An application by a Boise businessman to land his Bell 407 helicopter in the mountains of the Sawtooth National Forest for personal heli-skiing has landed in U.S. district court after the application was rejected, appealed, rejected and appealed again.
J.B. Scott, who is chairman of the boards of Alscott, Inc. and the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, filed a lawsuit on March 25, 2008 in U.S. District Court in Boise alleging discrimination and abuse of discretion by Fairfield District Ranger Mike Dettori, who rejected Scott's application. The suit seeks declaratory judgement and an order reversing the forest's decision.
Scott filed a Nov. 21, 2007 application with Dettori "requesting permission to conduct limited private helicopter skiing on the Fairfield Ranger District." He sought a recreational permit for 30 days of helicopter skiing each year between Dec. 1 and April 30 for a period of five years.
Documents detailing Scott's application, denials and appeals were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request made to the Sawtooth National Forest by the Idaho Mountain Express. A copy of the lawsuit was furnished by Sandra Mitchell, who is executive director of the Idaho Snowmobile Association and a Scott employee.
In his Jan. 18 decision Dettori concluded that Scott's application did not conform with nine screening criteria that are used to consider whether or not to process special use permit requests. He returned the proposal to Scott, who then appealed the decision and was denied the second time by Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor Jane Kollmeyer.
In his original Nov. 21 request Scott said he recently purchased recreation property on the South Fork of the Boise River, "and I am in the process of building a cabin with a fully equipped landing strip and hangar."
"One of the primary reasons I found this area so attractive was because of the incredible opportunities for winter recreation including snowmobiling, backcountry skiing, snow shoeing and helicopter skiing," he wrote.
Scott pointed out he has been involved in private helicopter skiing for several decades.
"We have engaged in private helicopter skiing for over 20 years on Forest Service lands with no complaints, issues or problems," he wrote.
In her March 12 rejection of Scott's appeal, Kollmeyer wrote that the Forest Service has broad discretion in denying requests for special use permits.
"Anyone may apply for a permit. Permits may be denied for many reasons at the discretion of the Forest Service, including a potential land use conflict or if the permit is generally not in the public interest," she wrote.
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While helicopter landings are allowed on certain public lands they are not when areas are posted as such. An order restricting helicopter traffic on the Fairfield Ranger District and other portions of the Sawtooth National Forest was put in place in 1996 and was reissued in 1998 and 2002. It states: "The landing of aircraft, or dropping or picking up any materials, supplies, or persons by means of an aircraft, including helicopters, except at established airfields is prohibited."
Helicopter landings are not restricted, by comparison, on the Boise National Forest.
"The existing special order is not discriminatory, nor arbitrary and capricious," Kollmeyer wrote in response to allegations by Scott's attorney, Boise-based Terry Copple. "It has been in place on the Fairfield District for more than 11 years; and was put in place only on the parts of the Sawtooth National Forest where wildlife and user safety concerns existed and could not be mitigated...
"As with other members of the public, heli-skiing in this area is available to Mr. Scott by employing the services of Sun Valley Heli-Ski. If he does not wish to use the services of Sun Valley Heli-Ski, Mr. Scott may pursue his activity on national forest system lands where the activity is not restricted, such as on the Boise National Forest, which is only about 10 air miles from the property he owns on the South Fork of the Boise River."
In the lawsuit Copple contends that it is "patently discriminatory, arbitrary and capricious" to grant a permit to Sun Valley Heli-Ski and during that same time deny his request.
"Instead of processing the special use permit application and reviewing it on its merits, Fairfield District Ranger Mike Dettori summarily returned the application," Copple writes in the suit. "And (Dettori) stated in the denial letter that the Fairfield Ranger District would not process the application because it did not comply with the 'laws, regulations, orders, and policies establishing or governing NFS land; other federal laws; and applicable state and local health and sanitation laws.'"
The Sawtooth National Forest did, in fact, renew Sun Valley Heli-Ski's permit on Dec. 17, 2007, for a period of 10 years. The renewal was done via a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson declined to comment on the Scott application because of the ongoing litigation. Nelson was, however, the ranger who oversaw approval of the Sun Valley Heli-Ski permits both in 2002 and 2007. The 2002 renewal of the permit consisted of a two-year process, he pointed out, and was the foundation for the 2007 extension.
"The analysis and public involvement process was fairly extensive and lengthy," Nelson said. "It was concluded with a decision to reissue the permit for five years. And it had some pretty strong sideboards and mitigation requirements that the operator needed to follow as part of the permit compliance."
Nelson acknowledged that the Sawtooth National Forest's travel plan is different from other national forests in Idaho.
"We recognized that there is a strong potential for other kinds of helicopter use on the forest with proximity to Ketchum and Sun Valley," he said. "It's just that different forests have different travel plans."
