By 1980, the Columbia River 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 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 President Reagan. 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 significant landscapes, or who will enjoy a suspenseful account of a woman overcoming daunting odds to save the place that she loved.
“As a former Oregon Governor, a former Gorge commissioner, and especially as a woman, I always admired Nancy Russell for the monumental challenges she overcame to protect the Columbia Gorge. A Force for Nature describes Russell’s against-all-odds campaign in a way that entertains and inspires readers. And readers can draw insights into protecting their own treasured landscapes—even if those landscapes don’t span 85 miles, two states, a major river, and a mountain range.”
—Barbara Roberts, former Governor, State of Oregon.
“Author Bowen Blair had a front-row seat at one of the late 20th century’s most protracted, unlikely, and ultimately successful conservation stories, and his telling of it reads like a whodunnit. He compellingly traces his protagonist’s journey from self-described ‘small and provincial’ housewife to one of the country’s most admired public lands advocates as she goes toe-to-toe with US senators and overcomes myriad reversals, even death threats.”
—Bonnie Henderson, author of The Next Tsunami and Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail
“In a time when the world feels tilting towards despair, read this book. Learn from the example of one courageous woman who didn’t know how to give up and overcame what seemed insurmountable odds to give us, and future generations, a national treasure—the unspoiled beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. This sweeping story, meticulously researched, affords us much needed hope that values such as integrity, idealism and altruism still exist.”
—Marcy Houle, author of A Generous Nature and The Prairie Keepers
“The Columbia River Gorge was the nation’s first proposed national scenic area, and certainly its most controversial. Now, forty years after I held the first of several contentious hearings for the National Scenic Area Act, it protects one of the country’s most scenic and historic landscapes, as well as its cultural and recreational values. The Gorge’s economy and population thrive. We should look to the National Scenic Area as a model for protecting other nationally significant, complex areas, and to Nancy Russell and A Force for Nature for inspiration.”
—Bob Packwood, former U.S. Senator, sponsor of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act.
“Bowen Blair’s A Force for Nature: Nancy Russell’s Fight to Save the Columbia Gorge is a welcome addition to the limited number of accounts of the leadership roles played by women in the conservation movement in the 20th Century.”
—Robert Liberty, Mountain Journal – FULL REVIEW
“Blair’s engrossing narrative unveils the sweat and struggles that Russell had to trek through to save the Columbia Gorge’s beauty. The beauty that any hiker, visitor, or traveler sees today in the Gorge was not the result of a kumbaya dance but the result of grueling emotional and personal hardship and fatigue from the Gorge’s few allies who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much because of their love of the region’s beauty. It is an inspirational story.”
—Paul Krause, Merion West – FULL REVIEW
Image by Peter Marbach
Image by Peter Marbach
By 1980, the Columbia River 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 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 President Reagan. 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 significant landscapes, or who will enjoy a suspenseful account of a woman overcoming daunting odds to save the place that she loved.
“As a former Oregon Governor, a former Gorge commissioner, and especially as a woman, I always admired Nancy Russell for the monumental challenges she overcame to protect the Columbia Gorge. A Force for Nature describes Russell’s against-all-odds campaign in a way that entertains and inspires readers. And readers can draw insights into protecting their own treasured landscapes—even if those landscapes don’t span 85 miles, two states, a major river, and a mountain range.”
—Barbara Roberts, former Governor, State of Oregon.
“Author Bowen Blair had a front-row seat at one of the late 20th century’s most protracted, unlikely, and ultimately successful conservation stories, and his telling of it reads like a whodunnit. He compellingly traces his protagonist’s journey from self-described ‘small and provincial’ housewife to one of the country’s most admired public lands advocates as she goes toe-to-toe with US senators and overcomes myriad reversals, even death threats.”
—Bonnie Henderson, author of The Next Tsunami and Hiking the Oregon Coast Trail
“In a time when the world feels tilting towards despair, read this book. Learn from the example of one courageous woman who didn’t know how to give up and overcame what seemed insurmountable odds to give us, and future generations, a national treasure—the unspoiled beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. This sweeping story, meticulously researched, affords us much needed hope that values such as integrity, idealism and altruism still exist.”
—Marcy Houle, author of A Generous Nature and The Prairie Keepers
“The Columbia River Gorge was the nation’s first proposed national scenic area, and certainly its most controversial. Now, forty years after I held the first of several contentious hearings for the National Scenic Area Act, it protects one of the country’s most scenic and historic landscapes, as well as its cultural and recreational values. The Gorge’s economy and population thrive. We should look to the National Scenic Area as a model for protecting other nationally significant, complex areas, and to Nancy Russell and A Force for Nature for inspiration.”
—Bob Packwood, former U.S. Senator, sponsor of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act.
“Bowen Blair’s A Force for Nature: Nancy Russell’s Fight to Save the Columbia Gorge is a welcome addition to the limited number of accounts of the leadership roles played by women in the conservation movement in the 20th Century.”
—Robert Liberty, Mountain Journal – FULL REVIEW
“Blair’s engrossing narrative unveils the sweat and struggles that Russell had to trek through to save the Columbia Gorge’s beauty. The beauty that any hiker, visitor, or traveler sees today in the Gorge was not the result of a kumbaya dance but the result of grueling emotional and personal hardship and fatigue from the Gorge’s few allies who worked tirelessly and sacrificed so much because of their love of the region’s beauty. It is an inspirational story.”
—Paul Krause, Merion West – FULL REVIEW
