Tourism
Conservation and Ranching
Sun Ranch Slates 11,000 Acres for Conservation Easement
Sun Ranch owner and Sun Ranch Institute Board Chairman Roger Lang is currently working with the Forest Service and the Trust for Public Land to add about 11,000 acres to an existing 6,800 acres of conservation easements on his Madison Valley property. Lang, a former Silicon Valley CEO, purchased the ranch ten years ago. Using an experimental “Sun Ranch Model,” Lang has strived to balance conservation and ranching on his wildlife-rich property, most famously amidst reintroduced gray wolves.
The publicly funded $4.5 million easement will include 10 three-acre building envelopes in the Papoose Creek area, but it will also erase over 200 platted subdivision lots from previous property owners over vast stretches of the property.
Wild bison advocates are embracing the easement cautiously; initial negotiations include talk of studying genetically pure bison on land within the easement. Bison advocates worry domestic bison would preclude chances for the traditional bison range to again carry wild bison populations, but Lang says the hope is to one day open the property to wild bison should the politically sensitive issue of brucellosis become resolved.
“If and when society says ‘let’s let bison roam again,’ then I want to be in a position to help,” Lang says. “I don’t want this easement to preclude Sun Ranch from participating in those kinds of issues.”
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Old and Faithful Debate
Yellowstone Opens for Winter Season
The interior of Yellowstone National Park opens for the winter season today amid--surprise--much controversy surrounding the limits on snowmobiles allowed in the park per day. The Park Service's Final Rule implements a long-term winter use plan for Yellowstone, which will allow up to 720 commercially guided Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles per day this season and 540 per day next season. The Wyoming attorney general office filed a petition for review of the winter-use plan soon after its release.
Wyoming officials say, even though the average number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone per day averaged 250 for the last three years, next season's cap of 540 is still too low. Environmentalists say the cap should be reduced even further. Yellowstone's wildlife denizens are largely silent on the issue.
In their petition, Wyoming officials decried requiring commercial guides for all snowmobile trips and also requested a "reasoned analysis" for changes made to management of avalanche-prone Sylvan Pass, which--thanks to helicopters and howitzers--will remain open to motorized oversnow travel this winter, presumably to the delight of Wyoming residents.
More on the most peaceful season to explore Yellowstone National Park after the jump.
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Seven Feet & Still Coming Down
Snow Gods Appear, At Last
Having waited until after Thanksgiving to start the season, the snow gods have smiled on the ski resorts of the Mountain West, particularly in Colorado. " So much snow fell across the state" in the last several days, according to Colorado Ski Country USA, "that some resorts are reporting record snowfall amounts."
The storm surge has dumped two feet of snow on the I-70 corridor resorts, including Breckenridge, Keystone, and Winter Park. Aspen/Snowmass got four feet, causing resort officials to reschedule the World Cup Women's Downhill event. That's the second World Cup race in Colorado to be postponed so far this season because of too much snow.
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Keeping up with the pace
Moonlight Basin Seeks Equity Partner to Speed Development
Moonlight Basin, the newest resort in Montana, is increasing its development momentum and seeks the partner funding to do so.
Beginning as a vision by Lee Poole and Joe Vudovich on a 25,000-acre tract of land purchased from Plum Creek in 1992, Moonlight Basin has slowly and deliberately molded, planned and solidified itself into a 4-season resort community. “And in the past two to three years, the speed has been intense,” said Russ McElyea, in-house counsel for Moonlight Basin.
The Jack Nicklaus golf course is scheduled to open 2009, architectural and design bids are out for the new lodge at the base of Six Shooter Lift, and multiple residential developments, five-star hotels and villages with retail, dining and shopping are planned.
“We want to move as quickly as possible and as the market will absorb,” said McElyea. “But also at the speed that builds community, constitutes value to existing owners and validates purchase decisions.”
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Monday Business Roundup
Fans Stiff-Armed in NFL-Cable DisputeThere's a big NFL game this Thursday night pitting the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys against the Green Bay Packers, who sport the same record. But plenty of fans in the Mountain West won't get it to see it, because their cable provider doesn't include the NFL Network, which will broadcast the content, in its basic cable package.
