A. Introduction The long term protection of scenic resources is one of the primary reasons for the Scenic area Act. An intimate knowledge of the visual resource of the National Scenic Area is an obvious necessity in land management planning. The visual resources inventory will be a primary decision variable in most land allocations. Because of the importance of this inventory, a sophisticated methodology was designed that would give us multiple layers of inherent visual quality and visual sensitivity. B. Information and inventory Some work had been done specific to the Scenic Area, most notably the research done on visual quality in the National Park Service Alternatives Study and the Jones and Jones study. This work served as a good beginning, but was of insufficient detail and scope to be used as other than reference material. Based on the Forest Service Visual Management System, a detailed visual resource inventory was developed. C. Process As designed, the analysis process for scenic resources includes six 'major mapping exercises: 1. VISUAL ATTRIBUTES-Visual attributes, or cultural landscapes, are those representative landscapes that repeat themselves throughout the Gorge. We identified twelve separate landscapes, ranging from pastoral farmland and rural townscape to tablelands and cliffs. 2. LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY-Most professionals and practitioners agree that the key element of natural beauty is diversity. The Columbia River Gorge is a wonderful example of natural and man-made diversity, and our maps reflect this with many area of outstanding diversity. 3. SEEN AREAS FROM KEY VIEWING AREAS-The public involvement process used in writing the Interim Guidelines identified key viewing areas the length of the gorge. With the aid of our computer, we mapped the landscapes that are seen from these areas. There are large areas of land that are not seen from the key viewing areas, usually far removed from the river corridor. 4. LANDSCAPE SIGNIFICANCE-Landscape significance is an important concept in scenic analysis, and is an integral part of the U.S. Forest Service Visual Resource Management System. The concept simply states that those lands which are inherently beautiful, and that are seen from important travelways or overviews, are most significant. Much of the land in the Gorge was deemed highly significant. 5. VISUAL QUALITY ABSORPTION CAPABILITY-Visual absorption capability is based on the premise that some landscapes can absorb visual change to a greater degree than other landscapes. Our study used the complex patterns of vegetation and slope in the gorge …
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