[All-Gorge] ⚖️ New Rules & a Fire-Year Reckoning - Gorge Commission 6/18 - 7/14

The Columbia River Gorge Commission just rewrote its own open-government rulebook, over a protest from Friends of the Columbia Gorge and a lone no vote. This episode covers what the new rules actually give you, the one-year Burdoin fire rebuild scorecard, a commissioner's on-the-record dissent about tribal voice and two energy projects, and a new Gorge spider with a Sahaptin name.

In This Episode

• The Commission adopts its first full rules overhaul in decades: what changed for records requests, meeting notice, and executive sessions
• Friends of the Columbia Gorge's notice objection, and why the Commission voted anyway
• Disaster-recovery rules become ordinance: the no-application RV process and the rebuild size ladder
• One year after Burdoin: who has rebuilt, who is still waiting
• Commissioner Pah-tu Pitt's dissent on Pushpum and Cascade Renewable silence, and a commissioner-pay equity proposal
• A farewell to Barbara Bailey, and a live fact-check on the resolution
• Gorge 2030, the 40th anniversary, and the $80,000 farm-income test

Resources & Links

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• Gorge Commission agendas, Zoom links, and the new rulemaking notice list: gorgecommission.org
• Next full Commission meeting: September 8, 2026
• Budget deadlines: Oregon July 31, Washington September 15
• Disclosure: during the Executive Director's report, Commissioner Fowler praised a public comment on accessory dwelling units "from Kate Bertash," saying she'd "done a spectacular job of setting the stage of where we are in the Gorge right now." That comment, a regional ADU policy brief, was submitted by the author of the Skamania Dispatch, who hosts this podcast and maintains the Open Gorge Public Meetings Archive. It is independent analysis, speaks for no government, and you can read it in the meeting record.

