The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

Let’s MAKe A deAL 213
dents and autonomous of state and federal authorities. Washington Governor
John Spellman and Oregon’s Vic Atiyeh hatched a compromise
that emphasized self-governance, with preservation efforts largely funded
by Uncle Sam. Locals on the Washington side dismissed both plans as
“nothing more than urban snobbery” that would kill jobs, shrink the tax
base and create “virtual ghost towns.” Bob Leick, the Skamania County
prosecutor, headed the Gorge Defense League. He defended the county’s
lack of a zoning ordinance and argued that new housing would not necessarily
detract from the scenic value of the Gorge. “We’re not going to
knuckle under just because somebody doesn’t want to look at one of our
homes.” 8
The final bill was the handiwork of Evans and his staff. Emerging
from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on which Evans
served, it authorized a three-tier management plan. At Gorton’s insistence,
13 “urban areas” within the Gorge were exempt from the legislation:
North Bonneville, Stevenson, Carson, Home Valley, White Salmon,
Bingen, Lyle, Dallesport and Wishram in Washington and Cascade Locks,
Hood River, Mosier and The Dalles in Oregon. A compact between the
two states established a 13-member commission to develop land-use regulations.
Each governor would name three members; each of the six Gorge
counties would have a seat and the Forest Service would have a non-voting
representative. Evans said they had taken special care to solve any
economic impacts, including low-interest loans from EDC grants to the
states. The bottom line, Evans said, was to prevent “erosion of the spectacular
beauty of this national treasure.” 9
A month before the 1986 General Election, Congress approved the Columbia
Gorge National Scenic Area, authorizing up to $40 million for
land acquisition and protecting Forest Service land from logging or development.
Gorton took pains to emphasize that the bill barred the Forest
Service from using condemnation to acquire residential homes, farm
land and grazing land, as well as “lands used for religious, educational or
charitable purposes.” 10
Unimpressed was the Skamania County Republican Central Committee.
Charging that Gorton had sold them down the river, it urged
voters to support Adams. Reagan signed the bill into law two weeks after
the election. 11