Forest Service Seeks Comments On Proposed Improvements At Heavenly Mountain Resort

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit in coordination with Heavenly Mountain Resort, is seeking comments on the draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for proposed improvements to existing skiing and snowboarding terrain at Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Improvements would include selective widening of ski trails, removing trail obstacles and relocation and/or realignment of some portions of existing snowmaking air and water pipelines to improve user experience, maintain user safety, increase energy and water efficiency, and maintain native species. Comments will be accepted for 30 calendar days following the publication of the opportunity to comment legal notice in the Tahoe Daily Tribune on Nov. 22, 2017.

Ski trail widening to reduce bottlenecks and improve skier flow, would include tree removal and selective boulder relocation on approximately 12 trails, with grading required in two locations to match the widened area to the grade of the existing trail. Due to the widening, any existing snowmaking lines will be relocated to near the new edge of the trail. Removal of obstacles, such as boulders, stumps and logs, would take place on eight trails to improve natural snow surface coverage.

The proposal to remove trail obstacles was addressed in the Heavenly Ski Resort Master Plan and includes protection of native plants and revegetation, removal of invasive plants, chipping of large woody debris and existing felled trees, stump grinding, and boulder height reduction. 

Project work could begin as early as spring/summer 2018.

The EA is available at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/Heavenly2017