Oregon is home to many national treasures, and the Columbia River Gorge -- a spectacular and unique 80-mile-long, 4,000-foot-deep sea-level slice through the Cascades -- is our crown jewel. The gorge is part of who we were, who we are and who we will be.

Unfortunately, the gorge is suffering from environmental degradation, and the development of a gambling casino within its reaches would further harm one of Oregon's most scenic and ecologically sensitive areas. When the federal government designated the gorge as the nation's first national scenic area, it was recognizing its rare beauty and certainly didn't intend for it to become a gambling mecca.

The gorge is not an appropriate home for a casino. Would we permit construction of a casino in the Grand Canyon or Yosemite Valley? If Donald Trump proposed building a gambling casino in the Columbia River Gorge, would we not show him the door? Appropriate development isn't determined by who the developer is, or what historical ties exist.

In this instance, the future should be consistent with the past. Since time immemorial, the gorge has drawn Oregonians to nature in its glory. The proposed casino would attract an estimated 3 million visitors each year, arriving via 1 million additional car trips per year, solely for indoor gambling.

Additionally, the casino would cover nearly 600,000 square feet, include a 1 million-square-foot parking lot, and require rebuilding highway interchanges, all of which would further degrade the environment.

The Columbia River Gorge currently experiences acid rain and fog as severe as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and New York. It contains more than 800 species of wildflowers (16 of which exist nowhere else on Earth), six endangered and threatened animal species, and more than 40 other sensitive species that are rapidly diminishing. A casino in the gorge may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs should consider other appropriate, nongorge sites for its proposed casino. The casino doesn't need to be in either Cascade Locks or Hood River. That's a false choice that distracts from the consideration of numerous viable nongorge sites. Oregon is a big state, and the Warm Springs have the biggest reservation in the state. The longstanding policy of one casino per tribe, on reservation land, still gives the Warm Springs a number of sensible options.

As the first national scenic area, the Columbia River Gorge belongs to all Oregonians and, in fact, to all Americans. Prohibiting the development of a casino will preserve it as the crown jewel of Oregon's natural beauty for generations to come.

David Wu, a Democrat, represents Oregon's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.