Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler

Kate

Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge. Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life. Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next. Our unified feed covers the entire Gorge. Check the title of each episode to see if we are covering Skamania County, Klickitat County, or regional issues that impact us all. Listen to what matters most to your neighborhood, or stay tuned for the full regional picture. Subscribe to the written newsletters and join the community at SkamaniaDispatch.com.

  1. 2d ago

    [Klickitat] 🗳 Your Ballot Decoded - Klickitat Oct '26 Election Round-Up

    All six candidates in Klickitat County's contested county races met twice in two nights: at the Goldendale Grange on October 14 and at a League of Women Voters forum in Lyle on October 15. County commissioner, sheriff, and Klickitat PUD. Data centers dominated two of the three races. We walk through where each candidate stands and who is paying for the campaigns. In This Episode Commissioner race: the data center moratorium splitSheriff race: "not Bob 2.0," the posse, and laws they wouldn't enforceWhat state law now says a sheriff must enforcePUD race: NDAs, rates and the Lyle substation questionThe open 4th Congressional District seatState House: the 17th District on the millionaires' taxCampaign money through mid-OctoberHow and when to voteResources & Links Read the full written edition at SkamaniaDispatch.comKlickitat County elections pageKlickitat County data center informationOur Goldendale primary forum coverageStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  2. 3d ago

    [Skamania] 🗳 Your Ballot Decoded - Skamania Oct '26 Election Round-Up

    A special Skamania election edition. PUD Commissioner Liz Green passed away in July, but her name is still on your ballot, and the county Republican chair is asking you to vote for her anyway. Plus Underwood's candidates night, the KOIN congressional debate, and who is paying for the mailers in the 17th District. In This Episode The PUD race with one living candidateWhat happens if Liz Green's name winsLeckie vs. Mosbrucker, and the transfer station rumorClerk and Assessor: two very close primariesThe 17th District and the outside moneyGluesenkamp Perez vs. Braun at KOINFive Supreme Court seatsThe one-candidate county officesHow and when to voteResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comYour ballot and every candidate's statement: https://voter.votewa.gov/CandidateList.aspx?e=899&c=30The 1999 Attorney General opinion on votes for a candidate who has died: https://www.atg.wa.gov/ago-opinions/authority-election-officials-count-votes-cast-candidates-who-were-qualified-office-timeCampaign finance filings: https://www.pdc.wa.gov/political-disclosure-reporting-data/browse-search-data/candidatesLevy Scissors budget investigative series: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/levy-scissors/Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  3. 6d ago

    [All-Gorge] 🐟 The Fight Over How to Save Salmon - Special Report

    Everyone in the Columbia's hatchery fight says they want to save salmon. They disagree on how. We follow that argument from a federal courtroom in Portland to Congress's budget to the Skamania Hatchery on the Washougal, and ask what it means for anglers, gillnetters and the tribes whose treaty fishery depends on hatchery fish. In This Episode Why the Skamania Hatchery is closing, and what our county did about itWho's suing NOAA over Mitchell Act hatcheries, and what they wantIdaho 2018 and the Alaska troll caseWhere the Portland lawsuit stands, and what it can't reachThe 2027 Mitchell Act budget fightFederal hatchery staffing and the SAFE funding scareTreaty fishing and why hatchery fish are treaty fishThe science on both sidesThe same question coming for spotted owlsA call for fishers to share their storiesResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comThe Portland case docket (Wild Fish Conservancy v. NMFS): https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71947673/wild-fish-conservancy-v-national-marine-fisheries-service/NOAA's Mitchell Act hatchery program page: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/endangered-species-conservation/mitchell-act-hatchery-programsOPB on the Skamania Hatchery closure: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/20/skamania-hatchery-washougal-closed/Hakai Magazine, "Tribal Hatcheries and the Road to Restoration": https://hakaimagazine.com/features/tribal-hatcheries-and-the-road-to-restoration/Columbia Insight, "Hatched to be wild": https://columbiainsight.org/hatched-to-be-wild-why-tribes-are-pursuing-a-controversial-salmon-recovery-strategy/Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  4. Oct 16

    [All-Gorge] 🌳 The Tree I Didn't Cut Down - Letter From the Editor

    A black locust in my yard became a Washington noxious weed this January. The healthiest native ground on our place is underneath it. Here's what years of pulling ivy taught me about a word I had been using without thinking, and why I'm starting a series about owls and salmon with a tree. In This Episode The ivy, the collapsed burrows, and the day the robins came backBraiding Sweetgrass, chapter nineDesired and noxious in the same sentenceWhat a noxious weed legally is, in three linesWhy our county's own list mattersNitrogen, and a tree that stops giving when you stop needingMiner's lettuce, and what I still can't proveGermany's Tree Queen, and the case for a hearingThe name that's wrong and can't be fixedTolerance, and who is really controlling whomSlowing down on one wordWhat this has to do with owls and salmonResources & Links Read the full written edition at skamaniadispatch.comWashington's black locust listing: https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weeds/black-locustWhat a noxious weed legally is, RCW 17.10.010: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=17.10.010Skamania County Noxious Weeds List 2026: https://www.skamaniacounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/17742/639106382161400000USFS Silvics of North America on black locust: https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/black-locusttop agrar on Germany's Tree of the Year: https://www.topagrar.com/jagd-und-wald/news/robinie-als-baum-des-jahres-polarisiert-12038026.htmlThe Czech site-specific framework: https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/11909/The Town That Was: Remembering the Underwood Fire 80 Years Later: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/the-town-that-was-remembering-the-underwood-fire-80-years-later/Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  5. Oct 14

