MT. ASHLAND SKI AREA: STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE, FAILING TO EXPAND
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| A view into the proposed Mt. Ashland Ski expansion area in the winter of 2011. The lack of a deep snow pack this season has brought the ski resort to the brink of financial collapse, ensuring they won’t have the funds to expand anytime soon. |
For many years
now the Mt. Ashland Association (MAA), owners of the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, have proposed expanding their operation by building new ski runs and
chair lifts in the McDonald Peak Roadless Area and the municipal watershed for
the town of Ashland, Oregon. The expansion would include over 70 acres of new
ski runs, clear-cut into old-growth forest at the headwaters of Ashland Creek. The
area in question includes numerous rare plant species, including Henderson’s horkelia (Horkelia hendersonii), the Siskiyou Mountains’ only stand of Engelman spruce (Picea engelmannii), and the world’s
only population of the Mt. Ashland lupine (Lupinus lepidus var. ashlandensis). The forest is also home to the rare Pacific fisher.
Serious issues of slope stability, as well as impacts to
water quality, connectivity and wilderness quality habitat would follow any
development into the wild and fragile Middle Branch of the East Fork of Ashland
Creek. With the ski expansion currently approved by the Forest
Service and nearly all legal avenues exhausted, the only hope for a wild Mt.
Ashland may be for the existing ski resort to either fail to generate the funds
needed for expansion, or for the ski resort itself to go out of business,
forcing the plans to be dropped all together. A timely natural catastrophe for the MAA could
be more effective than all the efforts of environmental activists and
organizations combined. If mother nature cooperates by refusing to snow, she could very well save
the McDonald Peak Roadless Area from destruction. Unfortunately, the situation leaves me praying
for drought and a low snow pack.
As the
Siskiyou Mountains wait for a significant winter snow pack, the high
summits of the Siskiyou Crest remain virtually snow-free. Mt. Ashland is the highest summit in the Siskiyou Mountains, at just over 7,500′. As I write this blog post the mountain has a mere 16 inches of snow and the
ski resort has yet to open for business due to the lack of snow. It seems
possible that the resort will not open at all this season, and it has already
surpassed the previous latest season opening of February 17, 1977. The
situation has stressed the already marginal ski resort financially. General
manager Kim Clark recently made the following comments, regarding the lack of snow on Mt Ashland, to the Ashland Daily Tidings: “It could
potentially close the area. Could any business survive a year without income? We continue to watch our reserves dwindle.”
Bad news for the
ski resort is good news for the Siskiyou Mountains. The difficult financial
situation demonstrates the resort’s precarious existence and the mountain’s
relatively poor location for a downhill ski resort.
Given the financial and climatic realities
expansion should be out of the question, especially when the new runs would
extend to significantly lower elevations.
The Siskiyou Mountains’ tendancy for extended drought and minimal winter snow pack has plagued the
ski area now for 50 years, leading to three past bankruptcies. Climatic
conditions have historically played a major role in the viability of the resort
and will continue to do so in the future, especially as we feel the
increasingly pronounced impacts of climate change.
it looked as though the ski expansion would move forward. The MAA threatened to begin clear-cutting the new runs and develop the expansion area in a
phased approach while they raised funds to implement the project
piece by piece; however, this approach would leave the association vulnerable to an over-extension of financial resources, especially given poor winter snow conditions.
The worst case scenario predicted by many expansion opponents could very well
have come true during this time. The expansion could have been partially implemented, the roadless area
heavily impacted, an ancient forest lost, and the ski resort bankrupt, leaving
lasting and irreversible impacts to the McDonald Peak Roadless Area, the
biodiversity and connectivity of the Siskiyou Crest, and the municipal
watershed. Luckily this hasn’t happened yet.
of full-fledged expansion the association implemented a series of “improvements”
this summer and fall, including the development of a large number of new
parking spaces, re-contouring of the beginner’s run, and widening of the
existing runs by logging many large, old trees. The project went nearly $200,000
over-budget and the MAA is currently trying to recoup losses with a fund
raising campaign based on financial donations.
also sold over 2,500 season passes for the 2013-2014 ski season, yet have been unable to offer a single day of skiing to date. Each season
pass costs $289.00, amounting to over $700,000 in gross revenue. With the
mountain remaining closed many season pass holders are asking for a
reimbursement of funds. The Ski Area, thus far, has refused to consider that
option, instead they have chosen to pray for snow and hope the mountain
will open in the near future. With the MAA strapped for cash and the snow simply not materializing it is likely that the proceeds from
these season passes will be kept by the MAA, having a detrimental impact on
pubic relations.
for committed activists to continue their efforts; with the MAA vulnerable
we must increase the pressure, advocate for a boycott, reimbursement of
season pass proceeds, and question the very wisdom of expansion in light of the financial
and climatic realities. Write letters to the editor, contact City of Ashland
officials, encourage the Forest Service to re-analyze the ski expansion with
the new information now available regarding climate change and the resort’s
financial instability. Finally, as strange as it may sound, pray for drought,
the future of Mt. Ashland may depend on it.
To read interesting articles about the Mt. Ashland Ski Area’s financial difficulties and lack of snow visit the following:
Ashland Daily Tidings article on 3/8/14