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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A federal judge heard final arguments Monday on an environmental group's appeal of a Forest Service permit issued to a helicopter skiing company.
Save Our Canyons attorney Bill Lockhart Jr. argued before U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart that when the Forest Service issued a five-year permit to Wasatch Powderbird Guides in January 2005 the process was flawed and lacked the necessary data.
The Forest Service improperly considered the profitability of the guide company when issuing the permit and tried to conceal that it was doing so, Lockhart said. He also said that there was a lack of analysis in examining the company's use of explosives to dislodge unstable snow. Save Our Canyons contends it's only a matter of time before such an explosion causes an avalanche that hurts or kills a backcountry skier hiking up the mountain.
Lockhart said the concerns of such skiers -- which include being overrun by groups that have paid $700 or more to beat them to the top and the noise pollution created by the helicopters -- were not studied using hard data.
"The information was completely generic. There was no on-the-ground analysis at all," Lockhart said.
Attorneys for the Forest Service said the permit considered all those concerns and the use plan designated for the forests involved.
"This was the second (environmental impact statement) done within five years," said Jared Bennett. "The Forest Service has hundreds of pages of analysis."
Bennett said the number of backcountry users was estimated by taking into consideration the increase in the population of the Salt Lake valley, an increase in backcountry gear sales, the number of calls made to the avalanche control center, among other factors.
He said the permit only allows the use of explosives as a last resort and has several restrictions and requirements, including flying around to ensure that there are no other people in the area.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen, arguing on behalf of the Forest Service, said there was much effort placed on finding a compromise between continued helicopter skiing and other backcountry skiers and winter user.
Christensen said the permit disallows Wasatch Powderbird Guides from doing business on Sundays and Mondays in Salt Lake's busiest canyons, with an occasional exception if the company gives up a Saturday. The company also has started dropping off skiers on ridges by helicopter, but returning them to base camps by vehicle to reduce the noise of helicopters in the canyons.
At the end of the hearing, Stewart said he would review the case and make a ruling as soon as possible.
Wasatch Powderbird Guides' permit to carry skiers to world-class powder skiing was renewed in January 2005. The company has been around since 1973. Save Our Canyons sued over the permit in October.
The organization, dedicated to preserving the Wasatch Range, does not see helicopter skiing as an acceptable use of Utah's canyons. At issue particularly are the three canyons that empty into the Salt Lake metropolitan area, where 1.6 million people can access backcountry skiing in about a half-hour's drive.
In January, the group criticized Wasatch Powderbird Guides for setting off an avalanche to ensure their clients' safety while other backcountry skiers were already on the slopes. Nobody was caught up in the Jan. 5 slide.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
