Friends of the Gorge
“”I moved to the Columbia Gorge in 1994, when I bought my house in Mosier. I’ve come and gone a lot and in fact, in the 1990s I worked for Friends of the Columbia Gorge as their first field representative. Later, I left to run the Telluride Mountain Film Festival in Colorado and Blue Ocean Film Festival in Monterey, CA. But the Gorge has always pulled me back. It is just…gorgeous!
“From the start I was just blown away, as everyone is, by the magnificent beauty of the place and also the juxtaposition between rain forest and desert. To be in a place that is a national scenic area that you can actually live in, it’s like living in a national park in a way. And that we have access, reasonable access, to a good domestic and international airport means that we really have everything we could possibly need nearby. Yet, because of the crazy weather conditions here, this is not for everyone as a place to live. So, it keeps us a little more isolated because Mother Nature has the last word in the conversation. I think most people that live here love the Gorge fiercely and feel a responsibility to nurture and protect this beauty.”
Arlene Burns 