What Is the Gorge Management Plan?

The Gorge Management Plan (GMP) is the rulebook that guides how land can be used across the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Within the Federally-designated Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, it shapes where homes can be built, what kinds of businesses can operate, how forests and farms are protected, and how communities can grow or change.

Because the Plan is only updated every 10 years, public involvement during those updates is one of the most important ways residents can influence the future of the Gorge. The GMP revision cycle is set to begin again in 2026.

Why It Matters

The Gorge Management Plan affects your daily life, including:

• Housing availability and affordability
• Whether new homes, duplexes, ADUs, or cottages are allowed
• Small business development and rural job opportunities
• County budgets, tax revenue, and essential services
• Emergency preparedness and wildfire safety - including any changes in response to need to recover and rebuild
• Protections for scenery, habitat, and recreation
• What kinds of infrastructure can be built (roads, utilities, broadband)

Even if you’ve never heard of it, the GMP quietly shapes almost everything that happens in rural Gorge communities. It even by proxy affects the “urban exception zones” that must often shoulder the burden for what can or cannot be built in the National Scenic Areas governed by the Gorge Management Plan.

Examples of Public Input During the Last Update (2020)

Residents, cities, counties, nonprofits, and local businesses submitted comments on issues like:

Housing:
• The shortage of rentals and workforce housing
• Barriers to ADUs, duplexes, cottages, and townhomes
• Constraints on growth inside existing communities

Wildfire & Emergency Response:
• Need for fuel reduction and forest health actions
• Better evacuation planning
• More reliable communications infrastructure

Economic Stability:
• Difficulty expanding or permitting small businesses
• Impacts to county budgets caused by development limits

Transportation & Safety:
• Dangerous sections of SR-14
• Lack of walkable connections between communities
• Need for improved transit and rural mobility options

Transparency & Local Voice:
• Hard-to-understand documents and maps
• Desire for clearer public explanations
• Requests for more meaningful, accessible public participation

Not all of these requests for changes were successfully reflected in the last version. It’s our hope that greater opportunities for residents to align and hold these systems accountable can change that for us as residents.

How People of the Gorge Will Help You Stay Informed

When you join our email list, you’ll receive:

Clear, plain-language updates:
We translate complex policies into simple, useful summaries and action alerts.

Early notice of comment opportunities:
We notify you when the Gorge Commission or your county’s planning department opens comment periods, with deadlines, meeting links, and previews of the agenda.

County-specific updates:
We break down issues for Skamania, Klickitat, Hood River, and Wasco, plus key unincorporated communities.

Opportunities to share your story:
You can submit your experience with housing, land use, small business barriers, or other NSA impacts.

Easy ways to participate:
We’ll offer our own resident-led town halls, workshops, printable fact sheets, shareable graphics, and tools for speaking during public meetings.

Why Your Voice Matters

The next major update to the Gorge Management Plan will determine how rural communities grow, or don’t, for the next decade. Public input can influence rules that affect housing, infrastructure, small businesses, wildfire safety, environmental protections, and the everyday lives of thousands of residents.

Joining the People of the Gorge network ensures you never miss your chance to be heard.