Wind

By Judy Davis

Written en plein air in Hood River, Oregon

When I moved to the Gorge, I figured I had better like wind-blown hair. After all, it was inevitable. On many spring and summer days, wind pours through the Gorge from the cooler, more marine environments in the west to the hot, dry places in the east. In the winter, it’s the opposite. Cold air from the Columbia Basin is blasted into Troutdale, Gresham, and east Portland.

These winds muss my hair, whip flags, skitter scraps of paper, billow clouds of dust, shape trees, and sometimes blow my breathe away. But in this place, wind also powers the economy. In the 1970s someone figured out how to adapt a surfing board with a sail to a windy river environment. Hood River became the windsurfing capital of the world.

I don’t do wind sports, but I benefit from them. I have lots of interesting choices about where to eat dinner. I can browse in trendy clothing shops where usually I feel too old, too practical, or—let’s face it—too fuddy-duddy to buy anything. I can buy hiking shoes or take a yoga class. Windsurfers helped change a struggling downtown to an active vibrant one that caters to recreationists, both visitors and residents.

Big winds may power downtown Hood River, but when it comes to the newest use of wind—generating electricity—there is much debate. It’s the bane of the Gorge, some people say. Look, there are thousands of wind turbines to the east of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. We don’t need them on Whistling Ridge where they would be visible from Hood River in the heart of the Gorge.

It’s an honest point of view, not wanting to see wind turbines spinning above the Gorge walls. But is it good public policy? The wind is strong here. People, like me, who buy wind power, live here. The Scenic Area Act doesn’t rule out this project; it says there are no buffers prohibiting incompatible uses outside the Scenic Area boundary. Is wind power generation such a bad thing? Is there no room for discussion?

Wind keeps things moving. Wind blows in fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. Wind generates controversy. Wind makes us think about why we live here and what we value. Some even say that wind is the spirit that moves in each of us.