Columbia Bancorp Applies for Richland, Washington Branch.

THE DALLES, Ore. -- Columbia Bancorp (NASDAQ:CBBO) announced that its subsidiary, Columbia River Bank, has submitted an application to the FDIC to establish a new full-service branch in Richland, Washington, which will replace the existing temporary branch in Kennewick, Washington.

"As we have done in the other regions, we are establishing a regional base to provide a scalable infrastructure for future growth. In addition to the retail branch, this location will be home to one of our business banking teams that will serve the needs of businesses and farmers in the Tri-Cities area," said Roger Christensen, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The Tri-Cities are located in South-Central Washington and in the confluences of the Columbia, Yakima and Snake Rivers. The Tri-Cities includes Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, in addition to the communities of West Richland, Prosser, Benton City and Connell. The Tri-City area is considered to be the gateway to the agriculturally rich Columbia Basin. The proximity of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the United States, has unlocked a wealth of agricultural possibilities for the Tri-Cities area. The Tri-Cities is connected to the major highway system through Interstate highways I-82 and I-182 and link I-90 to the north with I-84 to the south. "Like our other markets, the Tri-Cities offers excellent growth opportunities for us, and will be an area where we will focus our expansion efforts in the coming years," said Craig Ortega, Chief Operating Officer.

ABOUT COLUMBIA BANCORP

Columbia Bancorp (www.columbiabancorp.com) is the financial holding company for Columbia River Bank, which operates 20 branches located in The Dalles (2), Hood River, Bend (4), Madras, Redmond (2), Pendleton, Hermiston, McMinnville (3), Canby and Newberg, Oregon, and in Goldendale, White Salmon and Kennewick, Washington. To supplement its community banking services, Columbia River Bank also provides mortgage-lending services through its Columbia River Bank Mortgage Group and brokerage services through its affiliation with CRB Financial Services.

Forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and the business of Columbia are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in such statements. These include, without limitation, the impact of competition and interest rates on revenues and margins, and other risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to the year 2004, as may be detailed from time to time in Columbia's public announcements and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "continue", "plans", "intends", or other similar terminology. Columbia does not intend to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release, other than in its periodic filings with the SEC, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.