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1 Introduction The Gift in Our Back Yard The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area begins where Portland’s eastern suburbs end. It’s a gift bestowed by nature and protected by farsighted , public-spirited people beginning in the early years of the twentieth century. I moved to Portland in the 1970s, a decade before Congress established the gorge as the nation’s first national scenic area. Even then it beckoned, a mystical realm that drew me deeper in with every season. In a photograph tacked to the wall above my desk, my mother smiles at me, her face lit by a sunbeam filtered through fir branches on the Multnomah-Wahkeena Falls Trail. Nearby is a framed print of the iconic photograph of Indians fishing from platforms above Celilo Falls, back when the Columbia River still plunged over the great falls in a torrent, wild, churning, undammed. On rainy winter Sundays I leashed my golden retriever and headed east up the gorge to the muddy Oneonta Gorge Trail, where I let the spray and the rain wash away the ennui bred by too many winter hours spent indoors in the city. Later, when I got to know the gorge better, I made regular winter pilgrimages to the dry bluffs and golden meadows at its eastern end, in search of sun. Almost always, somewhere between Hood River and The Dalles, the clouds lifted and shards of sunlight penetrated the gloom. In 1999, the gorge became a professional as well as a personal passion when I was assigned to report on gorge politics, economics, and environmental issues for the Columbian, the daily newspaper in Vancouver, Washington. I threw myself into learning about a region steeped in Pacific Northwest history that was weathering a tough economic transition and deep divisions over its future. Much of the recent history of the Gorge National Scenic Area Act recounted here is adapted from stories I wrote for the Columbian between 1999 and 2011 as the newspaper’s Columbia River Gorge beat reporter. 2 INTRODUCTION One Long Day The best way to understand what’s been saved and what’s been lost in the Columbia River Gorge is to go there. It’s possible to drive the entire length of the Scenic Area, both sides, in one long day. The gorge is wonderfully accessible. Almost anytime, except when winter ice turns its roads treacherous , you can get in your car and head east, past the outlet malls, gas stations, and industrial parks of Troutdale. On the far side of the freeway bridge over the Sandy River, suburban sprawl stops. A natural world of water and rock and forest stakes its claim. A tasteful sign announces the abrupt transition: Entering the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Off to the north is the Sandy River Delta, Oregon’s western gateway to the gorge. For decades, it was the site of an aluminum smelter. During those years, cattle grazed the fields and destroyed hundreds of acres of wetlands. The Forest Service owns the land now, and after years of effort it is making headway in eradicating invasive blackberry thickets and restoring wetlands. On summer weekends, dogs and their owners swarm over the low-lying delta, taking advantage of its off-leash sites. On the Washington side of the river, narrow Gibbons Creek marks the western boundary of the Scenic Area and the eastern boundary of the Port of Camas-Washougal. The highway skirts the waterfowl world of Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge. This restored wetland, once destined to become an industrial park or a site for storing spent nuclear fuel, was saved by Congress and local conservationists and is now accessible by a popular trail. Beyond the refuge, a haven for ducks and Canada geese, stands of rare white oak climb toward Cape Horn, the premier viewpoint on the Washington side of the gorge. Back on the Oregon side, Interstate 84 will speed you into the waterfall area, though to truly experience its misty forests and carved-basalt bridges and railings, you must turn off at Troutdale, follow the Sandy River to Corbett on the Historic Columbia River Highway, and climb switchbacks to the premier vantage at Crown Point, with its recently restored art deco Vista House. Spectacular waterfalls cascade down the walls of the gorge and pool at bridges along the old highway. Most of this property was donated for public use by Portland philanthropists early in the twentieth century. Wildflower species found nowhere else bloom here. The...

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