History
History
History
A History of "Saving the Peaks"
Arizona Snowbowl Resort Limited Partnership (ASR) is a privately owned entity that holds a special use permit (SUP) to operate a ski area on federal land located on the San Francisco Peaks. The San Francisco Peaks are environmentally sensitive. The Peaks, including the SUP area, are also "extensively documented and widely recognized as a place of extreme cultural importance" to the tribes.
Due to, in large part, inconsistent snowfall and limited demand, the Snowbowl ski area has been experiencing financial difficulties. To help provide ASR with a "consistent/reliable operating season," the Forest Service (FS) agreed to allow ASR to expand the ski area and to introduce snowmaking using non-potable treated sewage effluent. Thousands opposed the project and challenged the adequacy of the FS review, consultation, and approval processes throughout the administrative process. After being rebuffed in the administrative process, thegovernment conjoind all of the tribes and environmental groups who filed suit challenging FS actions under, in part, NEPA, NFMA, and the NHPA. Plaintiff Tribes also asserted violations of the government's trust responsibility to the tribes, and a violation of RFRA.
The Peaks in Context
Henry David Thoreau said, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” This is a dark time, filled with suffering, uncertainty, and widespread inequality. It is natural that we feel the trauma. It is important that we are not afraid to experience this anguish, this anger, this fear as it is still proof that we are alive. Just remember that “to suffer with” is the literal meaning of the word compassion. And none of this is to say that there is not much beauty and good in the world. Because there is. And you can read about it here.
Kyle Boggs is a local journalist who has taken it upon himself to keep a good record of what has happened on the Peaks. This section is a compilation of article he wrote for the monthly news magazine, The Noise. These articles touch on early history of the ski area, litigation in the 1970's, 1980', 2000's, and 2010's, as well as direct action campaigns that started in the summer of 2011.