Resort awaits skiing permit approval
LOLO, Mont. – Developers hoping to establish a world-class resort in this area south of Missoula want to take the incremental step of offering guided skiing in the federal backcountry, and have requested U.S. Forest Service approval.
The overarching plan for Bitterroot Resort involves private Maclay Ranch and nearby Forest Service land. Developer Tom Maclay has said he envisions a four-seasons resort with alpine and Nordic skiing, golf, lodging, private homes and stores.
Bitterroot Resort recently applied for permits to establish limited ski operations, on federal land, within the next few years. Skiing has been offered on the ranch since 2005.
The resort wants permits to run Nordic ski services on the Lolo National Forest, and both Nordic and alpine operations on the neighboring Bitterroot National Forest. The permit proposes “gladed” alpine skiing, meaning that skiers would pass through areas where trees had been thinned. The resort has proposed thinning trees on 212 acres of federal land.
Skiers would be transported by snow coach, as they are now for skiing on the ranch.
Bitterroot Resort has twice sought federal special-use permits, with one proposal denied and the other sidelined when a court challenge stopped work to update the Bitterroot forest’s management plan. The latest proposal “works within the confines of the current forest plans,” Bitterroot Resort executive Jim Gill said. “We’ve tried to keep it pretty straightforward.”
Bob Clark of the Sierra Club said the conservation group will examine the proposal.
“We’ve anticipated that would be coming sometime soon,” Clark said.
Forest Service Ranger Dan Ritter said the proposal for thinning is similar to tree removal the agency undertakes to reduce forest-fire fuels.
“They would be able to groom (snow) in between the trees,” Ritter said.
The proposal also calls for connecting nearly 19 miles of existing logging roads, above the Maclay property, to about that many miles of new trail for use by Nordic skiers in the winter and bicyclists in the warmer months.
The Forest Service must examine whether the proposal meets requirements of the law, and the requirements of plans for management of lands and natural resources. The agency also must determine whether Bitterroot Resort has the financial and technical means to complete the project.
If those hurdles are cleared, then the Forest Service will begin an environmental analysis, which would include opportunities for public comment.
“The fastest that we’ve ever been able to complete an EIS (environmental impact statement) is 18 months and that wasn’t a ski area proposal,” Ritter said. “I’d expect it to take longer than that.”