A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Mount Ashland ski area's proposed expansion, but environmental groups that sued to halt more development on the mountain say they may appeal his decision.
U.S. District Court Judge Owen Panner issued a summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Forest Service and the Mount Ashland Association, the nonprofit corporation that manages the ski area. He rejected the arguments of three environmental groups that challenged the Forest Service's decision to approve 16 new ski and snowboard trails, two new chairlifts and 200 additional parking spaces on the mountain.
"We're elated," said Bill Little, president of the board of directors of the Mount Ashland Association.
"We're considering our options," said Tom Dimitre, chairman of the Rogue Group Sierra Club, one of the groups that sued the U.S. Forest Service along with Ashland-based Headwaters and Portland-based Oregon Natural Resources Council.
The issue could be complicated by a federal judge's ruling Wednesday that threw out a Bush administration plan for increasing logging and road building on certain federal forestlands. U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Laporte restored the Clinton administration's roadless rule, which prevents logging and road building within large blocks of undeveloped forestland.
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"The Mount Ashland ski area expansion threatens logging and road building in the McDonald Peak roadless area, which the people of Southern Oregon love for backpacking, hiking and other recreation," Dimitre said in a prepared statement. "President Clinton's Roadless Rule was recently reinstated by a federal court in California. Regardless of how Judge Panner eventually rules in our case, we sincerely hope the city of Ashland and the Forest Service comply with the Roadless Rule and protect this wonderful place for future generations."
If the environmental groups appeal Panner's decision, they would have to take their case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. People familiar with the court's scheduling have said it could take two years for the court to hear the case.
The full text of the judge's opinion had not been released as of late Thursday. Details of the opinion could include restrictions on how or when the ski area may begin working on a project that was first introduced in 1998.
The opinion could be released within days or it could be a month, said Kim Clark, the ski area's general manager.
"We don't have a clue," Clark said.
Steve Johnson of the Forest Service's Ashland Ranger District said no work of any kind was likely to happen until Forest Service attorneys review Panner's opinion.
Managers want to expand the ski area, one of the smallest in Oregon, to provide more gentle terrain for beginning and intermediate-level skiers and snowboarders. Environmental groups went to court to stop the project, alleging the plan approved by the Forest Service could cause erosion that would threaten water quality for the city of Ashland.
The ski area lies near the top of the city's 14,000-acre municipal watershed.
Environmental activists have said they would support expansion within the ski area's existing footprint, but they oppose cutting trees on 71 acres within the McDonald Peak roadless area.
Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492 or e-mail:bkettler@mailtribune.com
