PSU Magazine Spring 1995

HERE OLLIDE there's a place in O regon that can truly be called a melting pot of culture, atti tude, geography, and commerce, it's the Columbia River Gorge. For years, both visitors and longtime re idents have been in awe of the contrasts along the Gorge's 75-mile stretch between The Dalles and Portland's eastern suburbs. Motorists take only about an hour to move from the arid , grassy plateaus of O regon's Wasco County and into the lush greenery west of the Cascade Range. This compact area is where the West meets the Pacific Northwest, where rural O regon meets urban O regon. Thi i a place that even has its own climate. It's an area rich in Native American culture and geologic 6 PSU Magaz ine wonders. The area' economy-for years based on natural resources such as timber, agriculture, and aluminum processing-is coping with an increas– ingly dominant tourism industry. And the Gorge is also the scene of contentious debates ove r hydroe lectric dams and declining fish runs . This land of stunning contrasts and uses is the home of a bo ld experiment in land-use planning: the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Congress des ignated the cenic Area in 1986. For years, a group of Portland State University urban studies and planning professors have been charting the progress of thi land-use experiment. 'This seemed like a natural project. This i a bold new idea in environmental planning right here in our own backyard," The Columbia River Gorge scenic legislation is an experiment in environmental planning-but is it effective? By Brian White COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE CANNERY, CA. 1935, BY RALPH GIFFORD, OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 55774 ~iilllllJl.!I!!!~ Sy Adler (far left) and Carl Abbott, urban studies professors, and Margery Post Abbott, a transportation consult· ant, are writing a book that examines the Scenic Area's creation, manage· ment, and effectiveness. says Sy Adler, PSU professor of urban studies and planning. Adler, fellow PSU urban studies Professor Carl Abbott, and Abbott's wife, tran portation con ultant Margery Po t Abbott, are w.riting a book that examines the cenic Area's creation , management, and effectiveness. -