News

The next milestone for this project will be the release of the Draft EIS (DEIS), which is now expected to be available in the spring of 2022. The public will have a minimum of 90 days after a Notice of Availability (NOA) is published for the DEIS to provide comments on the analysis and findings. The reader is referred to the National Environmental Policy Act Flowchart for a summary of the EIS process required for this project.

As we are nearing the release of the DEIS, the Forest Service would like to share a number of refinements that have been made to the Proposed Action since scoping. These updates were driven by internal and external feedback provided during the scoping period, fieldwork and analysis completed during the summer of 2021, and operational details that were uncovered during a holistic review of the entire proposal. Key refinements to the proposal include:

• Removal of the proposed South Bowl East and South Bowl Connector lifts;
• Reduction of the proposed South Bowl Special Use Permit (SUP) adjustment area (scoped as 600 acres and reduced to 266 acres); 
• Shortening of the proposed Shoshone lift upgrade alignment; 
• Removal of two proposed carpet lifts and associated ski terrain;
• Removal of proposed cat skiing; 
• Addition of a proposed ski patrol facility at the top of the proposed South Bowl lift;
• Addition of Dreamcatcher lift replacement as the existing lift is forecasted to meet its operational life expectancy shortly after the completion of this NEPA process. To best serve the proposed restaurant at the top of Fred’s Mountain and provide out of base functions it has been proposed as a detachable combination six-pack chairlift and gondola referred to as a “chondola” or “telemix";
• Various road and utility clarifications have been made. 

These project components will be explained in full detail under the range of reasonable alternatives described and analyzed in the upcoming DEIS. 

The range of alternatives that will be analyzed in the DEIS was established based on internal and external feedback provided during the scoping period and includes the following: 1) the No Action Alternative; 2) a modified version of the Proposed Action described in the Scoping Notice, including projects located within the existing SUP area and proposed expansion projects in Mono Trees and South Bowl; 3) proposed projects located within the existing SUP area only; 4) proposed projects located within the existing SUP area and proposed South Bowl expansion projects; and 5) proposed projects located within the existing SUP area and proposed Mono Trees expansion projects. Alternatives must meet the Purpose and Need of the project while responding to issues identified during scoping. Project alternatives will be described in greater detail in the upcoming DEIS.