Stay Connected with the Gorge

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To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there, and welcome back to Open Gorge for another All Gorge episode. A quick disclosure before we start. At this month's Gorge Commission meeting, a commissioner praised a public comment about backyard housing, and I'm the one who wrote it. I covered these meetings and I also sent in my own research brief as a resident. You deserve to know that up front, and the full text is in the public record, so nothing you'll hear today in this episode depends on it, but I'm actually pretty proud of it, so I hope that you will go and read it. I'll include the link to that in the show notes. Okay, let's get back to the stuff that's on the record for our episode today. So, July 14th. The Gorge Commission's first full meeting of the summer, and honestly, it's one of the biggest in years. Let's start with the headline. The Commission rewrote its own rulebook, not the land use rules, the democracy ones that help determine how and when they use particular rules from different states, whether it goes for the Oregon side of things or the Washington side of things. This can cover stuff like open meetings, public records, conflicts of interest, and how they agree to handle all the above. It's basically the procedures for how the commission does its business. This overhaul started back in 2024 and went through six rules committee meetings and both states attorneys general, and it exists because the Gorge Commission is a very unique legal creature, like many of the creatures here in the Gorge. It actually doesn't answer to Oregon's open government laws, and it doesn't answer to Washington's either. It is a by-state compact empowered by the federal government, so Congress told it to blend the stricter parts of both states. Council Jeff Litwack told the commissioners that he has studied all 260 or so interstate compact agencies in the country. So basically other bodies that act a little bit like the by-state compact of the gorge for comparison. I love looking up model legislation to figure out how to get stuff like this done, so well done to the council. I can't wait to hear what he comes up with. So, in his words, quote, we are the only one who has to deal with this problem, unquote. Well that's unfortunate. So, what changes do we actually get out of this? Very real ones, including a lot of sensible new updates. The commission now has to answer a records request within five business days. It cannot charge you for the time it spends searching, only for copies. Agendas have to be posted at least 24 hours before a meeting, and meeting recordings have to stay online for at least six months. And reporters have the right to sit on closed door executive sessions. As we're big fans of public records and the process over here at Open Gorge, we're really grateful to hear all of the consideration that went into these different types of new rights, restrictions, and practices. So the vote, though, wasn't unanimous, and there's a bit of a story there. Friends of the Columbia Gorge asked the Commission to wait on approving the updates to these rules. The group said it had effectively less than seven days' notice because the Commission's rulemaking webpage had moved and Friends was watching the old page. Litwak walked through the calendar in response. Filed in April, published in May, on the website since late May, and discussed in public for two years. His bottom line was, delay the vote if you want, but don't do that because of notice. Commissioner Roger Nichols was blunter. If some people don't notice in time, he said, that's on them. But Commissioner Amy Weisfeld saw a different principle. She said, why not honor a reasonable request? She asked, when nothing forces a vote today. She voted no, but she was the only no. The rules pass seven to one, and then there's the practical fix. Ask the Commission to put you on its new notice list, and you'll get an email every time it files a proposed rule. You can sign up for that by messaging them at info at gorgecommission.org. So the second vote of the morning. Remember the disaster recovery reforms passed back in January after the Rowena and Burdoin fires? Those just became enforceable rule text, 8 to 0. And this piece is bigger than it sounds. It locks in the rebuild rules. If your destroyed home was 1,250 square feet or less, you can rebuild up to 20% larger with a sliding scale up to 3,000 square foot cap. And it creates something rare in government, a process with no application at all. And it's a really important way that people can get clarity on what they're allowed to do and who's supposed to be the ones to help them. If you lost your home and you needed to live in an RV on your land while you rebuild, you ask, staff draws up a site plan, and the executive director sends you an approval letter. Done. The Friends of the Columbia Gorge wanted to soften the word, quote, shall in that rule and instead change it to quote may. The commission kept shall on purpose. And the whole point, Litwok said, is that if staff can't approve it, they must. They have a responsibility, as well as the folks who are applying have a right. One more step remains. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture gets 90 days to concur before it all takes effect. So how is recovery actually going? This Friday marks one year since the Burdoin fire started. Staff read out the scorecard. About 20 rebuild applications are in motion in ClickAttack County, about 10 decisions signed, six of them homes, four farmer accessory buildings, and four structures are under construction right now. I'm relieved to hear that so many are moving ahead. Half the projects are using the faster, quote, like for like track. And here's the detail that stays with you. About half the replacement homes are mobile or manufactured. Some families who lost stick belt houses are choosing mobile homes because, as staff put it, that's what's affordable these days. The Click Itat office charges no permit fees, and planners are described sitting down with fire survivors who don't have email, filling out forms with them, drawing site plans for them. One woman was so eager she apparently bought a ladder and climbed in her house before the occupancy permit came through. Now the exchange this meeting will be remembered for. The commission has been staying silent on two energy projects, the Push Pum Pump Storage Site Facility, which is in litigation, and the Cascade Renewable Transmission Line, which could someday land in front of the Commission on appeal. The lawyer's logic is the same as a judge not discussing a pending case, but Commissioner Patou Pitt challenged it head on. Local tribes have expressed opposition, she said, and a commission that opens up every meeting with a land acknowledgement should at least be able to say that the tribes deserve to be heard. In her words, quote, if we can't echo, especially in a timely manner, I don't feel like we're doing our duty that we set forth in land acknowledgement, unquote. She went further, proposing the commission study paying commissioners because unpaid service means only people with flexible jobs can afford a seat at the table. Commissioner Laura Brennan Bissle backed her on both points. Commissioner Nichols pushed back. Comment once on an outside project, he warned, and you'll get asked to comment on everything. And Chair Karina Miller, herself a Warm Springs tribal member, closed it gently. This is really hard to navigate, she said. And I encourage us trying to push. No vote, but this question is not going away. A few quick notes before we wrap. The commission said goodbye to Barbara Bailey, one of its early members. The resolution honors her service from 1987 to 1995. She passed away in May. Her family runs Orchard View Farms near the Dalles, and her farming voice helped shape the plan's agriculture rules. The tribute even came with a live fact check. The draft called her a Washington appointee of Governor Neil Goldschmidt, but Commissioner Nathan Reynolds caught it. Goldschmidt was Oregon's governor, corrected on the spot, and adopted unanimously. The Forest Service has a familiar face back. Deputy Forest Supervisor Nick Granum and a new acting forest supervisor arrives at the end of July. Campfires are restricted on forest lands, and when Commissioner Brennan Bissell asks whether anyone is investigating arson, pointing to the Lyle Fire's suspicious timing, Granham said he believed that the fire didn't touch forest system land, which would put the question with local law enforcement, but he promised to ask. And the meeting's best moment might have been a spider. A newly discovered cave spider from the Herman Creek watershed, only the second of its kind ever found, now carries a Zapatan name given by Yakima Nation elder Anthony Washinus. Tulishmun, it means cave dwelling predator. The tribes held a naming ceremony at the trailhead with drums. A living language, as the presenter said, gets to name new things. So here's what's next. September 8th is the next full meeting with a vote on the communications playbook, a look at committee structure, the county's first disaster ordinances, and a fire season check-in. Budgets are due to Oregon at the end of July and to Washington in September, and in November we're going to watch for that Gorge 2030 roadmap and a 40-year celebration. If any of this matters to you, and especially if you own Gorge Land in the National Scenic Area, are we building after a fire, or just want records and requests answered on time? This was your meeting. We suggest you check out the full written version with every name and number, as always, at Scamania Dispatch.com. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, the home of the Scamania Dispatch, and the Click of Tatler. We believe that informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to schemania dispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at Facebook.comslash opengorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.