Ski area may expand

A new chairlift serving about seven ski and snowboard trails on the north and west sides of Mount Spokane is envisioned in a near-term development proposal for Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park.

It likely will be several years, however, before snow-sports enthusiasts see major changes at the state-owned park.

State Parks and Recreation Commission officials must approve the pitch, which faces opposition from environmental advocates who contend some of the upgrades aren’t needed or will harm forest habitat on the mountain’s roughly 822-acre backside.

Representatives of nonprofit ski park-operator Mt. Spokane 2000 argue expansion will boost business and keep the ski area viable as it faces steep competition from private regional resorts.

“Our competitors keep adding more runs and more chairlifts,” said John Morrow, a developer and treasurer of the organization’s board of directors. The 15-member Mt. Spokane 2000 board is headed by Jim Meyer, husband of Betsy Cowles, chairman of Cowles Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review. Her mother, Allison Cowles, also serves on the board.

The draft proposal also calls for replacing one of the park’s aging lodges with a new, roughly 25,000-square-foot building and renovating the other lodge, adding snowmaking machines and lighting more ski runs. It suggests revamping existing chairlifts, developing new trails in existing portions of the park, and adding parking and sewer capacity.

Part of a new master plan for the state park, the ski-park proposal comes after nearly two years of planning and public comment on options for expansion.

Contractors soon will begin studying the potential ecological, cultural and aesthetic effects of proposed changes. State law requires the department to prepare an environmental impact statement because it found the proposal “is likely to have a significant adverse impact.”

Making the new backside runs, with a combined area of about 112 acres, would require “extensive tree thinning and glading” to provide off-trail skiing and riding, and alleviate wildfire danger, according to the proposal.

The park has five chairlifts serving 45 runs on about 1,200 acres, said park general manager Brad McQuarrie.

Mt. Spokane 2000 claims snow builds up earlier and deeper and lasts longer on the backside, potentially allowing critical extra days of operation. The park also lacks terrain for beginner and intermediate skiers, which the backside offers, McQuarrie said.

Safety also is an issue, Morrow said. While the “area is widely used throughout the season,” he said, it’s not routinely patrolled.

The Spokane Mountaineers and The Nature Conservancy are among groups that oppose expansion. Jeff Lambert, Mountaineers conservation chairman, argued that with global warming, the number of ski lifts doesn’t matter. The group would support improving the lodges and existing ski area, he said.

“There’s a real concern that there may be no benefit at all from doing the expansion,” Lambert said. “This is the wrong place and the wrong time to destroy what’s otherwise a forest that has great benefit to the community.”

While the type of forest on the backside is not “terribly uncommon,” the size of the uninterrupted forest area is “really unusual,” said Rex Crawford, a natural heritage ecologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife considers the parkland “core wildlife area,” said Howard Ferguson, district wildlife biologist.

But Morrow contended the backside forest isn’t pristine.

“Most of that mountain has either been burned or logged in historical times,” he said, noting that early skiers established runs on that side.

Existing lodges are “functionally obsolescent” and need to be replaced or renovated, Morrow said. The state House of Representatives’ budget proposal, meanwhile, included $300,000 to study potential base facility upgrades.

Mt. Spokane 2000 plans to use the information to ask the state to fund lodge improvements, McQuarrie said.

Other development would be funded through borrowing, operating revenues and donations, Morrow said.

Revenues reached a record $3 million last year, and are expected to be larger this year, McQuarrie said. The organization has managed the park since 1997.