Aunan's Friends of the Gorge fired off a letter registering opposition to the county's proposal. We're saying, 'Don't you dare,' she says. The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is of national importance. The Forest Service's public lands program for the gorge must be driven by resource protection, not the limited interests of a single county. These days, politically powerful urbanites from Portland and Vancouver, Wash., tend to support Forest Service efforts to protect their playground away from the traffic and noise of the city.
Rural counties see it differently.
We need more of a balanced perspective. McKee says restrictions on property development in the gorge, combined with federal purchases of land and a dearth of buildable land, have left Skamania County with a shrinking tax base for basic services. Timber revenues from the Gifford-Pinchot National Forest have plummeted, too, he adds, largely due to spotted owl restrictions. With the changing political climate in Washington, D.C., Aunan is worried. I can see a train wreck coming.