The Skamania County Board of Commissioners rewrote the rules for rebuilding after a wildfire, giving burned-out families ten years instead of one. In this episode of Open Gorge, we walk through a busy June for the Skamania County Commissioners: a five-million-dollar storm road program, a mining company circling the Green River Valley, a sharpening fight with the Forest Service over timber money, and the first real talk of visitor fees as tourism strains the county.

In This Episode

• Title 22 is adopted: up to ten years to rebuild after a disaster, bigger footprints for small homes, RVs allowed on-site during a rebuild
• A road program reshaped by December's storms, and how the Wind River Highway detour is hurting Carson businesses
• The timber-revenue fight: "I want the floor to be fifty percent," a second school closure, and a state error that cost the schools
• Cascade Forest Conservancy's mine warning, and a county that says it's "locked in a box"
• Budget season opens with a "hold the line" message and a new finance system going live
• Tourism pressure turns toward fees; a shake-up at the Homeless Housing Council; Title III requests from six agencies
• Two retirements, and a July 30 deadline to comment on the Storedahl quarry

Resources & Links

• Read the full written Dispatch, with links to a year of past coverage, at skamaniadispatch.com
• Skamania County agendas, minutes, and meeting audio: www.skamaniacounty.org
• Comment on the Storedahl & Sons Quarry Draft EIS by July 30 (on the county website, at the library, or printed on request)
• Written comment to the Board: emerson@co.skamania.wa.us, by noon the day before a meeting
• Next meetings: Tuesdays, July 7, 14, 21, and 28, 9:30 AM, at the courthouse in Stevenson and by Zoom

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