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Court rejects permit for helicopter skiing
Judge says wilderness act was clear intrusions should not increase in Snake River Range.
By Cory Hatch
Date: November 22, 2006
An Idaho judge ruled against a local helicopter skiing operation’s request for increased use in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area on Tuesday, saying the increased use would hurt the wilderness characteristics of the land.
In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Idaho ordered that a 2005 U.S. Forest Service decision authorizing High Mountain Heli-Skiing increased use of the Snake River Range did not satisfy federal environmental laws and violated the 1984 Wyoming Wilderness Act. The 180,000-acre Palisades Wilderness Study Area is on the Wyoming side of the range that rises between Teton Pass and Palisades Reservoir. It is part of both the Bridger-Teton and the Caribou-Targhee national forests and the hills also are called the Palisades Range.
High Mountain Heli-Skiing now has the option to enter negotiations with the plaintiffs in the case, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, the Sierra Club and the Wyoming Wilderness Association. The groups sued challenging the Bridger-Teton’s decision to grant the increase to High Mountain Heli-Skiing.
“We are glad the judge decided that increased use in the Wilderness Study Area is not acceptable,” said Greater Yellowstone Coalition spokesmen Lloyd Dorsey. “In the near future, we’re eager and willing to sit down and hammer out a well-balanced solution to this issue.”
400 skier days and up
Since 1984, when part of the Snake River Range was designated as a Wilderness Study Area, the amount of use allowed by Bridger-Teton administrators has increased steadily from 400 skier days. A skier day means that the company can provide heli-skiing for one client for any portion of the day.
In 2005, the Forest Service granted High Mountain Heli-Skiing a permit for 1,200 skier days, which translates to about 86 days of helicopter skiing, or 56 days utilizing two helicopters on some of the days, according to court documents.
While the permit allowed heli-skiing over a 305,000-acre area in the surrounding mountains, the company testified that 98 percent of its skiable terrain consists of slopes within the Palisades area.
In his ruling, Judge Winmill said the amount of motorized use in the area should be maintained at 1984 levels.
“This provision of the Wyoming Wilderness Act is written clearly, without ambiguity,” he wrote in the decision. “It requires the Forest Service to administer the Palisades WSA to maintain the opportunities for solitude or primitive and confined recreation that existed there in 1984.
“It is clear that Alternative B [1,200 service days] does not represent 1984 service day level,” the ruling continued. “The entire region – including the Wyoming, Teton, and Gros Ventre Ranges, as well as the Palisades Area – had an ‘authorized use’ of only 400 service days in the winter of 1983-84 ...”
With the Wilderness Act, High Mountain Heli-Skiing lost about one-third of its skiable terrian including all of its slopes on the west side of the Tetons and the “vast majority” of the Gros Ventre Range.
Judge says company itself OK
In his ruling, the judge said the decision did not reflect any problems with the company itself. “The Court has struggled over this case,” wrote Judge Winmill. “... High Mountains has an impeccable operating history spanning thirty years. Their record of safety and compliance with Forest Service directions is outstanding.”
Liz Howell, executive director of the Wyoming Wilderness Association, said she was happy with the judge’s decision.
“We’re not trying to put anybody out of business,” she said. “We’re just trying to protect the wilderness. We’re just happy that the judge agreed.”
Fred Smith, spokesman for the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, said the decision is a welcome victory.
“We’re pleased that the judge agreed with our claim that a huge expansion of motorized activity in a Wilderness Study Area is unacceptable,” he said. “We are also pleased that the judge agreed with our suggestion to see if the parties could reach a negotiated settlement.”
Jackson resident Jon Shick, operator of High Mountain Heli-Skiing, said he would discuss the decision with his lawyer.