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Show A-6 The Park Record MOUNTAIN REGIONAL WATER SPECIAL SERVICE DISTRICT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Public notice is hereby given that the Administrative Control Board of the Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, Summit County, Utah, will meet in regular public session to receive public comment on the adoption of the Mountain Regional Water Special Service District 2020 Water Conservation Plan. A copy of the plan can be found at mtregional.org and for questions about the 2020 Water Conservation Plan, please contact the Mountain Regional Water Special Service District at 435940-1916 ext. 300. The public session will be held on December 10, 2020 at 6:00pm via Zoom; details on how to join can be found on the District’s website at mtregional.org. Wed/Thurs/Fri, December 2-4, 2020 Epic vs. Ikon ski pass war reshapes U.S. ski industry PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO Guests line up on opening day last month at Park City Mountain Resort. Last season, skier and snowboarder visits generated by season passes exceeded those of multi- or single-day passes for the first time, according to the National Ski Areas Association. More guests used season passes last winter than ever SCOTT CONDON The Aspen Times The ski pass war between Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass and Alterra Mountain Company’s Ikon Pass reshaped the industry last season. For the first time ever, skier and snowboard rider visits generated by season passes exceeded those from multiand single-day lift tickets, according to an annual study performed for the National Ski Areas Association. “Overall, the proportion of visits from season passes rose to 45.5 percent of visits while visits from daily/multi-day tickets were down to 43.5 percent,” said the Kottke End of Season Survey 2019-20 commissioned by NSAA. “Thus, the share of visits from season passes has overtaken daily/ multi-day tickets for the first time.” The trend has been a longtime coming. Season pass visits have increased nationally for the past five seasons. Pass use climbed from 43 percent of total visits in 201718 to 43.4 percent the following season and 45.5 percent last season. Meanwhile, daily and multi-ticket use dropped from 48.8 percent in 2017-18 to 43.5 percent the following year and the same percent last season. Last ski season was cut short by the abrupt closure of most resorts in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, so it’s unknown how spring break skiing would have affected the pass use versus lift ticket sales. However, it is clear that this season the pandemic will promote pass use. Many resorts under the Vail umbrella are requiring reservations to hit the slopes this season. “If you want to ski the busiest of Vail Resorts’ Mountains during the holidays, you’d better hold an Epic Pass. Without it, you won’t be able to make a reservation,” said the website zrankings.com, which touts itself as the ski travel experts. The Ikon Pass also requires reservations for use at some resorts, such as Aspen Snowmass. A $150 upgrade to the Ikon allowed buyers to ski or ride five days at Aspen Snowmass resorts as well as five days at Jackson Hole this winter. Data wasn’t immediately available from Aspen Snowmass on use of ski passes versus lift tickets last season. In addition to its own passes and the Ikon, Skico also participates in the Mountain Collective ski pass. The national trend of increased season pass use parallels the ramping up of competition between the two industry heavyweights. Alterra Mountain Co. was created in April 2017 to challenge Vail Resorts’ industry domination. Vail was adding to its lineup of resorts and heavily promoting its Epic Pass — a relatively inexpensive product good at multiple resorts. Alterra was formed by KSL Capital Partners LLC and the Lester Crown family, owners of Aspen Skiing Co. Alterra created the Ikon Pass to counter the Epic. In a book about ski industry changes, “Ski Inc. 2020,” Chris Diamond wrote that the “mega-passes” are good for the resorts and good for consumers. The cutthroat competition gives skiers and riders access to the slopes at a good price, Diamond said. The resorts benefit because the passes encourage people to ski more often and spend more on ski lessons, rentals and dining. Skiers and riders also return more often to resorts that used to be once-in-a-lifetime experience, he said. A variety of other passes are offered, though none with the same firepower as the Epic and Ikon. The Epic Pass provides unlimited access to 37 ski resorts and additional days at several other North American and international resorts. The full Ikon Pass provides unlimited access at 15 resorts and up to seven days each at another 27 destinations. The Mountain Collective provides two days of skiing each at 23 participating resorts. Smaller resorts are trying not to get lost in the shuffle. The Indy Pass added 15 resorts to its lineup this season. It now provides access to 59 small, independent resorts in North America. Plan released to minimize massive wildfires in West Effort to remove or change vegetation explored by BLM KEITH RIDLER Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — U.S. officials on Friday released an overarching plan for removing or changing vegetation over a huge swath of the U.S. West to stop devastating wildfires on land used for cattle ranching, recreation and habitat for imperiled sage grouse. The plan released by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management aims to limit wildfires in a 350,000-square-mile area of mainly sagebrush habitat that includes parts of Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Utah. The plan, which cost about $2 million, originated during the Obama administration as officials sought to avoid listing sage grouse as protected under the Endangered Species Act, which could have severely limited mining, ranching and recreation. Giant rangeland wildfires in recent decades have destroyed vast areas of sagebrush steppe ecosystems that support some 350 species of wildlife. Experts say the blazes have mainly been driven by cheatgrass, an invasive species that relies on fire to spread to new areas while killing native plants, including sagebrush on which sage grouse depend. Sage grouse were never listed but remain imperiled. The Trump administration, while lifting restrictions on mining and other extractive industries, moved ahead with efforts to control the giant blazes that typically also destroy rangeland needed by cattle ranchers. “Restoring sagebrush communities improves the sustainability of working rangelands and can reduce the expansion of invasive annual grasses,” Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley said in a statement. “People in the Great Basin depend on these landscapes for their livelihoods and recreation, and wildlife rely on them for habitat.” The plan released Friday does not authorize any specific projects. Instead, its analysis can be used to OK treatments for projects involving prescribed fires, fuel breaks and other measures to prevent or limit massive blazes that have worsened in recent decades. U.S. land managers typically analyze proposed projects by writing environmental impact statements to avoid inadvertently harming some aspect of the environment. The plan released Friday is called a programmatic environmental impact statement. Its analysis can be used to help OK “project-level” environmental impact statements without having to duplicate previous studies, saving time and money, officials said. Specifically, the agency said the document can be used to help local land managers comply with an environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act, when land managers seek approval for specific projects. Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, blasted the document as essentially a way to manage land to benefit ranchers while harming wildlife. “With this project, the BLM is clearly trying to write itself a blank check to do large and damaging vegetation removal without any further input or detailed analysis,” he said. “This is an agency whose track record of vegetation manipulation has overwhelmingly resulted in habitat destruction.” In a related matter, the bureau last summer approved a plan to limit wildfires in sagebrush habitat in Idaho, Oregon, California and Nevada by building some 11,000 miles of fuel breaks on strips of land up to 165 yards wide. Ecologists have offered mixed responses on that plan, noting it will fragment habitat and likely harm some wildlife, including sage grouse. However, they note, the massive and at times unstoppable wildfires can destroy huge chunks of habitat. The plan released Friday could lead to more fuel breaks. Other treatments include mechanical removal of vegetation, prescribed fire, targeted grazing by cattle and revegetation. |