Gorge Landowners Jump Through Loophole

HOOD RIVER, OR-When Congress passed the Scenic Area Act in 1986, it built in an avenue for owners facing the restrictions of Special Management Area property to sell to the government at fair market value or gain broader development rights. An amendment last year, however, set a March 30, 2001 expiration for the rule.

Specifically, the rule was this: if the government failed to buy property within three years of a sale offer from an owner, the property would revert to less-restrictive General Management Area status, which allows a greater variety of agricultural and rural recreational development on smaller parcels.

In November the U.S. Forest Service sent out the obligatory fair warning notices to 725 property owners that the law was expiring. Some 182 of those landowners apparently opened the mailing, because that’s how many made their sale offer before March 30.