Mount Ashland Ski Area - Expansion

Expansion

In 1998, the Mount Ashland Association (MAA) proposed an expansion plan downslope of the existing ski area in the middle branch of the East Fork of Ashland Creek. Local conservationists objected to the plan, citing concerns about soil erosion effects on streams and wetlands in the City of Ashland's municipal watershed as well as concerns for old-growth forest, the McDonald Peak Inventoried Roadless Area, and endangered wildlife.

In December 2004, the United States Forest Service approved the MAA proposal including a new chairlift accessing an additional 72 acres (290,000 m2) of intermediate and expert terrain, 200 more parking spaces, and a second lodge at the bottom of the glacial cirque known as The Bowl. The Forest Service received 28 notices of appeal, all of which were denied.

In January 2005, three organizations—Oregon Natural Resources Council, Headwaters and Sierra Club—and one individual (Eric Navickas) sued USFS in the U.S. District Court alleging that the decision violated the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). U.S. magistrate Owen Panner issued summary judgment denying the lawsuits in February 2007, noting, "You cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

ONRC, Headwaters and Sierra Club, but not Navickas, appealed Panner's judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which in turn stayed Panner's decision and enjoined the expansion pending review. The three-judge appellate panel, which included appointees of Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, cited a likelihood of irreparable harm to Pacific Fisher, a rare forest carnivore known to live in the Ashland Creek watershed that USFS classifies as sensitive, and which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers endangered.

In September 2007, the appellate court ruled that USFS violated the NFMA and NEPA in four ways when it approved the expansion.

First, the court noted USFS failure to substantiate its assertion that expansion would not harm Fisher, in violation of the 1990 Rogue River National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) requirement to base its analysis on study of local and total populations of sensitive wildlife known to exist at sites proposed for development.

Second, the court ruled that USFS overlooked adverse cumulative effects to Fisher resulting from development in a roadless forest corridor of significant biological importance linking the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains with the Cascade Mountains, as well as from other concurrent forest management activities planned nearby.

Third, the court rejected as unreasonable USFS claims that known landslides should be excluded from riparian reserve under the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. It noted significant consequences to the City of Ashland's watershed resulting from the erroneous agency interpretation of riparian management criteria.

Finally, the court found that 35 acres (140,000 m2) which USFS approved for development in fact merits designation as restricted watershed under the 1990 Rogue River National Forest LRMP. That designation limits soil disturbance caused by management activities. In its 2004 decision, the Forest Service stated that it is not possible to limit soil disturbance below allowed thresholds in the course of ski area development.

Linda Duffy, ranger of the Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District, announced in October 2007 that USFS would prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement in an attempt to remedy deficiencies in the prior analysis and move the ski area expansion forward.