Sample Letters
Below are a few sample letters regarding the proposed ski area
expansion. Please see the Write Letters
page for a list of addresses for sending letters and comments and
How to Make Your Comments Count for
crafting a good letter.
Sample Letter for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
This sample letter to the Forest Service contains substantive
comments on a few of the faults and errors in the DEIS.
| To: John Schulyer, Acting District Ranger, Ashland
RD I am opposed to the alternatives for expansion to
Mount Ashland Ski Area as outlined in the DEIS. The DEIS does not adequately
address the following concerns:
First and foremost, the DEIS has no provision for addressing current
environmental impacts of the ski area without connecting restoration to new
construction. Existing environmental damage must be monitored and
remediated before any further development is
authorized. The environmental impact statement should include an
alternative limited to restoration and mitigation of existing
environmental impacts.
The erosion and sedimentation estimates are not adequate for a
site-scale analysis such as the DEIS attempts to address.
Erosion and sedimentation data from Idaho is extrapolated to
the Ashland Watershed without reliable on-site data for
correlation. No reliable on-site data has been obtained.
The sediment traps installed in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s
failed more often than they worked, providing only two years of potentially reliable data
spanning a very short duration in time. Air photo analysis at the 1:12000 scale
cannot provide a reasonably accurate determination of erosion rates
either;
this data is not backed up by any reliable on-ground assessment or
ground-truthing (failed sediment traps are not reliable data).
Finally, the WEPP soil erosion model used in the analysis has an accuracy of +/-50%
at best (according to WEPP’s own documentation) and
does not factor in variablity in soil type or depth across the
proposed areas of development and does not model the types of
variations in slope encountered on-site (WEPP allows for only
one change in slope within the modeled area). The results of
such a
relatively simplistic model with this low accuracy cannot be
considered scientifically reliable. The methods of erosion and
sedimentation estimation fail to meet basic scientific standards; no
individual component of the estimation methods stands up to
scrutiny on its own and combining uncertain data with more
uncertain data does not yield a result that is at all accurate.
The DEIS does not address visual impacts of night lighting.
Because night lights would be placed on a more westerly facing
slope, not only will the intensity of ambient lighting
increase but lights will be directly visible from places in
the surrounding environment where lighting cannot be presently
seen.The DEIS does not analyze the effects of additional night
lights, increased night skiing, and additional nightime snow
grooming activities on wildlife.
Finally, I believe the intrinsic value of the wildlife corridor of
the Middle Branch and the McDonald Peak Roadless Area far outweigh
the recreational value and economic benefit of an expanded ski area. These areas should be protected, in the interest of
all that inhabit our bioregion. The Forest Service should
begin the process of creating a Research Natural Area that
encompasses the unique features of Mount Ashland.
|
Sample Letter for Ashland City Council - wildlands & water
concerns
This sample letter urges city council to take a leadership
role in the expansion debate and protect the watershed instead of
allowing development which may impact the city's water and other
resources.
Dear Councilor:
I urge you to take a leadership position in protecting our
watershed against unnecessary development and irreparable
harm.
The priority for the Mt. Ashland ski area should be to
properly monitor and address existing environmental impacts
before considering any additional development.
The Middle Branch of the East Fork and the McDonald Peak
Roadless Area are intrinsically valuable to the entire
bioregion. These areas comprise an important part of the
ecosystem that link together the Cascade Mountains to the east
and the rest of the Siskiyou Range to the west. We need this
wildland corridor to remain intact more than we need
additional ski runs.
There is no debate that expanding the ski area will cause more
erosion and sedimentation--this is clear even in the DEIS.
We are told to trust the expansion design, to trust that all
of the increased sediment will be captured and removed from
site. We are placing all of our faith in that one aspect
of the plan. This provides too little security for our
precious water source. And the track record isn't good
so far: the Forest Service's sediment traps in the late 1970's
failed or overflowed 3 out of 5 years they were in place.
The debate over restoration and its eventual cost is
laughable. How can we restore old growth forest once it has
been clearcut? There is no true restoration for many
generations, if ever. Please read "Adverse Environmental
Effects Which Cannot Be Avoided" in Chapter IV of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for the Forest Service's
analysis of the long-term effects ski area expansion will have
upon the landscape. The effects of development will last
far longer than the life of the ski area.
If you endorse any alternatives, please consider Alternative 5
with the following changes:
1. Remove the Moraine Lodge
2. Remove the costly LC-13 lift.
3. Remove extended night lifts.
4. Address parking through the use of a shuttle, not extensive
parking lot expansion.
Please protect the future of our Municipal
Watershed and the delicate ecosystem it encompasses. Article
IX, Section 7 of the City Charter charges City Council "to
suppress, restrain, and prohibit any obstruction, pollution,
diversion, waste, extravagant use of, waters of Mill or Ashland
Creek, either within or above the City limits." Unless you are
absolutely certain that no pollution of the watershed will occur,
you are required to act to stop such an act from occuring.
Read the DEIS closely, ask yourself if you trust one aspect of a
large plan to keep our watershed pure.
|
Sample Letter for Ashland City Council - fiscal concerns
This letter to city council addresses financial concerns over
the ability of the ski area to take on the additional costs of an
expanded ski area and maintain profitablity.
Dear Councilor:
Please take your elected position seriously and represent both the
fiscal and environmental interests of our city as they relate to the
proposed Mount Ashland Ski Area expansion.
The Board members of the Mount Ashland Association are riding on
inflated hopes. “Build it and they will come” is a poor marketing
strategy. Expensive over-scaled development will not benefit our
local economy.
Mount Ashland simply doesn’t have the snow-pack
or terrain to
compete strongly with regional ski areas. What we have is a
great local mountain and that is just what it is: a mountain
frequented almost exclusively by locals. Proponents of
expansion believe that skiers from San Francisco will skip
Tahoe and come to Ashland, that Portlanders will pass by Hood
and Bachelor to ski on heavy Siskiyou snow. Honestly,
how many San Franciscans or Portlanders have you met on Mount
A?
The ski area has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy three times. It
sounds like fiscal doubletalk when the MAA claims robust
financial health but also makes dire predictions of business failure
if their preferred expansion plan is not immediately adopted.
The worst thing that could happen is an expansion of the ski
area, the clearcutting of our backyard old-growth forest, the
further penetration of roads, utility lines, and buildings
into our watershed followed by the closure of the ski area
because they couldn't handle the increased costs of operation.
All it would take are a few bad snow years--and we all know
this happens.
The current expansion alternatives are too costly and too
environmentally risky. I urge you and all of City Council to support
Alternative 1 (No Action) and send them back to the drawing board
to create a realistic, scaled-down plan this time, one that
helps meet the purpose and need of improving the ski area
without bankrupting it or compromising our Siskiyou wildlands
and municipal watershed.
I hope you deliberate carefully on this
issue; once the trees have fallen and the roads bulldozed in
there is no going back. Not in your lifetime and not in
your children's. This is a decision that will affect us
for many, many decades to come. |
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