eric aldinger
The Mazamas, a non-profit dedicated to mountaineering and outdoor education
is voting whether to back an injunction against development of the
Timberline Bike Park. With environmental due diligence complete, we should
question what grounds anyone would have to oppose development of a
desirable outdoor development project. The letter on the upcoming vote is
below. If you have voting status with the Mazamas and have an opinion on
the bike park, please attend.
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Dear Members and friends -
Mazamas Executive Council will be making a significant and difficult
decision on Tuesday March 12th, 2013 surrounding the proposed mountain bike
park development at Timberline Lodge, which is scheduled to start
construction in the summer of 2013.
Friends of Mt. Hood with support from the CRAG law center have asked the
Mazamas to be involved both in name and with administrative and financial
support in a forthcoming lawsuit and injunction against the USFS and
Timberline/RLK Mgmt. to stop the building of these mountain bike trails.
Executive Council will be deciding if we should participate in this lawsuit
and injunction next Tuesday at 7PM and wants and needs YOUR input on the
decision. There are a multitude of issues to consider, as well as
significant potential costs and benefits on both sides of the decision.
Mazamas has previously opposed the project at the recommendation of Mazamas
Conservation Committee because the Executive Council agreed that it was
very important that the USFS carefully evaluate the potential environmental
impacts of the project. The USFS performed an Environmental Analysis and
issued a 'Finding of no significant impact' decision http://goo.gl/wHqcq on
11/19/13. Mazamas then signed onto an administrative appeal of this
decision to the Regional USFS office. On 2/28/13 the Regional USFS office
affirmed the decision by Mt. Hood National forest to allow the project to
proceed, along with a variety of mitigation and monitoring efforts.
Here is the USFS page with several linked documents on the project:
http://goo.gl/tA6mk
Here is the Timberline Lodge website describing the development:
http://www.timberlinelodge.com/play/other-mountain-activities/mountainbike/
Here is the Friends of Mt. Hood page describing their position on this
development:
http://www.friendsofmounthood.org/Timberlinebikepark.htm
*Meeting Details*
The meeting will be held on March 12th, 2013 at the Mazama Mountaineering
Center at 527 SE 43rd Ave. in Portland and discussion around this item will
begin at 7PM. All members and the general public are welcome to attend.
Anyone who wishes to present or speak to Executive Council on the matter
will be allotted 2-3 minutes. Please contact Lee Davis our Executive
Director at lee@mazamas.org in advance and/or arrive as early as possible
if you wish to speak and no later than 6:20PM so that we can get you on the
list. We intend to fairly divide the presentation time between differing
viewpoints. We are encouraging input and expect high attendance.
Presentations will end at 8PM, Executive Council will discuss and debate as
they see fit until 8:20PM and the decision will be made at 8:25PM.
Thank you,
Doug Couch
President