Last week the TRPA Board voted to allow Heavenly to clear-cut a swath of the North Bowl trees to make room for a new chair lift.
It was a close vote, and unfortunately two of the more environmentally-conscious board members were absent due to the major storm and closure of Hwy 50. Could it have gone a different way? It should have, and it very well could have.
The Board rejected Alternative 4A, which would have built a 'kinked' lift, under heavy lobbying by Heavenly's Andrew Strain and TRPA Director John Singlaub, both of whom misled the TRPA Board to believe that building the 'kinked' lift would somehow be worse environmentally than cutting down these old growth trees, because it would require building a third base station at the top of the existing North Bowl chair, in an area that is already heavily developed.
John Singlaub also lied to the TRPA Board when he claimed that the North Bowl trees weren't old-growth forest, just "big trees," which flatly contradicts TRPA's own maps and documents.
You can watch a video of John Singlaub's misleading testimony by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vvu3LEBods
Stay tuned for further updates. . .
