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