A plan for a large mountain bike park at Stevens Pass won’t be approved without a fight.
The Tulalip Tribes and two environmental groups have filed appeals against the plan, which the U.S. Forest Service approved in April. The tribal confederation contends federal officials should not have approved the bike park without studying it as part of a long-term plan by Stevens Pass that could nearly double the size of the ski area.
“A piecemeal approach to review of development plans at Stevens Pass fails to comply with (federal law) because it does not serve to protect treaty rights, the environment and other potential impacts to parties such as state and county governments and the taxpayer,” tribal chairman Mel Sheldon Jr. said in a written statement.
Conservation Northwest, a Seattle-based environmental group, and the Sierra Club also appealed the project.
The bike park involves building five trails of varying difficulty about 800 feet above the pass. The $925,000 trail system would cover seven miles on existing ski runs in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. A small water treatment plant also would be built. Riders would be able to take their bikes on chair lifts to get to the park.
A review of the bike park plan found that it would not have a significant effect on the environment, said Sean Wetterberg, a winter sports specialist for the U.S. Forest Service in Everett.
The forest service in Everett will meet with opponents to try to reach an agreement, Wetterberg said.
If that does not work, officials at the regional office in Portland, Ore., will make a decision, roughly within 45 days of when the appeals were filed May 27.
Forest service officials have said the long-term plan wasn’t considered as part of the review of the bike trails because Stevens has not submitted an official proposal for that concept.
Under the long-term plan, Stevens Pass would grow from its current 588 acres to 938 over 10 to 20 years.
“That’s a vision we have; it’s not necessarily something we’re going to do,” said John Gifford, general manager for the Stevens Pass ski area. Because of changing market conditions, it’s hard to predict if the plan will ever come to fruition, he said.
“When it comes time for us to propose that we will do more detailed analysis on that specific area,” he said.
Wetterberg said the Forest Service in recent years has changed the way it reviews long-term plans.
“A lot of times these master plans represent a scope of work that never gets accomplished, and the ski area didn’t have the ability to accomplish to begin with,” he said.
The owners of Crystal Mountain and Snoqualmie Pass each submitted master plans to the Forest Service more than a decade ago that recently had to be revised, Wetterberg said.
In the case of Snoqualmie, “the people who own it now aren’t even the same people who owned it before,” he said. “It’s not even relevant anymore. Our experience has shown that these master plans may or may not be reasonable projects to take on.”
The Tulalips say the new approach could result in ski areas seeking a piecemeal review of large projects to get them approved a little bit at a time, avoiding a full review.
“I am concerned that this phased approach may encourage developers to be intentionally vague about their future plans in order to avoid their full evaluation,” said Libby Halpin Nelson, environmental policy analyst for the tribes. “We don’t think this approach is in the best interest of the public or the tribes.”
The environmental groups have made similar points in opposing the bike park.
A mountain bike group recently praised the plan as providing a recreational opportunity while protecting the environment by encouraging riders to use a sanctioned area as opposed to building unauthorized trails.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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