The Potential of Bitterroot Resort

By Tom Maclay, Unfiltered 2-27-06

The extraordinary potential of Bitterroot Resort begins with the vibrant recreational character of Missoula, Missoula and Ravalli Counties, and Montana.

We love to recreate here. We love to ski and snowboard here. In fact, we are nearly three times as likely to identify ourselves as avid skiers than the rest of the country. We have the 5th highest concentration of snow skiers and boarders in the U.S.

We love to hike, fish, ride, and hang out in the outdoors. There is no question that we have the support here for a world-class, sustainable, four-season destination resort. Seventy-seven percent of chamber members polled support the concept of a destination ski resort as envisioned by Bitterroot Resort. In 1988, more than 60 percent of Missoulians voted to support a destination resort on Lolo Peak.

The land proposed for Bitterroot Resort has been designed as a potential ski resort site for more than three decades. We are only seeking to preserve the option of such development in the future. It’s only prudent planning – underscored by research that shows that Western Montana is under-served today given consumer demand for winter recreation. Research also shows that by 2015, skier demand for a fully developed Bitterroot Resort will be nearly 40 percent higher than demand was during the last winter season.

Downhill skiing already accounts for 15 percent of the recreation on the Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests – a big recreational benefit being provided under highly controlled conditions on small parcels of public land.

With our proposal, a century-old Montana family is committed to crafting a destination for recreation, to provide the private land on which the health of the modern day resort economy depends.

We invite a community partnership. We want your thinking about the look and feel and adventures of this new community.

Bitterroot Resort is in close proximity to a growing population center in Missoula, to a four-lane highway, and to a commercial airport.

The resort would provide skiers and boarders an elevation and northern exposure for quality snow retention, water rights sufficient for excellent snowmaking, vast intermediate terrain that skiers and snowboarders prefer, and magnificent scenery.

Bitterroot will also be a catalyst for economic growth, by creating good paying jobs, encouraging year-round tourism, increasing the dollars flowing into our communities, and attracting clean desirable businesses to Western Montana. We are eager to work with Montana businesses to help them grow. That’s a big part of the promise of Bitterroot Resort.

It is important to remember that the planning process currently underway does not present a mandate for action; it only establishes land-use priorities. Bitterroot Resort itself will be considered in a comprehensive process prescribed by the National Environmental Policy Act only after the management plans have been completed.

We are refining a proposal that would employ less than 4/10ths of one percent of the public land on the Bitterroot and Lolo National Forests to create a diverse year-round recreational experience that would meet growing demand for public land recreation and help provide the economically sustainable use of National Forest Lands.

All of us support the goals, and certainly the aesthetics of the research zone on Carlton Ridge. In fact, Bitterroot’s recommended designation does not modify the Carlton Ridge Research Management Area. Moreover, Bitterroot Resort’s recommendation is consistent with the expressed understanding of the Forest Service at the formation of the research area that science and skiing are compatible uses.

Allocations that allow for the future ski destination can actually serve to introduce more people to the beauty of the Selway Bitterroot backcountry. That’s because young and old Nordic skiers, Alpine skiers and boarders, mountain bikers, hikers and even persons in wheelchairs could be carried to ski lifts to relatively high elevations and over 150 miles of backcountry views and adventures located South and West of Lolo Peak.

As new plans are developed for these forests, allocating a small amount of public land to potential skiing gives the Forest Service flexibility to enable Montanans and future visitors to the Bitterroot Valley each access to skiing and other organized recreation from four-lane U.S. 93 – to a site the Forest Service has recognized for decades as an ideal winter recreation opportunity.

I support additional wilderness which is Southwest of Lolo Peak about 7000 acres. A public resort is our preferred alternative for this area North of Carlton Ridge and Lolo Peak.

I see the resort as a component of this great community – perhaps similar to the University or the arts community. I have been told that at a point there were more Maclay graduates of the U of M than any other family. The U of M has greatly enriched our family’s life and history. I believe this recreational resort can enrich the community’s life and history by creating an opportunity for families to grow and stay in the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys.

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