Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sun Valley gets 40-year Baldy permit


By EXPRESS STAFF
Express Staff Writer

The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have issued a new 40-year permit to Sun Valley Co. to operate its ski area on Bald Mountain.

The existing permit, issued for 30 years in 1977, expires Sunday, Dec. 2.

Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson said re-issuance of the permit was never really in question.

"It's one of those administrative procedures that comes up every three or four decades," he said.

Most of the skiing and snowboarding on Baldy is on 2,045 acres managed by the Forest Service, but the lower half of the River Run side—1,287 acres—is on BLM land. Dollar Mountain skiing is on land owned by Sun Valley Co., and therefore requires no federal permission.

Nelson said the company pays a "significant fee," based on a percentage of its annual sales, to use the public land. He said the exact amount is proprietary information.

The decision to issue a new permit did not require an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment, and is not subject to administrative appeal.

Nelson said that if the resort changes ownership, the new permit will be automatically transferred to the new owner.

"There's a significant investment of capital that requires a long-term permit," he said.

Earlier this month, the Forest Service approved the first of three phases of a 10-year master plan for Baldy. Barring successful appeals of the approval, new amenities could include a gondola from the River Run base area to a remodeled Roundhouse restaurant, a terrain park in Frenchman's Gulch, 99 acres of additional snowmaking, a beginner ski run on Seattle Ridge and more tree skiing on the Warm Springs side.

Sun Valley Co. has operated a ski area on Bald Mountain under special-use permits since 1939. The area has 14 lifts and 65 runs with a vertical drop of 3,400 feet. The mountain sees an average of 400,000 skier days each year.




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