AP Features, February 12th, 2007
Heli-skiing in a wilderness study area in western Wyoming would be drastically reduced over the next four years under an agreement among conservation groups, the U.S. Forest Service and a helicopter skiing company.
The agreement stems from a court dispute over how much heli-skiing should be allowed in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area, a 136,000-acre roadless area located in the Bridger-Teton and Caribou-Targhee national forests. The forests straddle the Wyoming-Idaho border.
A federal judge in Pocatello, Idaho, must approve the agreement.
"The Palisades is one of the most important wild areas left in Wyoming," Kirk Koepsel of the Sierra Club said in a statement.
Heli-skiing involves using a helicopter to transport skiers into remote, backcountry areas and dropping them off at the top of a mountain to ski down.
Under the proposal, High Mountains Helicopter Skiing Inc. of Teton Village, which charges a fee to fly backcountry skiers, would be allowed 854 skier days this winter season. A skier day is one person's ski trip.
The permitted skier days would be reduced in subsequent winter seasons to 598 in 2007-2008, 512 in 2008-2009, 342 in 2009-2010 and 65 in 2010-2011.
Several conservation groups sued the Forest Service last year after the agency decided to allow as many as 1,218 skier days in a 300,000-acre permit area that includes the Palisades wilderness.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled last November that allowing increased helicopter skiing in the area would hurt the wilderness characteristics of the land, prompting negotiations that led to the agreement.
The agreement would allow helicopter skiing in the 169,000 acres of national forest outside the Palisades area.
Lloyd Dorsey of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said his organization would work with the Forest Service and High Mountains to find alternative backcountry skiing areas.
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