Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xiii, 312 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

1. In 1986, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act set into motion one of the great land-use experiments of modern times. The act struck a compromise between protection of a singular Western landscape-the majestic Gorge carved by Ice Age floods, which today divides Washington and Oregon-and encouragement of compatible economic development in communities on both sides of the river. In Bridging a Great Divide, environmental journalist Kathie Durbin draws on interviews, correspondence, and extensive research to detail what's happened in the Gorge since the act's passage. Sweeping change has altered the Gorge's landscape: upscale tourism and outdoor recreation, gentrification, the end of logging in national forests, the closing of aluminum plants, wind farms, and a population explosion in the metropolitan area to its west. In this insightful and revealing history, Durbin suggests that the story of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area is the story of the Pacific Northwest in microcosm, as the region shifts from a natural resource-based economy to one based on recreation, technology, and quality of life. Book jacket.

Uniform title

1. Project Muse UPCC books.

Alternative title

1. Battle for the Columbia River Gorge

Subject

1. Nature conservation > Columbia River Gorge (Or. and Wash.)
2. Cultural property > Protection > Columbia River Gorge (Or. and Wash.)
3. Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (Or. and Wash.) > History
4. Columbia River Gorge (Or. and Wash.) > Environmental conditions
5. Columbia River Gorge (Or. and Wash.) > Politics and government

Genre/Form

1. History

Contents

1. Introduction: the gift in our back yard -- The vision -- Hardly wilderness -- Watchdogs -- Saving Steigerwald -- Balancing act -- The launch -- Writing the rules -- Early friction -- The too-tall house -- Fear and loathing -- Land rush -- Oregon pushback -- A pile of rocks -- Time to amend -- Great debates -- Showdown at Lyle Point -- A destination resort -- Rails to trails -- The haze curtain -- Logging loopholes -- The casino deal -- Whistling Ridge -- Restoring a legacy -- Rebuilding a historic highway -- The recreation challenge -- Cape Horn convergence -- A river unleashed -- A quarter-century -- The fight continues.

Owning institution

1. Harvard Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-300) and index.

Processing action (note)

1. committed to retain