1993 RESOLUTIONS
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| 1993
FWOC RESOLUTION #7 |
|
_PROTECTION OF THE COLUMBIA GORGE NATIONAL
SCENIC AREA_
|
| Congress in 1986 set aside
as a National Scenic Area the gorge that the Columbia River carved
through the Cascade Mountains on the last eighty miles of its journey
to the sea. |
| The enabling legislation
did not include the tributaries of the river. The management of
the Gorge was placed in the hands of the U.S. Forest Service. |
| Now, more than seven years
after the act was passed, management by multiple jurisdiction has
failed in many respects to provide the protection mandated by the
law. Extensive clearcutting on county, state, and private lands
continues in the Gorge, including the top of Underwood Mountain.
Several hundred new houses have been approved in rural parts of the
area. There is continuing mining of the Historic Columbia River
Highway for gravel and the opening of a huge gravel pit. A
foundry has been approved at Dallesport, Washington. Due to lack
of adequate funding, there has been an inadequate land acquisition for
which the law provided. |
|
The Federation of
Western
Outdoor Clubs recommends:
|
|
1. Congress
appropriate adequate funding for additional land acquisitions.
|
|
2. That Washington
State Department of Natural Resources stop all clearcutting within the
Gorge.
|
|
3. That Hood River
country stop all clearcutting within the Gorge.
|
|
4. That the major
environmental groups such as the Wilderness Society, Audubon Society,
Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, etc. endorse and support efforts for
additional protection of the Gorge and tributaries of the Columbia.
|
|
5. That the Scenic
Area Act be revised to strengthen the enforcement power of the U.S.F.S.
to protect the Gorge as a National Scenic Area.
|
|
6. Dialogue between
the Gorge Coalition and Friends of the Gorge be established to further
efforts to protect the Gorge.
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