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Appeal filed over power cable atop Mount Ashland By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings A local environmental activist has filed an administrative appeal of an Ashland Ranger District decision to allow the replacement and upgrade of an underground power cable running to the summit of Mount Ashland. Meanwhile, the Rogue Group Sierra Club has decided to accept the decision, according to member Tom Rose. Erik Navickas and the Rogue Group had successfully appealed a previous decision to allow the project. The ranger district then issued a new decision that included changes and additions to its environmental review, but left the cable replacement route unchanged. Navickas' appeal will be reviewed by an appeals officer in the Portland-based U.S. Forest Service's regional office. Navickas said the district relied on faulty, outdated information when it approved the Pacific Power cable project. "The big issue with my appeal is over their soil study," he said. "The Forest Service has been relying on the same soil study for the last 20 years to allow anything to take place on Mount Ashland and to claim there's no impact to the watershed." Even the district ranger at the time of the study said a catchment basin built to measure sediment had overflowed and could have measured far greater levels of sedimentation, Navickas said. Navickas said the replacement and upgrade of the power cable would facilitate a proposed Mt. Ashland Ski Area expansion when the existing developed area already suffers from erosion. "I'm asking that the cable project be deferred until the Forest Service maps the entire development and looks for areas that need to be mitigated," he said. Steve Johnson, recreation specialist with the ranger district, said although there were some recognized problems with the soil study, information from the study is still useful. "There were problems with that sediment basin, but our Forest Service hydrologist at the time - who still is our hydrologist - felt there's still sufficient data to come to conclusions," Johnson said. Conditions at the Mt. Ashland Ski Area have improved since the time of the study, he said. "One, there's more vegetation on the slopes, and two, there's been a real renewed effort in the last 10 or 12 years of paying concerted attention at maintaining areas that are susceptible to erosion�. The ski area is in very good shape and is contributing very little sediment to waterways that lead into Ashland Creek," Johnson said. Replacement of the cable is not related to the proposed expansion of the ski area. The cable serves only limited ski area facilities at the top of the mountain, he said. It primarily serves radio and television, Federal Aviation Administration and National Weather Service facilities. The existing cable already has the capacity to serve an expanded ski area, according to Pacific Power officials. The Rogue Group initially had many concerns about the cable replacement project, but those concerns were reduced after extensive research and discussion with Forest Service and Pacific Power staff, as well as representatives of other power companies, Rose said. Among other issues, Rogue Group members were concerned, like Navickas, that the upgrade of the cable could aid the ski expansion. "We called other power companies and determined that the (replacement) power cable size was pretty much the industry standard," Rose said. "That concern had been diminished." Rose said the Rogue Group never disputed that the cable needed to be replaced. In place for more than 35 years, the cable has an average lifespan of 20 years, according to Forest Service officials. The cable runs on a steep route beneath the Ariel chairlift and then up the Dream ski run. The new cable would follow gentler slopes on the Roger's Way ski run and then the Dream run, reducing erosion potential. It would be installed beneath existing roads at the top of the summit, according to Forest Service officials. Rose said Rogue Group members would like to work with the Forest Service to make sure rare Mt. Ashland lupine and Henderson's horkelia growing near the summit are not damaged by installation of the new cable. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -