Clearer language is needed in the Aspen Skiing Co.’s master plan, but the clearing of trees on a small section of Aspen Mountain appears to have been legal.
“We’re not going to take any action,” Pitkin County Assistant Community Development Director Lance Clarke said Friday. “We’ve come to an agreement in how to avoid this kind of situation in the future.”
County officials began reviewing the clearing of hundreds of trees just to the east of Aztec run after a former ski instructor who was fired for cutting trees without permission there in 2001 pointed out the irony of the new glade.
SkiCo officials maintain the work was legal “routine maintenance” outlined in the master plan it files annually with the U.S. Forest Service. Because the land in question is under SkiCo’s ownership, it is subject to county laws.
“We’ve agreed the master plan is not as clear as it ought to be about widening existing runs, maintaining existing runs and glading existing runs,” Clarke said. “We’ve agreed we need to make that clearer before next summer.”
The “routine maintenance,” as SkiCo officials call it, has created a perfectly pitched black-diamond glade run between Aztec and Ruthie’s runs. A giant pile of felled trees can be found above it and another below it.
SkiCo asserts that 80 percent of the trees it removed were 6 inches or fewer in diameter, and that the vast majority of the trees were dead or diseased.
“They said the only ones removed that were healthy were removed to accommodate the skidder,” Clarke said.
A new road leading into the glade run is also legal because not enough dirt was removed to require a county permit. A SkiCo official has said the road will be re-vegetated. A newly constructed shack in the area also escaped scrutiny from county officials because it’s smaller than the minimum regulated size.
Aside from the master plan language, Clarke said, “We’re not going to pursue this any further.”
hoop@aspendailynews.com
