January 25, 2005

Concerned by Mt. Ashland

We work hard to teach our children how to sustain our environment through careful stewardship of our natural resources. With slogans like "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle," we send a message of intent.

My family has enjoyed winter activities on Mt. Ashland for years. My oldest son was on the Ashland High ski team. However, I am at a loss to explain to my kids why we are cutting a stand of 37 ancient Engelmann spruce for the expansion of the Mount Ashland ski resort. If I were building an addition on my own property, I would carefully avoid cutting old growth trees and I would never build on wetlands. Why aren't we doing the same on our publicly owned lands?

While I acknowledge the economic benefits that Mt. Ashland brings to this Valley, I am troubled by the annual Ski Area Environmental Scorecard that rates Oregon's Mount Bachelor and Timberline Ski resorts with A's, while our own Mount Ashland received a D (www.skiareacitizens.com).

At a time when 72 percent of ski resorts nationwide have endorsed the environmental best practices of the National Ski Areas Association's Sustainable Slopes, Mt. Ashland has chosen to stay out in the cold.

It's true that the U.S. Forest Service has given permission for the Mount Ashland expansion to proceed as planned, but we have a choice in how we do this. We could choose to act responsibly and change the way we're doing business there.

Ways to do this are clearly outlined by multiple organizations, many accessible on-line, and are also readily observable by visiting our neighboring ski resorts to the north.

To those whose approach is to quickly expand and think about sustainability later, once a resort has acted irresponsibly in an expansion, they are prohibited from receiving a passing grade for at least five years after the expansion. Indeed, part of the reason for our current low score is the proposed logging of old growth, and expansion into road-less and wetland areas.

Our children are watching how we will proceed.

Will we practice what we preach, or does environmental responsibility end as we set our recycling containers out on the curb? We can choose to act responsibly. It's our mountain, as well as our children's and their children's children. Who speaks for the ancient spruce?

As I think about what goals our city council will set for the coming year, I would ask them to consider adding a committee that could work with the management at Mt. Ashland to explore ways to make Mt. Ashland more energy-efficient. (Incentives for carpooling or taking a shuttle, alternative energy, composting privies, etc. are only a few suggestions.)

I ask that now that you have gotten the go-ahead from the Forest Service, to consider doing the expansion in a more socially responsible way.

Heidi Parker
Ashland