A Force for Nature

By 1980, the Columbia Gorge's world-class vistas were on the brink of destruction. Every generation since 1907 had tried to protect the Gorge from development but had failed. A Force for Nature describes how Nancy Russell, a mother of four with no political, fundraising, or organizing experience, built a successful grassroots campaign to save the Gorge despite furious opposition, slashed tires, and threats to her life. Bowen Blair, former executive director of Friends of the Columbia Gorge and senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land, provides a behind-the-scenes account of how Russell thwarted factories and subdivisions proposed for the Gorge's most spectacular lands while overcoming intense resistance to federal legislation from both Oregon and Washington Governors, five of the six Gorge counties, 41,000 Gorge residents, and the Reagan administration. Blair provides previously unknown details on Russell's use of litigation, land acquisition, and legislation to achieve last-second, dramatic victories. He describes how Russell drove the purchase of the Gorge's most important land for public parks, and provided loans and bought property herself when the Trust for Public Land's strategy faltered. Blair recounts the National Scenic Area Act's fraught Congressional passage on the session's last day, and why President Reagan reversed his decision to veto the Act just hours before it would die. A Force for Nature should be read by anyone who cares about the Gorge or protecting nationally significantlandscapes, or who will enjoy a suspenseful account of a woman overcoming daunting odds to save the place that she loved--