The political landscape isn't the only thing that's making the ground shift beneath our feet.

Eight years after state experts confirmed a slow-moving landslide was inching its way down Rattlesnake Ridge, just east of Union Gap, rocks and dirt in the area are still on the unstable side.

As the YH-R's Questen Inghram reported last week, the slide doesn't seem to pose any immediate danger to much of anything. On the other hand, it hasn't stopped yet.

But apparently, that's nothing to worry about.

"It looks real nasty, but overall it's really kind of unimpressive, as far as a landslide movement rate goes," the state Department of Natural Resources' chief reclamation geologist, Rian Skov, told the YH-R. "It is a big ugly scar on that hill for sure."

According to Skov, the landslide isn't threatening Interstate 82. The angle it's taking isn't pointing toward the busy freeway, and the experts don't seem especially concerned about it anymore.

"It would take a massive change in the landslide morphology that we have not seen and don't expect for any reason," Skov said.

Eventually, he added, the slide will pick up enough debris to "self-buttress."

That sounds reassuring.

When it first appeared back in 2017, though, the massive crack that split the ridge seemed like plenty to worry about.

In the beginning, it was moving much faster -- a foot and a half or so a week. That resulted in some temporary evacuations and the shutdown of operations at Columbia Asphalt and Gravel's quarry near the base of the crack.

It also led to the closure of Thorp Road, which remains off-limits to traffic.

Currently, the movement rate for the fastest-moving part of the slide is up to one inch per week, and Columbia Asphalt and Gravel is working with the DNR to determine what happens next with the land around the quarry.

So evidently, things are gradually calming down on Rattlesnake Ridge.

It's good to know experts are continuing to monitor the slide and that inch by inch, nature is -- in this case, at least -- running its course relatively safely. And it's a good reminder of the value of having qualified, independent specialists to turn to when situations on this scale arise.

Now if only all these political tremors and erosions would just calm down ...