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. 3h ago

    [Skamania] 🗳 Meet the Candidates 7/14 - Primary Preview

    Your 2026 primary ballot is about to arrive, and the Skamania County Chamber and both county parties put the contested candidates on one stage in Stevenson to preview it. In this special edition we walk the whole ballot: the nine-way race for Congress in District 3, both 17th District statehouse seats, and the county races for Commissioner, Assessor, and Clerk. Then we follow the money, and it tells a story of two very different elections stacked on one ballot. In This Episode Congressional District 3: a top-two field of nine, and the two themes that dominated (election rules and timber)17th Legislative District: how redistricting reshaped it, plus the mail-in voting split and the state capital gains "millionaire tax"County Commissioner District 3: both candidates reject the automatic 1% levyCounty Assessor: a real fight over how your property gets valuedCounty Clerk: the friendly raceFollow the Money: $80,000 statehouse races on top of $0 county racesEvery date you need for the August 4 primaryResources & Links Read the full written edition at SkamaniaDispatch.comCheck your registration and see your ballot: voter.votewa.govOfficial state voters' guide (candidate statements): voter.votewa.govCampaign finance filings: Washington Public Disclosure Commission, pdc.wa.govSkamania County candidate Q&A: skamania.orgStay 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. 1d ago

    [Klickitat] 🔥 Smoke, Weeds & Fireworks - Goldendale June '26

    It was a packed June for the Goldendale City Council, the county seat of Klickitat County. In two meetings, the council rescued a stalled housing rule by standing up a temporary planning commission, locked in a $221,000 grant to replace the historic library's elevator, and spent a good chunk of fire season arguing over smoke, dry weeds, and Fourth of July fireworks. Here's what it means for you. In This Episode: Why Goldendale's Planning Commission went defunct, and the six-month workaround that keeps the ADU (backyard-cottage) ordinance moving.A $221,000 federal grant to replace the Goldendale Community Library's 40-year-old elevator.The first-quarter budget: a paper deficit, a $480,000 grant-timing swing, and a softening in retail sales tax.A downtown "burnout" event that filled a neighbor's home with smoke, and the older, thornier fight over unmowed weeds during fire season.Why both the fire and police chiefs argued against a Fourth of July fireworks crackdown.A statewide visit: the Secretary of State and international consuls tour Goldendale.Resources & Links: Read the full written round-up on SkamaniaDispatch.comCity of Goldendale agendas, packets, and meeting info (Zoom: 415-762-9988, Meeting ID 373 290 5204).Next regular council meeting: Monday, July 6, 2026, 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers, 1103 S. Columbus Ave.Community Days: July 10 and 11.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. 2d ago

    [Skamania] 🌿 Building Near a Wetland - North Bonneville June '26

    What does it really cost to build a house near a wetland in North Bonneville? This month the City Council turned a routine environmental-rules update into a debate about affordability and local control. We also cover the North Bonneville Planning Commission, a firefighter bill four years overdue, a library open just six hours a week, and why sewer pipes are quietly straining budgets all across the Gorge. In This Episode The Critical Areas Ordinance heads to the state, and one councilor's cost analysis that reframed the whole debateThe city pays off firefighter-pension dues unpaid since 2022, and a vote where the record and the recording disagreeSixty-five hundred dollars in tourism funds for a summer car show and Gorge DaysA library that gets used every day but is staffed only six hours a weekBlackberries, faded road lines, and a striping machine the city could not buyWhy North Bonneville's fifty-year-old sewer lift stations are part of a Gorge-wide storyWhat is next: a July 7 zoning hearing and a July 28 look at the Bradford Island Superfund siteResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comNorth Bonneville City Council agendas, minutes, and audio (the new "Supplemental Documents" link holds sheriff reports and written public comment)North Bonneville Planning Commission meetings & minutes: the draft Title 20 zoning revisions and the July 7 public hearingFort Vancouver Regional Library: send comments on the North Bonneville branch through the FVRL websiteWashington Department of Fish and Wildlife Priority Habitats and Species and Department of Ecology Critical Areas / wetlands guidanceStay 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. 5d ago

    [Skamania] 📦 A County Locked In A Box - Skamania BOCC June '26

    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 rebuildA road program reshaped by December's storms, and how the Wind River Highway detour is hurting Carson businessesThe timber-revenue fight: "I want the floor to be fifty percent," a second school closure, and a state error that cost the schoolsCascade 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 liveTourism pressure turns toward fees; a shake-up at the Homeless Housing Council; Title III requests from six agenciesTwo retirements, and a July 30 deadline to comment on the Storedahl quarryResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch, with links to a year of past coverage, at skamaniadispatch.comSkamania County agendas, minutes, and meeting audio: www.skamaniacounty.orgComment 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 meetingNext meetings: Tuesdays, July 7, 14, 21, and 28, 9:30 AM, at the courthouse in Stevenson and by ZoomStay 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. Jul 3

