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how to engage with the public, and how the various agen-
cies involved want the environmental impact analysis specif-
ically with regard to the Canada lynx habitat. Alan and his THE FINEST ROPEWAY EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE
team really took it seriously—they wanted to minimize the
impacts as much as anybody—and I know the US Forest
Service appreciates his ability to be thoughtful and be a true
steward of the land, even when it means compromising on
the original master development plan.” NORTHWOODS EXPRESS, VAIL, CO
It’s not just lip service. Several big changes were made to
the original plan for The Beavers and Steep Gullies before its
implementation. Most notably, the position of the bottom
terminal for the chairlift (originally slated for the bottom of
the valley floor) was moved to a mid-mountain location
reaching roughly two-thirds of the way to the valley floor,
partly to protect the wetlands and Canada lynx habitat at
the lower elevation. The change means that the lower Steep
Gullies double-black diamond terrain remains a hike-out zone.
The original plan also called for more conventionally cut
intermediate-level ski trails in The Beavers area; to minimize
environmental impact, the final version was reduced to just
two blue trails, with gladed expert-level black diamond runs
The Canada lynx was once considered an endangered in the rest of the terrain. And instead of building a new road
species in North America. Preserving its habitat in in the area for summer construction activities, Henceroth
the Rocky Mountains was key to Arapahoe Basin’s opted to use helicopters and “spider hoe” all-terrain excavat-
plans for expansion. ing machines while clearing trees in the area and during the
chairlift construction process. The ski area also purchased
that the original plan was altered significantly during the a new Prinoth winch cat and installed winch anchors to
subsequent planning process. “They were a good resource on facilitate winter snowcat grooming in The Beavers without
what was expected of us, what we needed to do, what made road access to the area.
the most sense. They really understood our positions, our “Alan and his team were really sensitive throughout
standards, our values.” that process and came to the table ready to make concessions
The relationship dates back more than a decade: the based on both the resource surveys and the concerns that
SE Group also helped A-Basin with a previous expansion came up through the public comment process,” said Beck.
in an area known as Montezuma Bowl, open since the “In this case it wasn’t an adversarial process—it doesn’t
2007–08 season. The planning process and land use desig- have to be—even though there was some opposition to the
nation for The Beavers and Steep Gullies project began as expansion project. This project wasn’t without controversy,
the Montezuma Bowl project wrapped up. but it was managed properly at every stage in the process.
Travis Beck, SE Group’s director of environmental Everyone involved wanted to get this right, and some of the
services, says that for both projects the SE team took a design changes and mitigation efforts were instrumental in
hard look at the master development plan, the project area, getting the final project approved.”
the terrain, where the lift terminals should go, what the SE Group is currently working on a number of NEPA
construction process would look like, and every alternative planning and permitting projects for other ski areas in
for minimizing the impact of the project. Colorado and across the country, including terrain expan-
“We really learned a lot from the Montezuma Bowl proj- sion projects at Steamboat’s Pioneer Ridge and Beaver
ect, and also from our work on the recent Peak 6 expansion Creek’s McCoy Park, as well as other projects at Vail and
at Breckenridge, which was very similar in terms of concerns Copper Mountain; Stevens Pass in Washington; Snowbird,
from the public—being a previous backcountry use area Solitude, and Nordic Valley (a new ski area being planned
and a similar wildlife habitat area,” Beck said. “There were outside of Ogden) in Utah; Taos and Sipapu in New Mexico;
a lot of lessons learned about how to navigate the process, and Snowbowl in Arizona.

36 | NSAA JOURNAL | EARLY WINTER 2018