'No expansion' group rallies on Plaza
SEE PHOTO GALLERY FOR MORE SCENES FROM THE EVENT.The Mt. Ashland Ski Area expansion wasn't on the Ashland City Council agenda Tuesday night, but it was on people's minds as about 50 Ashland residents marched from the Plaza to the Ashland Civic Center.
"The city council is starting to take some steps in the right direction," said Ashland resident Shelley Elkovich. "We want to urge them to go further and to be stronger."
As part of recently-proclaimed Watershed Week, residents gathered to voice concern over an issue that could be coming to a head.
After temporarily revoking a special-use permit from the Mt. Ashland Association earlier this month, the City of Ashland has halted the proposed ski area expansion until the non-profit MAA can show the city a detailed business plan.
"We will support our city council to navigate a lawsuit if that's what it takes to protect our watershed," Elkovich said.
Toting "We Love Our Watershed" paper flags and waving a silver sheet to represent flowing water, people marched and sang their way to the Ashland City Council chambers. Women sang on the Plaza and a few cars stopped to see the crowd in the center of town.
As part of the "Watershed Week," Tim Ream — project manager of an environmental group called Oxygen Collective — said people are preparing to do whatever is necessary to protect the Ashland Watershed from a 71-acre ski area expansion that will cut into an area of the headwaters of Ashland Creek. The Middle Branch of the East Fork of Ashland Creek heads into Reeder Reservoir — the City of Ashland's water supply. Old growth Engelmann Spruce trees and habitat for the rare weasel-like Pacific fisher could also be affected, environmentalists say.
In September, a federal district court judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Forest Service in a lawsuit filed against Regional Forester Linda Goodman by three environmental groups. The judge upheld a 2004 record of decision approving the ski area expansion. Plaintiffs in the case plan to appeal, but for now, environmentalists are taking an approach outside the legal system.
Ream said more established groups like the Sierra Club may have more experience and expertise to take on environmental issues from a legal standpoint, but he and other organizers of Watershed Week are trying to allow residents to voice their opinion.
"What we're trying to do here is give regular people a chance to have their voices heard," Ream said.
While most people at the rally Tuesday said they hoped for a civil resolution that will prevent logging in the proposed expansion area, Ream said civil disobedience and direct action are last resorts.
"We know there are people who are willing to step up and are willing to go to jail if they try to log that mountain," Ream said.
Staff writer Alan Panebaker can be reached at 482-3456 x 227 or apanebaker@dailytidings.com.
