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Ski area revises growth plan Drew Fleming for the Mail Tribune Skiers and snowboarders make their way down the slopes of Mount Ashland earlier this week. On Thursday, Ski Ashland officials released a revised plan to double the 238-acre area, eliminating proposed runs that would harm rare plants on the mountain. By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND - The Mount Ashland Association took another run in its long campaign to expand community-owned Ski Ashland by submitting a revised expansion plan to the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday. The revision drops some controversial proposals that were included in the group's 1998 plan but continues to push for the western expansion that has drawn opposition from environmental activists. It also calls for remodeling the main lodge, beefing up skier service facilities, constructing two chair lifts, building three guest buildings and a yurt and adding 220 spaces for parking. "We have made some changes in the plan, eliminating the run where the rare plants - Henderson's horkelia and the Mount Ashland lupine - are located," said Jeff Hanson, Ski Ashland's general manager. "We felt it was important to alter the plan to eliminate activities in that area." The new proposal also calls for moving the base of the proposed Chair 6 lift 185 feet east to avoid several small riparian areas and an Englemann spruce grove, he said. "The most important thing for us is to develop a long-term plan that will really work for the ski area, both for design and in an environmentally sound fashion," he said. The Chair 6 lift would provide access to new terrain for novice and intermediate skiers and snowboarders, he said. "The plan is to have longer, easier ski runs but a lot fewer runs per acre" immediately west of the current ski area, he said. "Mount Ashland is known as a challenging mountain - a lot of us like that terrain - but most people would rather have something a little bit easier." The proposal calls for increasing beginner ski areas by about two acres, novice areas by nearly 37 acres and low-intermediate and intermediate by about two dozen acres. Expert ski and snowboard areas would be expanded by nearly 12 acres. Although the proposed expansion would double the size of the 238-acre ski area, only about 72 acres of the expanded area would be directly affected by construction, Hanson said. In comparison, Mount Bachelor has a ski area of some 3,600 acres, he noted. "It would still be a very small ski area but more appropriate in size for people of Southern Oregon to enjoy," he said. Ski Ashland revised its plan after the Forest Service's draft environmental impact statement released in 2000 drew some 1,500 comments. Based on those comments, the Forest Service decided to do a revised draft EIS. Ski Ashland's revised proposal will be one of four alternatives the Forest Service will include in its new draft EIS, said Linda Duffy, ranger in charge of the Ashland Ranger District. Mount Ashland is part of the district. The target date for releasing that document for public review is July. The Forest Service will decide whether to approve Ski Ashland's expansion after a public comment period. "Now that we have a proposal, we can get busy with the new draft EIS," Duffy said, adding that agency employees will be studying Ski Ashland's proposal in the coming weeks. So will the Rogue Group Sierra Club and others who have objected to the earlier expansion plan because of environmental concerns. "We'll be doing a complete analysis," said Tom Dimitre, chairman of the Rogue Group as well as the Sierra Club's state chapter. "But we're very disappointed they appear to continue to push into the middle branch area," he said of the Ashland Creek drainage. "The public has been very outspoken about not wanting to expand there. "It looks like they still want to go into the middle branch and into the McDonald Peak area," he added. "We're talking about a roadless area and making 80 acres of clearcuts." Another concern voiced by opponents is that the expansion will degrade the watershed relied on by the city of Ashland. "They are not listening to the public," he said. Gene Landsmann, marketing director for Ski Ashland, disagreed. The ski area, built in the early 1960s, needs to be expanded to meet the demands of the public, he said. The expansion proposal will improve the ski area without harming the environment, he said. "This ski area will never be as ideal as Mount Shasta or Mount Bachelor," he said. "It only has half the terrain distribution. "There is only one technical way to make this facility better," he said of pushing westward on the mountain. "There have been ski area designers from all over the country looking at this thing and (they agree) there is only one design." Association chairman Blair Moody agreed. "This will allow so much more area for skiers and snowboarders," he said. "As people get older, this will provide the terrain they really need. I'm very optimistic people will support this." One of the principal goals of the proposal is to improve terrain balance and diversity, Hanson reiterated. In addition to creating more novice and intermediate runs, the proposal would provide novice and intermediate skiers access to those slopes, he said. "Right now, to get to our very best intermediate area, you have to ski an advanced intermediate or expert run to get there," he said. The proposal also sets a goal of maintaining or improving the watershed, Hanson said, adding that a variety of projects are planned, including increasing vegetation along streams. The roughly $3.5 million expansion, which would take place over 10 to 15 years, would be funded through Ski Ashland revenues and fund-raising projects, Hanson said. "It would be done in phases over time as we could afford it," he said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Plans date back to the 1980s The complex history behind the current plans to expand the ski area atop Mount Ashland began in the 1980s, when the U.S. Forest Service started developing a master plan for the mountain. Completed in 1991, the plan approved the possibility of expansion. It also asked for site-specific projects, a process which continues today. The community purchased the ski area from its private owner in 1992, turning it into a non-profit organization. Ski Ashland's first proposed expansion plan, introduced in 1998, hit a few snags. Many environmental activists were concerned about the impact on the Ashland watershed, rare plant life on the slopes and expansion into a roadless area. Last December, the Rogue Group Sierra Club sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an effort to place two rare plants high atop Mount Ashland on the federal Endangered Species list. Ski Ashland's revised expansion plan avoids the main habitat of the plants. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.