    [All-Gorge] 🌡 What Science Says On CRT Heat & Magnetic Fields - EFSEC Sept '26

    Washington's energy siting council, EFSEC, got its first look at 772 comments on the power line that would run along the bed of the Columbia. A Scenic Area fight, a notice that never ran in the Skamania County paper, and a hearing decision set for October. Plus a plain look at what the science says about cable heat, magnetic fields and fish. In This Episode The 772 comments, sortedDoes the Scenic Area reach the riverbed?The Title 22 agreementThe notice that didn't runAnother hearing, or notCable heat: the river versus the riverbedMagnetic fields and fishHow old this technology isCarriger Solar's cleanup plan slipsOstrea's ribbon cuttingBadger Mountain withdrawnResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comEFSEC's summary of the land use comments: https://efsec.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2026-09/20260916_CRT_CouncilLUCommentSummary.pdfEFSEC's EIS scoping report: https://efsec.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2026-09/20260915_SEPA%20EIS%20Scoping%20Report%20EFSEC.pdfCascade Renewable Transmission project page and documents: https://efsec.wa.gov/facilities/cascade-renewable-transmissionOur February special report on the line: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/special-report-cascade-renewable-transmission-an-underwater-power-line-with-a-long-road-ahead/EFSEC meetings and join links: https://efsec.wa.gov/hearings-and-meetingsStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  6. Oct 12

    [Klickitat] 🧮 Budget Season Meets Data-Center Season - Klickitat BOCC 9/16 - 10/6

    Klickitat County commissioners backed drafting interim zoning instead of a data-center moratorium, and the permanent draft ordinance asks for less on buffers, power and water on its second try. We also cover the ADU decision, a Husum short plat appeal, 911 and senior services in budget season, and the Bear Creek Bridge closure. In This Episode Interim zoning, or "moratorium light"Draft 1 vs. Draft 2 of the data-center ordinancePetitions and a commissioner who still backs a pauseADUs: bigger, owner on site, one short-term rentalA firmer count of short-term rentals and a $200 feeThe Tomahawk Road short plat appealBudget workshops: 911, public health, seniors, roadsSupplemental budget hearing October 27Bear Creek Bridge closed October 19 to November 6The Hood River bridge and the county's landWhere the budget and data centers meetResources & Links Read the full written Klickitattler round-up at skamaniadispatch.comKlickitat County data center information and draftsBear Creek Bridge closure and detourOur September round-upStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  7. Oct 9

    [Klickitat] ⚽️ Parks Improvement Dreams - Goldendale Sept '26 Round-up

    Goldendale's City Council heard its first comprehensive parks plan in 26 years, then tabled it until the mayor is back. Plus the mayor's ask for data center impact fees, the end of the Kiwanis Club, and a police chief who wants one court for every case. And before all that, the Timmerman curse. In This Episode Cabinet of curiosities: the Timmerman curseThe parks plan, its $2.8 million wish list, and the splash padData centers, impact fees, and what the county can actually doSchool pickup and the towing grace periodOne court, one prosecutorThe Kiwanis Club folds, and the downtown flagsFree CPR classes and Maryhill at 100Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comThe Timmerman story, from HistoryLink: https://www.historylink.org/File/7808The 1888 fire, from HistoryLink: https://www.historylink.org/File/7802Our Klickitat County commissioners round-up on data centers: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/between-budget-gaps-data-centers-klickitat-bocc-8-19-9-15/RCO's planning requirements for park grants: https://rco.wa.gov/recreation-and-conservation-office-grants/grant-requirements/planning-requirements/Goldendale agendas, packets, minutes and meeting video (the full parks plan is in the September 21 packet): https://www.ci.goldendale.wa.us/your-government/city-council/agendas-minutesStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  8. Oct 7

    [Skamania] 🧾 The Emergency Ends - North Bonneville Sept '26 Round-Up

    First, a Halloween-month tale of the night Skamania County's records left town. Then: North Bonneville formally ended its water emergency in September. The same month, the City Council paid a second contractor bill it said came with no breakdown, and voted down an independent review of how the city lost its operators. This episode covers the North Bonneville City Council and the North Bonneville Planning Commission for September 2026. In This Episode Cabinet of curiosities: the Whiskey Flat heistResolution 597 and the end of the emergencyEcology's 32-hour change and the new monthly costThe $13,918.75 invoiceThe independent review that failedA public hearing request, email rules and the Mayor Pro TemMinutes that don't match the tapeA master fee scheduleLibrary hours and rentFire department gear and turkey bingoThe planning handoff to Skamania CountyGoats and sheep on East CascadeResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comThe Whiskey Flat heist, from HistoryLink: Skamania County Thumbnail HistoryLast month's coverage of the emergency: A City w/o an Operator & Council w/o a ContractNorth Bonneville council agendas, recordings and minutes: northbonneville.netPlanning Commission agendas: northbonneville.net/planning/meetingsThe state law on complaints and public hearings: RCW 42.30.110North Bonneville library hours: FVRLStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge. Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life. Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next. Our unified feed covers the entire Gorge. Check the title of each episode to see if we are covering Skamania County, Klickitat County, or regional issues that impact us all. Listen to what matters most to your neighborhood, or stay tuned for the full regional picture. Subscribe to the written newsletters and join the community at SkamaniaDispatch.com.

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