OAR 350-010-0000: Purpose

(1) This division adopts a Legal Boundary Description of the exterior boundary, the special management areas, and each of the thirteen urban areas designated in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act (“National Scenic Area Act” or “Act”). (2) The maps that Congress enacted as part of the National Scenic Area Act in 1986 were not drawn to cartographic or surveying standards. Congress did not provide any legal boundary description or other documentation accompanying the maps. Different maps enacted in section 4(e) and sections 4(a) and 4(c) of the National Scenic Area Act differ and conflict. Subsequently, in 1987, the U.S. Forest Service prepared new maps addressing many of the issues with the maps that Congress enacted. The U.S. Forest Service did not provide any legal boundary description, and provided only limited documentation accompanying the maps. The Commission, U.S. Forest Service, and others have used the 1987 maps almost exclusively for administration of the National Scenic Area Act. The Commission has experienced many situations in which the maps that Congress enacted and the maps that the U.S. Forest Service prepared were drawn to a scale that is too coarse for precision decision making at a parcel level. In addition, improvements in geographic information systems and locational technology have made the identification of precise boundaries more readily available; thus landowners and others involved in land planning expect more precise identification of boundaries established by the National Scenic Area Act. (3) This rule promotes the efficient and reasonable administration of the National Scenic Area Act and affords interested persons notice of the Commission’s interpretation of the maps referenced in section 4(e) of the National Scenic Area Act. This rule shall be applied to carry out these objectives.