In less than four years, Tri-Citians could be gazing in wonder at exhibits depicting spawning salmon, listening to radio broadcasts from the '40s and '50s, or watching a movie showing how the Ice Age floods shaped the Mid-Columbia.

That's when the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center will open at Columbia Point south if enough money can be raised to start construction in 2008, Ron Lerch, president of The Reach board, said Wednesday.

The facility is intended to serve as the gateway to the Hanford Reach National Monument, as well as highlight the natural history of the region and Hanford's role in ending World War II and winning the Cold War.

The national monument, created by President Clinton in 2000, includes about 200,000 acres of shrub-steppe land with many dwindling or rare species and a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River that is critical for salmon spawning.

Design and construction of the building and exhibits are expected to cost $40.5 million, and about $20 million already has been secured from local, state and federal government sources, Lerch said.

About $7 million came from a state-created program that allowed the Richland Public Facilities District to keep0.3 percent of the state's sales tax for a regional project. That money has been spent on the building design and exhibits.

The rest of the $20 million will come in the form of reimbursements from state and federal grants as money is spent on the project.

That leaves about $20.5 million to be raised, Lerch said.

To reach that goal, the board has enlisted the help of Battelle Senior Vice President Len Peters and Tri-City Herald Publisher Rufus Friday.

Peters and Friday were chosen to champion the cause because of their community standing and experience with similar projects, Lerch announced at a Wednesday news conference.

Peters has served as the director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since 2003 and helped raise money for the $18 million Washington Institute for Science Education at Columbia Basin College.

Battelle gave $1 million for the interpretive center in 2002, Peters said, adding that he looks forward to the building adding new educational and cultural resources to the Tri-Cities.

"Myself, I envision groups of bright-eyed and energetic students, kindergarten through high school, visiting this center, asking questions and gaining new appreciation for history and culture," Peters said. "It's all very exciting."

Friday has a history of promoting educational projects in North Carolina, including the Wake Education Project dedicated to improving and supporting public schools, and a foundation that raised scholarships for public high school seniors headed to college.

Since coming to the Tri-Cities last year, Friday has joined the boards of the Mid-Columbia Reading Foundation and Tri-City Development Council.

Friday said he's excited by the economic stimulus the interpretive center could bring.

"We will create a Northwest institution that not only will enhance our community, but also draw thousands of visitors here each year," Friday said. "We expect 65,000 people will visit annually, including 10,000 school children. Drawing visitors from around the region to the Tri-Cities boosts our economic development."

The next hurdle the interpretive center faces is completion of a federally mandated cultural resource study intended to evaluate the archaeological and historical significance of the building site at Richland's Columbia Point south. Once that's done, the board can start preparing the site for construction, Lerch said.

The board hopes that will happen by April 2007.

Co-chairs of the Reach campaign sub-committees are: Ron Lerch, Kris Watkins and Rich Emery, board/staff gifts; Ed Aromi and Ron Gallagher, Hanford contractors; Bill Lampson and Vicki Gordon, corporate gifts; Jim Watts and Sid Morrison, public funds task force; Diehl Rettig and Diane Hoch, major gifts; and John Neill, community campaign.