SOLITUDE MOUNTAIN RESORT MASTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN AMENDMENT PROPOSAL

Transcription

1 SOLITUDE MOUNTAIN RESORT MASTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 6/02/14 INTRODUCTION Solitude Mountain Resort s (Solitude) current Master Development Plan (MDP) was accepted by the Wasatch-Cache National Forest (now the merged Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest; UWCNF) in Following completion of an environmental impact statement (EIS) in 2001, elements of the MDP on National Forest System lands were authorized in a 2002 Record of Decision (ROD). Over the course of the subsequent 11 years, most of the major elements of our current MDP have been completed and others have been partially completed. Of the remainder, Solitude intends to proceed with some while others are no longer under consideration. This proposed MDP amendment includes two new projects which we would like to implement as early as this year. The full MDP revision, currently being prepared, includes the projects we would like to complete in the next 10 years. We anticipate submitting our full MDP revision as soon as it is completed, as early next year. In the meantime, this amendment will allow us to provide a better and safer recreational experience for our visitors. We request that the UWCNF accept this revision and initiate NEPA review as soon as possible. PROPOSED AMENDMENT The following projects constitute our MDP amendment proposal. Initial design work has been completed for these projects, and the rationale and basic details of each project are outlined below. See the attached maps for project locations. Honeycomb Return Lift Relocation The bottom terminal of the current Honeycomb Return lift is perched above the valley floor on a small, rock bench on the Honeycomb Return trail, which continues on to the Eagle Express base area. The nature of the bottom terminal site necessitates a constricted maze area, bounded by steep slopes, with limited room for skier circulation. This creates a number of safety and maintenance problems. The small size and proximity to the return trail creates an unsafe condition of skiers standing in the trail while waiting for members of their party or waiting to get on the lift. Furthermore, skiers leaving the return trail must make a quick exit directly into the maze area. The steep sides of the maze area prevent lift users from avoiding fast moving skiers as there is nowhere to go when the maze area is crowded. In terms of maintenance, the small platform on which the maze area sits makes loading ramp maintenance, grooming and snow removal difficult. Optimal, safe use of the Honeycomb pod is not feasible under these conditions. In order to address these issues we would like to relocate the bottom terminal of the Honeycomb Return lift and pivot the alignment to the north (Figure 1). Solitude has explored all options and has been unsuccessful in securing an easement or the purchase of adjacent private property to relocate the Honeycomb Return lift. Therefore the new alignment and bottom terminal location on USFS land would require a 7.5-acre adjustment to our SUP boundary. Lift capacity would not change. Trees would need to be cleared from approximately 1.5 acres of National Forest System land for access to the bottom terminal 1

2 and lift clearance. Total ground disturbance would be approximately 2.0 acres of National Forest System land for installing the bottom terminal and lower towers, and grading a trail to the bottom terminal. In addition to solving the cited issues by providing a less constricted maze area, this alignment would allow for additional skiing opportunity in the form of a gladed ski run on private land west of the Challenger ski run. Summit Lift Replacement and Relocation The Summit lift is a 32-year-old fixed-grip double chair that serves as the only access to the terrain in Solitude Canyon and as primary access to the extensive terrain in Honeycomb Canyon. Currently skiers can only access this lift by riding the Sunrise lift from the base area then following a cat track to the bottom Summit lift terminal. This creates unnecessary congestion at the Sunrise loading area due to skiers using the lift for transport rather than terrain access. The limited access, limited speed and capacity, and the advanced age of the Summit lift (i.e., repair and reliability issues) lead us to propose replacing and relocating it. The replacement lift would be a detachable quad with a capacity of 1,800 pph. The new alignment would use the existing top terminal location and shift the bottom terminal further down the canyon bottom (Figure 2). This alignment would require clearing trees from approximately 1.2 acres of National Forest System lands for an access path and for lift clearance. Total ground disturbance would be approximately 0.6 acres for installing the bottom terminal and lower towers on National Forest System lands. The location of the new Summit lift would allow access from the base area by either Sunrise or Apex Express lifts. The Apex Express route would provide access to Solitude and Honeycomb Canyons from the base area entirely via high-speed detachable lifts. The new location of the Summit lift base terminal would also allow access from the Powderhorn lift. Furthermore, the multiple access routes would allow continued access to terrain served by Summit lift in the event of closure of Sunrise lift. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Projects in the Honeycomb Canyon area, including construction of the original Honeycomb Return lift and forest stand thinning west of the Challenger ski run, were analyzed in the 2001 master development plan EIS. This analysis indicated no significant environmental impacts associated with those projects. Less analysis was completed in the 2001 EIS in the area of Summit lift. The New Trail, analyzed in the 2001 EIS and more recently in a 2013 SIR, is in the vicinity of the new bottom terminal. Neither of these analyses identified significant environmental impacts associated with development of the New Trail. The new bottom terminal for the Summit lift would fall within a Category 4 RHCA. The intermittent stream that flows near the bottom terminal is connected to Big Cottonwood Creek, which contains Bonneville cutthroat trout, and therefore the RHCA extends 100 feet (slope distance) from either side of the stream. As stated in the Forest Plan, construction in an RHCA is permitted as long as riparian management objectives can still be met. Our established BMPs for protection of water quality will be followed in order to minimize the risk of adverse impacts on water quality or watershed values. Based on these past analyses, some habitat for special status plant and animal species does occur in the vicinity of both of these projects. As part of the development of this project, we have been looking at how the proposed lifts would fit into the overall setting at Solitude in terms of capacity. In fact, as noted above, increasing lift capacity in the Summit pod is a primary reason for replacing and relocating the Summit lift. The capacity analysis from the 2001 EIS indicates no problems in terms of maintaining the comfortable carrying capacity of the Summit and Honeycomb Canyon pods given the increased capacity of the Summit lift. 2

3 The proposed relocation of the Honeycomb Return lift and Summit lift will require recalculation of the Forest Service Use Fee since the lifts will be partially located on National Forest System land. The Use Fee was not recalculated and adjusted in 2010 when the Powderhorn lift was relocated; however, the acreage added by this proposal would still be substantially less than that used by the original Powderhorn lift. CONCLUSION We believe that these projects comprise necessary and appropriate upgrades to our 11-year-old MDP. We feel that these are important projects, and we appreciate your efforts to complete the review and approval process as quickly as feasible. 3

4 Figure 1. Honeycomb Return lift relocation. 4

5 Figure 2. Summit lift replacement in new alignment. 5