Hood River Historical Society hosts its first quarterly meting of 2008 on March 9 at the Hood River Charburger Restaurant.

The no-host luncheon is open to the community and starts at 1 p.m. followed by speakers Connie Nice and Bowen Blair Jr. at 2 p.m.

Nice is coordinator of The History Museum of Hood River County. She will give a brief talk on the 100^th anniversary celebration of Hood River County, and events that are planned for the occasion.

Blair will relate the history of the Columbia Gorge Scenic Act. As a member of the Friends of the Gorge he was in on the planning and formation of the legislation. He worked closely with the Congressional delegations from both states and the counties that were directly involved in the writing of the Act.

Blair is a senior vice president of the Trust for Public Land and serves as TPL’s national director of projects. Blair founded TPL’s Oregon Field Office and has worked for TPL for 19 years as a project manager, state director, regional director for both Northwest and Midwest regions, and founder of TPL’s Tribal and Native Lands Program.

Blair received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and his Juris Doctor degree from the Northwestern School of Law in Portland, where he served as an editor of the law review and published two law review articles: "The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area: The Act, Its Genesis and Legislative History," published in Environmental Law, and "Native Americans vs. American Museums: A Battle for Artifacts," published in both the American Indian Law Review and the American Indian Journal.

Blair currently serves on the boards of Friends of the Columbia Gorge and the Portland Parks Foundation, and the Board of Visitors for the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College.