Forest boss to review Snodgrass

Another 30 days of process…

The Snodgrass decision process is making its way to the top. In a brief memo to Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) attorney Ezekiel Williams, the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to let the office of Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell review the Snodgrass appeal filed by the ski resort.

“This is to advise you that Associate Deputy Chief for National Forest Systems Gloria Manning, in her capacity as reviewing officer for the Chief, has elected to exercise discretionary review pursuant to 36 CFR 251.100, of Deputy Regional Forester James Peña’s decision concerning your appeal.
“The reviewing officer’s decision is due … within 30 days of the date of notice issued to an appellant that the lower level decision will be reviewed.”
The notice to CBMR is dated June 14 so another decision on the Snodgrass matter may come in the middle of July.
“It is good news to us that they’ll be reviewing it,” said CBMR vice president of resort planning and development Michael Kraatz. “We are guardedly optimistic that we’ll get a favorable decision from Mr. Tidwell’s office.”
On May 6, the Forest Service’s deputy regional forester Peña from California released his decision regarding the Snodgrass Mountain expansion proposal appeal filed by CBMR in December 2009. Peña affirmed U.S. Forest Service supervisor Charlie Richmond’s decision not to allow the Snodgrass Mountain ski lift expansion proposal to enter a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process.
In a company press release, CBMR stated it is asking Tidwell to set aside the original decision by Richmond. “CBMR asked Chief Tidwell to review the decision and set it aside based upon the issues identified in CBMR’s original appeal: that the Forest Service did not follow its own regulations, and Forest Supervisor Richmond made a fundamentally unfair decision in a private process that violated federal law and excluded the public from a watershed public lands decision that determined the future of the ski area and the community,” the press release states.
The proposed Snodgrass Mountain expansion would increase the amount of intermediate and advanced terrain at CBMR with 276 acres of skiing served by three lifts, a beginner carpet, and a connector gondola from Crested Butte Mountain. Snodgrass Mountain is adjacent to Crested Butte Mountain
“We will continue to go through the process,” said Kraatz. “And we will continue to wait-and-see.”