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46 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 30, 2005 Mount Ashland Association joins fray Group lets court know it sides with the U.S. Forest Service against a lawsuit challenging ski area expansion By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune ASHLAND — The Mount Ashland Association has filed a court motion siding with the U.S. Forest Service against an environmentalist lawsuit that challenges the ski area’s expansion. Environmental groups filed the U.S. District Court lawsuit Jan. 10, citing potential environmental damage to the Ashland Creek watershed, which the city of Ashland uses as its principal water source. The association wants to expand by 71 acres within the permit area of the community-owned Ski Ashland facility. "It’s important that Mount Ashland Association is part of this process so that we can do our part in getting past this issue and move forward," said association general manager Jeff Hanson in a prepared statement. "It’s unfortunate, after all the good work the Forest Service has done, that certain individuals and groups feel the need to take this step to try and stop it," he added. Advertisement "This expansion plan is inside the existing permit area," Rick Saul, Ski Ashland’s director of marketing said Tuesday afternoon. "There is a common misconception that we’re trying to expand our permit area. We are not." But those taking the agency to court say the expansion into the middle branch of the east fork of Ashland Creek poses an environmental threat. They took the legal action after regional forester Linda Goodman late last December rejected the 28 administrative appeals to the Mount Ashland ski area expansion’s final environmental impact statement. "We expected it — we’re not surprised," said Tom Dimitre, chairman of the executive committee of the Rogue Group Sierra Club and former state club president. However, the plaintiffs oppose the association’s intervening on the merits of the case, he said. "It’s our opinion they can intervene on the remedy but not the merits," he said, noting that issue will be resolved in court. In addition to the Sierra Club, plaintiffs in the case include the Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Ashland-based Headwaters environmental group. "What we’re asking is for the judge to stop the expansion into the middle branch area and the parking lot area," Dimitre said. "Pretty much everything else is fine with us. We’re not opposing everything." The Forest Service declined to comment on the lawsuit. "But we respect the right of this group to intervene," said Patty Burel, spokeswoman for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "They have established their interest in this project." Meanwhile, a hearing in the case before U.S. District Court Magistrate John Coons in Medford has not been set. The agency’s decision allows expansion by 71 acres of ski and snowboard runs largely in the middle branch of the east fork of Ashland Creek, allowing two new chairlifts and two new surface lifts. It calls for cutting nearly 2 million board feet of timber on 68 acres, widening seven ski runs and building a quarter-acre tubing run in the southern section of a special-use permit area atop the mountain. Reach reporter Paul Fattigat 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Fasa Advertisement s