Heli-Skiing
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Heli-Skiing Related Links:
Click here
to read the Golden Eagle Study as compiled by the US Forest Service
Click here
to read the
opening brief of Save Our Canyons appeal. (.pdf file 264KB)
Click here to read the summary of
Save Our Canyons lawsuit. (.pdf file 50.5KB)
Read the Brief that has been prepared for the
upcoming lawsuit here.
(.pdf file 619KB)
Wasatch Powderbird Guides response can be read here (.pdf file 122KB)
The Forest Service response can be read here. (.pdf file
237KB)
SOC's reply to WPG is here. (.pdf file 256KB)
SOC's reply to the Forest Service is here. (.pdf file 276KB)
Click here
to view/save SOC's complaint. (.doc file 164KB)
Click here
to read the Forest Service denial to SOC's appeal. (.pdf file 346KB)
Click here to view Save Our
Canyons WPG appeal. (.doc file 215KB)
Read Save Our Canyons WPG DEIS comments here.
Download the DEIS and other documents from the
Forest Service(bottom of page).
To get a copy of the current WPG DEIS or copy
of the 1999 EIS contact:
ALBERT J. SOUCIE
Natural Resource Recreation Manager
Salt Lake Ranger District
Wasatch-Cache National Forest
801-733-2688
For e-mail click here
See Save Our Canyons' Media
Forum for press on heli-skiing.
Documentation and discussion in Save Our
Canyons' Resources
Forum
Listen to Scott Carrier's KUER Perspective on
Heli Skiing vs. Non Motorized Backcountry Use at KUER's News
Archive
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Save Our
Canyons Files Lawsuit
We Need Your Help! Click Here
to Donate!
This lawsuit asks the FS to take a harder look at whether
and how WPG operates in the mountains near SLC.
The FS has been letting Powderbird operate in the mountains near SLC
for
more than 30 years and it has never really examined the impacts WPG’s
operations have on wildlife and other people in the backcountry.
It has become only more urgent over the years
for the FS to examine these impacts as the backcountry near the city
has become
one of the most congested—if not the most congested—winter backcountry
use
areas in the country. The FS has not
come to grips with this, and it made the decision once again to issue a
permit
to WPG without having any idea how much impact it is having on people
in the
backcountry.
For
the benefit of very few people, Powderbird is allowed to destroy the
natural
quiet that wildlife needs and that so many people come to the
backcountry to
find. It is also allowed to use
explosives to set off avalanches, making it just a matter of time
before a
backcountry skier or snowshoer is killed or injured.
We feel it is unreasonable and unsafe for the
Forest Service to continue to permit helicopter skiing in the mountains
near
SLC and we believe that, if the FS truly understood the adverse impacts
these
operations were having, it might agree.
SOC
has the generous support of Bill Lockhart Jr. in pursuing this
action. Bill has agreed to take on this case for a fraction of
what would usually be the fees for such legal representation. In
spite of some generous financial support, SOC will need more money than
we have yet been able to gather.
As
always, we can't do it without
you. Save Our Canyons has been working on controlling helicopter
skiing
in the Wasatch for over 30 years. Help us protect our native
wildlife, a safe backcountry experience, and the natural quiet of the
Wasatch by joining the fight! Our work would not be possible
without the support of our members. Please consider making a tax
deductible donation now.
Click
here to make a donation.
WPG Final Environmental Impact
Statement Released (October 2004)
The
Forest Service released its decision regarding the Wasatch Powderbird
Guides’ (WPG) special use permit to continue a helicopter skiing
operation on public lands in the Wasatch Cache National
Forest.
The
Good News:
-Your
comments were heard! The Sunday and Monday closures remain in the
current permit.
-There
will be no wilderness tours in the Twin Peaks Wilderness area.
-the
use of
one helicopter with an additional helicopter permitted on five days
during the season with prior Forest Service approval.
The
Bad News:
-The
Forest
Service failed to gather, or make any plans to gather, information
regarding the numbers of recreationalists in the backcountry.
-
The Forest
Service also failed to follow through with mitigations included in the
2000 permits requiring golden eagle studies. Since the 2000
permit is reduction and removal of buffer zones that were created
around the Golden Eagle nesting sites. WPG has been granted variances
to fly into several of the buffers zones and two have been removed all
together. Despite a letter by the Department of Fish and Wildlife
services sent by the Denver office
specifically stated that buffers should be in place around all nests
with no variances. Despite this recommendation, the Forest
Service failed to replace the buffers within the new permit.
- WPG will
still be allowed 300 rounds of explosives per year.
- There will
be a trial program where WPG can choose not to fly on a "good" Saturday
and bank it toward using the tri-canyon area on a Monday. This will be
allowed 3 times this season on a trial basis.
Act Now! Ask
the Forest Service to commit to doing the necessary studies on
backcountry use and golden eagles. The information is critical in order
to make the best long term decisions with your public lands. These and
any other comments can be directed to:
Wasatch-Cache
National Forest
125 South
State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
(801) 236-3400
Funds Needed
SOC needs your
financial support to play its usual informed but
scrappy role. Organizing, publicizing, appealing administrative
decisions, holding meetings, and - in all likelihood - suing in
federal courts all cost money. The overwhelmingly dominant
source of this money is you.
Gifts to Save
Our Canyons are tax-deductible. You can make a
donation online right
here.