Document text
Activists: no Pelican ski area But Forest Service backs a draft resort plan By PAUL FATTIG Two Rogue Valley-based environmental groups have joined 11 others in asking the Forest Service to stop the construction of a ski resort on Pelican Butte in Klamath County. The letter was fired off to Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck on Friday, the day Winema National Forest Supervisor Bob Castaneda released a draft environmental impact statement announcing the preferred alternative for development of Pelican Butte. "It's a day we've long awaited," Castaneda said after announcing the plan. "I am very comfortable with the release of this report." However, Dave Willis of Greensprings, chairman of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council, isn't. The council and Ashland-based Headwaters have joined those opposing the action, arguing it flies in the face of environmental protection provided in President Clinton's Northwest Forest Plan, adopted in 1994. "It makes me angry that the Forest Service in 1998 thinks the forests and endangered species should be for sale to the highest bidder," Willis said. "They seem to think the forests are sandboxes for big-money boosters. It's so banal." If the proposed $34 million project is built as planned on the 8,036-foot butte 28 miles north of Klamath Falls, it would become Oregon's first new downhill ski resort in 30 years. Basically, the draft plan calls for clearcutting up to 40 ski runs on 426 acres in a forest reserve protected under the forest plan. The proposed resort would be be phased in over a 10-year period. At its maximum development, Pelican Butte would be about half the size of the Mount Bachelor Ski Resort near Bend. However, the Fish & Wildlife Service still has some control over whether the ski area is built, largely by ruling whether the development will put spotted owls or other endangered species in jeopardy. Conservationists say the resort would harm bald eagle winter roosting areas as well as the habitat for spotted owls and other wildlife. But the Regional Ecosystem Office, the federal agency charged with interpreting the president's forest plan, issued a memorandum Oct. 23 saying such developments could be located in old growth reserves under certain conditions. In Friday's letter to Dombeck, the environmental groups said the forest plan would be in jeopardy if the resort were built. The resort would also destroy efforts by the Soda Mountain council and others to protect what the Northwest Forest Plan calls the "key biological connectivity" between the Siskiyou and the Cascade mountain ranges, Willis said. The council has been working with the Bureau of Land Management to try to create a wilderness in the Soda Mountain area near the Siskiyou Summit. "It's sad to think that we might be connecting it on the Siskiyou side while on the Cascades the Forest Service has been unraveling what we're trying to do," Willis said. "We're finally realizing that, economically speaking, green is gold," he added. "Our ancient forests and our wildernesses are the real draw for quality of life around here. We don't need a Jeld-Wen amusement park." The project's backer is Klamath Falls-based Jeld-Wen Inc., a wood manufacturer and developer of 20 resorts. Jeld-Wen's representatives said they have worked hard to develop an ecologically sensitive project. Their plan calls for construction of an aerial gondola -- rather than a road -- that would bring skiers part-way up the mountain to the main ski area. The public comment period on the Forest Service draft plan begins Nov. 20 and concludes Feb. 3, 1999. Copies of the plan are available at the Klamath County Library and Klamath-area ranger stations. Comments should be sent to: Attn. Pelican Butte DEIS, Forest Supervisor Robert Castaneda, Winema National Forest, 2819 Dahlia, Klamath Falls, OR 97601. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA