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Methow Valley News October 25, 2000 Endangered Species Environmental groups challenge heli-ski, snowmobile decisions by Lee Hicks Several groups have filed suit claiming that five winter recreational use permits or decisions by Okanogan National Forest officials failed to analyze environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, challenges a helicopter skiing permit and several permits or decisions related to snowmobile activity. The motion for a declaratory judgment and injunction to prevent the winter activities was filed earlier this month by the Portland firm of Reeves, Kahn and Eder on behalf of Friends of the Loomis Forest, Washington Wilderness Coalition, Kettle Range Conservation Group and Predator Conservation Alliance. Similar to environmental suits filed in the past to stop the Early Winters ski resort, the attorneys also ask for compensation and attorneys fees under the federal Equal Access to Justice Act. A Seattle law firm, Bricklin and Gendler, was awarded more than $200,000 in the Early Winters case. At issue in the suit are two permits granted by former Methow Valley District Ranger Laurie Thorpe, another decision by Thorpe, and two decisions by the Tonasket district office. The actions on the Methow Valley Ranger District include an extension of a heli-skiing permit for North Cascade Heli-skiing, initially issued in 1994; a 1999 temporary permit for Winthrop Snowmobile Rental to operate a guide and rental service near the Eight-Mile SnoPark; and a decision to construct a warming hut in Black Pine basin. The Tonasket decisions involve relocation of 750 feet of the Smarty Trail in the Long Swamp area and issuance of a special use permit to Jack’s RV to conduct a winter outfitting business that would deliver snowmobiles to a number of SnoParks, including Yellow Jacket, Eight-Mile, Kerr Camp and Goat Creek within the Methow Valley Ranger District. In several of the five claims, including the heli-skiing permit, the plaintiffs argue that the Forest Service decisions could affect endangered species. No specific species are noted in the suit. "All five decisions referred to ...will result in increased snowmobile and other winter recreational usage in the Okanogan National Forest," the suit argues. In their interpretation of NEPA, the plaintiffs’ attorneys claim federal agencies must consider "cumulative actions" in an environmental analysis and that the Forest Service decisions "have the combined effect of increasing winter recreational use, particularly snowmobile use..." Opinion | Sports |
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