    [Klickitat] 🔌 EV Vote & 30% Rule - White Salmon June '26 Round-Up

    This month, the White Salmon City Council voted to make every new home EV-ready, and the debate was really about who pays for it. We've also got a denied housing appeal at the Planning Commission, a ten-thousand-dollar snag for the Fourth of July parade at the Community Development Committee, and a storm that closed a road. Here's your June in White Salmon. In This Episode The City Council adopts an EV-ready ordinance, 5-0, and wrestles with affordabilityThe six-year transportation plan, storm damage on Skagit and Scenic, and a drought summerCluster mailboxes retired, Knowledge Bowl state champions, and a state housing-board appointmentThe Community Development Committee reworks heritage months and hits a $10,000 parade-closure wallThe Planning Commission denies the Wyers Street reconsideration and eyes the short-term-rental "30% rule"Resources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comWhite Salmon agendas, packets, and meeting recordings: whitesalmonwa.gov/meetingsSubmit written public comment: public.comment@whitesalmonwa.govNext up: City Council July 1, Planning Commission public hearing July 8Community Development Committee coverage draws on a recording from the Columbia Gorge Documenters, powered by Uplift Local (CC BY 4.0). 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.

  6. Jul 1

    [Skamania] 🅿️ Rethinking Downtown Parking - Stevenson June '26 Round-Up

    This episode: Stevenson's June meant a sewer-ordinance rewrite that's almost across the line, a move to scrap downtown parking minimums, and a Board of Adjustment that granted one hotel parking relief while sending an accessory-dwelling-unit case back for more homework. We cover the Stevenson City Council (June 18) and the Stevenson Board of Adjustment (June 10), plus a city-administrator hire that fell through at the last minute. In this episode: The revised sewer ordinance: who has to connect, who doesn't, and the one clause still holding up a voteWhy Stevenson wants to drop its downtown parking minimums, and the national movement behind itThe Artbliss Hotel parking variance, grantedA continued ADU variance, and a fact-check on whether ADUs are "just money makers"A CPA hired for financial oversight, and a stalled administrator searchWhat's next: the July 9 retreat, the July 16 council meeting, and a mid-July Board of Adjustment hearingResources & Links: Read the full written Dispatch, with every source linked, at skamaniadispatch.comCity of Stevenson agendas, packets, and meeting video: ci.stevenson.wa.us/meetings and vimeo.com/cityofstevensonGoing deeper on parking reform: Strong Towns (strongtowns.org/parking) and the Parking Reform Network (parkingreform.org)The ADU data: UC Berkeley's Terner Center and the Florida Housing Action LabStay 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. Jun 25

    [Klickitat] 🔒 Missing Care Lands in Jails - Klickitat BOCC 6/9-6/23

    This month the Klickitat County Board of County Commissioners moved a public-records job to the Prosecutor's Office, absorbed roughly four hundred thousand dollars in public-health cuts, and heard a sobering update from the county jail, all while residents pressed them on data centers and Fourth of July fireworks. We connect June's decisions to the Gorge's longer story on mental health and the justice system. In this episode: Why the county is creating a Public Records Administrator, and the resident who keeps calling in to oppose itA candid jail update: a shrinking population but harder cases, a new local opioid-treatment partnership, and a proposed body scannerThe Health Department's roughly four-hundred-thousand-dollar cut, and what it means alongside jail spendingData centers floated for the old aluminum site and DallesportA fireworks survey pointing toward a partial ban with designated areasBackyard-cottage (ADU) rules, a Goldendale rezone, and short-term-rental trackingAnd a warm send-off for a longtime volunteer pilotResources & Links: Read the full written Dispatch - https://SkamaniaDispatch.comKlickitat County agendas, packets, and meeting recordings: https://www.klickitatcounty.govSubmit public comment before a meeting: bocc@klickitatcounty.orgPrior coverage: "Mental-Health Crisis Deepens" (Nov. 2025) and "The 2-Year Wait for Disability Services" (Apr. 2026)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.

  8. Jun 24

    [All-Gorge] ⚡ The Nine-Gigawatt Gap - EFSEC June 2026

    This month the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council — EFSEC, the agency that permits the Gorge's biggest energy projects — got a sobering look at the region's power math: a forecast that the Northwest could fall about nine gigawatts short by 2030. We also cover a brush fire at a Gorge-area solar farm, two ownership transfers headed for a July vote, and a finalized tribal-consultation policy. In This Episode Why a regional study says the Northwest has to build energy at a pace it hasn't seen in 25 yearsA May 28 brush fire at Ostrea Solar, and why it's a land-management story, not a solar storyColumbia Solar and Goose Prairie Solar ownership transfers head to a July decisionCarriger Solar's court fight may pause for settlement talks with the Yakama NationTwo oil-loss events at the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plantA new Commerce councilmember, a finalized tribal-consultation policy, and budget cloudsResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comEFSEC project pages and agendas: efsec.wa.govThe E3 / Public Generating Pool resource-adequacy study: https://ethree.com/ra-pnwThe U.S. Department of Energy's primer on wildfire and solar farms: energy.gov/fempStay 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

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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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