The dustup between the NFL, which owns the NFL Network, and the major cable providers including Comcast, has brought to a boil the long-simmering dispute between proponents of bundled cable service – where you pay for a big package of channels, only a few of which you actually watch – and "a la carte" service, in which consumers would choose, and pay only for, the stations they actually want to see.
In other business news: Colorado looks at possible abuses of conservation easements, and for streamside development it's two steps forward, one step back.
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Monday Business Roundup
November Nightmare for Ski ResortsThe ski resorts of the Mountain West are looking at millions of dollars in lost revenue as unseasonably warm temperatures and an almost complete lack of snow pushes back opening dates for the region's major resorts. This is especially troubling in a year when resorts across the region have invested hundreds of millions in new developments and upgrades in hopes of luring more visitors.
Telluride became the latest ski area to postpone its opening when it said on Friday its planned opening date of Thanksgiving Day is unrealistic given the lack of snow.
Many mountain operators were hoping for a big dump early this week to allow for Thanksgiving skiing – but it now appears that the real snow will happen only in the far northern Rockies, bypassing Colorado and Utah.
In other business news: DIA beefs up its snow-handling force; big labor creates a "behemoth" union for state employees; and Boulder minds the gap between revenue levels and relatively lavish city services.
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Monday Business Roundup
Defying Trends, Western Economy on the RiseWith the national equity markets slumping and Fed chief Ben Bernanke predicting an economic slowdown, the question becomes, how long can states in the Mountain West defy the national trends?
Booming energy production, strong tourism results, a resilient construction sector buoyed by the continuing influx of new arrivals, a resurgent technology industry – all of these are contributing to making the Mountain West the nation's strongest economic region. Now, some snow for the skiing industry would help.
In other business news: Colorado legislators seek a new method of distributing exploding revenues from energy production; Crocs' magical stock-market ride ends with a thud; and Colorado's State Fair faces a roller-coaster future.
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skiing and dollars
Report: Bitterroot Resort Would Have ‘Significant’ Economic Impact
The proposed Bitterroot Resort, which some have said could become North America’s largest ski area, would have a major economic impact on Ravalli and Missoula counties, according to an independent report released this morning.
The Bitterroot Resort Economic Impact Analysis, conducted by the Portland-based group ECONorthwest, concludes that under the larger of the two resort proposals, the amount of additional economic activity to the study area “is large both relatively and absolutely.”
Bitterroot landowner and developer Tom Maclay has proposed to build a major resort on former ranchland that would include residential housing, lodging, commercial development, a convention center and two golf course on nearly 3,000 acres of private property. Under the larger proposal, the ski area would extend on to Forest Service land on Lolo Peak, though Maclay has yet to be granted such a permit for the highly controversial plan.
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Maintain the Old, Develop the New the right way
Red Lodge Mountain Sells to Calif. Firm, Told to Keep Locals in Mind
The purchase of Red Lodge Mountain Resort, a small seven-lift ski area and golf course in Southwest Montana, was finalized last week to JMA Ventures, a California-based development firm.
Red Lodge Mountain, first named Grizzly Mountain, was originally financed and opened by the townspeople in 1960 to attract winter-season tourist for a town that sits near Yellowstone National Park's Northeast entrance and the Beartooth Highway — both closed in the winter.
JMA entered the ski resort industry in 2006 with the purchase of Lake Tahoe’s Alpine Meadows and Homewood ski resorts. This is their first project outside of California.
"Now, it's really important, I think, for the owners to come down and be seen and talk to all different kinds of people here, so that they establish themselves as a really partnering presence, not absentee landowners with a distant sense of what Red Lodge is," Beth Hutchinson, executive director of the Red Lodge Area Chamber of Commerce, told The Billings Gazette.
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FROM STUMPTOWN TO SKI TOWN TO....?
What Makes Whitefish Special?
When people come to Whitefish for the first time, they expect to find another resort town. After all, the northwestern Montana community of 7,500 people is nestled in the shadow of mighty Big Mountain, with the strikingly visible ski runs of world-renowned Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort serving as the town's unofficial icon. And there's more than a ski hill.
Whitefish also sits on the doorstep of Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, and Flathead Lake, the West's largest body of fresh water, all surrounded by national forests, large lakes, wild rivers, and mountain scenery. The town even has its own lake, Whitefish Lake, a natural beauty.
But Whitefish is hardly your typical resort town.
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