Webmaster
09-26-2007, 07:07 AM
By Associated Press
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A federal appeals court has blocked the expansion of the Mount Ashland ski area in Southern Oregon.
The ruling is another setback for efforts spanning 20 years by the Mount Ashland Ski Association. It wants to assure its future by attracting more intermediate and beginning skiers to the area near Ashland.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found today that the U.S. Forest Service failed to properly evaluate how the expansion would affect the Pacific fisher, a predator that looks like a large mink and lives in old-growth forests.
The appeals court also found the Forest Service failed to appropriately designate buffer zones around fish-bearing streams. The ski-area expansion would have been on lands managed by the Forest Service.
from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2003899703_webashlandski24.html
GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A federal appeals court has blocked the expansion of the Mount Ashland ski area in Southern Oregon.
The ruling is another setback for efforts spanning 20 years by the Mount Ashland Ski Association. It wants to assure its future by attracting more intermediate and beginning skiers to the area near Ashland.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found today that the U.S. Forest Service failed to properly evaluate how the expansion would affect the Pacific fisher, a predator that looks like a large mink and lives in old-growth forests.
The appeals court also found the Forest Service failed to appropriately designate buffer zones around fish-bearing streams. The ski-area expansion would have been on lands managed by the Forest Service.
from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2003899703_webashlandski24.html