The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act has been in place for more than two decades. Its implementation through the Management Plan, Commission and county land use ordinances and other related plans has aimed to fulfill the purposes and standards of the Scenic Area Act. Ongoing monitoring and periodic review of these implementation efforts are both required by the Act and necessary for the Commission to assess implementation success and adjust plans accordingly to improve success and adapt to change. The monitoring reports issued between 1998 and 2001 began this work. Although this valuable work informed changes in policy during the 2004 Management Plan Review, these reports were part of a monitoring program that mainly measured Plan implementation through agency outputs.
Even with near perfect implementation of the Plan, two questions remained: “Does the Plan fulfill the purposes and standards of the Act?” and “What is the current health of the Gorge?” To answer these questions, the Commission needs a way to measure the health of the Gorge using relevant and objective indicators. With the development of Gorge-level and agency-level indicators through the Vital Signs Indicators Project, the Commission will be able to measure and assess not only its own implementation efforts in relation to the purposes and standards of the Act, but also the health of the Gorge as a whole. This assessment will provide insight into changes to important conditions that are relevant for Gorge-wide policy decisions affecting the Scenic Area’s future . Click here to read more about this project.
Urban Area Boundary Revisions:
The Commission is considering rulemaking on three policy questions relating to urban area boundary revisions. Click here for details...
On October 29, 2008 the Commission argued three appeals at the Oregon Supreme Court concerning the Commission's 2004 Plan Review, 2005 Amendment to the Management Plan to allow adaptive reuse of historic buildings, and Multnomah County's ordinance implementing the historic buildings plan amendment. Decisions from the Court typically take several months. If you have questions about these appeals, please contact Jeff Litwak, the Commission's Counsel.
Columbia Gorge Future Forum: Building a vibrant, sustainable future for the Gorge
The Columbia Gorge Future Forum is a Gorge-wide, public process to develop a vision for the future of the Columbia Gorge. This collaboration reaches across tribal, city, county, and state borders to approach the future of this magnificent area in an integrated way. The Future Forum process provided opportunities for more than 500 individuals to contribute over 1,500 comments about the future of the Gorge. Participant comments led to development of a region-wide set of shared values, visions and strategies. For more information about the Future Forum, click here.
