Vital Signs Indicators Project:

The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act has been in place for more than two decades. Its implementation through the Management Plan, Commission and county land use ordinances and other related plans has aimed to fulfill the purposes and standards of the Scenic Area Act. Ongoing monitoring and periodic review of these implementation efforts are both required by the Act and necessary for the Commission to assess implementation success and adjust plans accordingly to improve success and adapt to change. The monitoring reports issued between 1998 and 2001 began this work. Although this valuable work informed changes in policy during the 2004 Management Plan Review, these reports were part of a monitoring program that mainly measured Plan implementation through agency outputs.  

 

Even with near perfect implementation of the Plan, two questions remained: “Does the Plan fulfill the purposes and standards of the Act?” and “What is the current health of the Gorge?” To answer these questions, the Commission needs a way to measure the health of the Gorge using relevant and objective indicators. With the development of Gorge-level and agency-level indicators through the Vital Signs Indicators Project, the Commission will be able to measure and assess not only its own implementation efforts in relation to the purposes and standards of the Act, but also the health of the Gorge as a whole. This assessment will provide insight into changes to important conditions that are relevant for Gorge-wide policy decisions affecting the Scenic Area’s future. Click here to read more about this project. 

The 2009 Vital Signs Indicators Project Report is now available! Click here to download a copy.