Environmental activists may get a second shot at
containing the ski industry in Telluride, Colo. Supervisor Robert
Storch of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests
has reversed his approval of a ski area expansion onto public land.
“In the interest of fairness,” Storch wrote the regional forester
on June 30, “I have agreed to take a second look.”
Telluride residents Phil and Linda Miller, who
have been fighting Telski’s plans for years, teamed up with two
local environmental groups, the Sheep Mountain Alliance and the
Colorado Environmental Coalition, to protest the 700-acre addition.
“(The issue) is not even about skiing,” says Linda Miller. “It’s
about turning public lands into theme parks.”
The plaintiffs charge the agency was biased in
favor of Telski and used a letter Forest Service project manager
Jeff Burch wrote in October 1996 as proof. Burch wrote, “(The
lawsuit) will cost you dearly in terms of your position in the
community … Make no mistake, litigation is WAR.” The Forest
Service reassigned Burch and will select a new manager and panel
for the upcoming review, says Forest Service spokesman Matt
Glasgow.
Linda Miller says she hopes the agency
will do a better job on reviewing the expansion this time around.
“We’d like to take (Storch) at his word,” she says. “We’ll be very
open-minded.”
* Emily
Miller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A do-over in Telluride.
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