Badger Club membership is highly educated and well-informed. Most are over 50 years of age; however, the format and marketing of our forums makes our forums available to the wider community. We actively seek to attract younger and more diverse members. Our current club membership is about 180.
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