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Sierra Club sues over rare plants It wants protection for the alpine plants, which grow where Mount Ashland facilities might expand By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND - The Rogue Group Sierra Club has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an effort to place two rare plants high atop Mount Ashland on the endangered species list. The environmental group wants the agency to protect the low-growing alpine plants, the Mount Ashland lupine and Henderson's horkelia, under the Endangered Species Act by listing them as threatened or endangered. Both plants grow in an area being considered for expansion of the publicly owned Mount Ashland ski area, which is part of the Rogue River National Forest. Some environmental activists believe expanding the area threatens the plants, but expansion proponents disagree. The group, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center in Eugene, filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland. The action comes a little more than two years after the group had petitioned the agency to list the plants. Under the act, the agency has one year to make a decision on listing the plants. If the plants are added to the endangered species list, the Forest Service would have to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service on projects that might threaten the plants' habitat. Earlier this year, the group gave the Fish and Wildlife Service a 60-day notice that it would sue if a determination on listing the plants wasn't made. "The (agency) left us no choice but to go to court to try and protect these rare plants," group chairman Tom Dimitre said in a prepared statement. "We have given them over two years to follow the law and make a determination and they have failed to do so." Listing the plants isn't expected to affect the existing ski area, he said. Joan Jewett in the agency's regional office in Portland said the agency has a backlog of listing requests. She declined to comment on the Rogue Group lawsuit, noting she had not yet seen it. Tom Rose, the group's chair of the Mount Ashland Committee, said expanding the ski area could threaten the plants. "We are very concerned that the proposed expansion of the Mount Ashland ski area will lead to a large loss of habitat for both plants," Rose said. "Habitat has already been greatly reduced by road construction, commercial facilities, illegal trespass grazing, erosion from the road and off-road vehicle and bicycle traffic," he added. Jeff Hanson, Ski Ashland's area manager, disagreed that recreational activity harms the plants. The plants do well in disturbed areas, such as the soils at the upper terminal for the Ariel chairlift, he noted. "If there is something in the plan that would hurt the plants' long-term habitat, we wouldn't pursue it," he said. "We feel the plan could easily be altered to provide the opportunity for improving ski area in the long run and not harm the plants." The ski area has been co-existing with the plants for nearly four decades, he said. "I'm not a botanist, but they seem to be thriving," he said. "We feel that recreation and care of the plants can co-exist." The Mount Ashland lupine has been found only on rocky windswept terrain on the mountain's summit, in a 40-acre area that extends from a National Weather Service radar site to the ski trails known as "the Bowl." Henderson's horkelia grows in the same area. Several smaller populations of the plant have been found around Dutchman Peak, McDonald Peak and in the glacial moraine at the bottom of the ski runs in the Bowl. The plants grow only one to two inches above the ground during the mountain's brief summer. The Rogue River National Forest staff has been working on a revised environmental impact statement for the proposed 70-acre expansion of the ski area. That work is expected to continue into early next year, an official said Friday. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.