Copper Mountain Essay -- Environmental Issues

Its a sunny October afternoon and Im listening to the breeze gently rustle the tree tops above me. I look down into the creek as I dumbfound here munching on some cashews, and I see trout gliding effortlessly through the crystal-clear pissing. I revel in how incredibly lush the shoreing field isalthough its been a dry summer the ground is still moist, plants are bright and colorful, and wildlife is abound. After I finish my snack and tuck my scratch away into my backpack, I continue my hike up this parcel of land that is may soon become barren with towers of steel and wire draping the landscape. I wonder to myself what will become of these fish, or the fresh clean water that runs into the Reeder Reservoir, the source of Ashlands drinking water.According to the Environmental Protection force (EPA), ski area expansions are the most ecological damaging toil that an area can undertake. In a plan revision for the exsanguinous River National Forest in Colorado, regarding the bullshit Mountain Ski use expansion, the EPA hammers that point home when they say that no former(a) land counsel prescription on the Forest directly results in to a greater extent bourgeon-water depletion, wetland impacts, var. pollution, long-lived vegetation change, or permanent habitat loss more wetland impacts and stream depletions resulted from ski area expansion and improvement than from all other Forest management activities combined, including many direct and indirect impacts that are permanent (irreversible and irretrievable). Meanwhile, skier numbers nationally have only increased just dickens percent since 1978(source). Which begs the question, why have ski area sizes more than manifold in acreage to the tune of 107%(source)? Mt. Ashlands future expansion for certain isnt needed due t... ...ts past development and expansion of the Copper Mountain ski area as major factor in the degradation of the watershed and local water quality. Impacts include increased tip scarpers, increased water temperature, increased erosion and sediment transport, and decrease flow due to snowmaking activities. The USDA has taken exhaustive steps to help assuage the damage caused by the expansion at a great fiscal cost to taxpayers. The USDA has had to redesign all stream crossings to allow for higher(prenominal) stream flows and to withstand expected floods. They also performed physical modifications of the stream patterns and stream geometry to improve long term stream health. Environmental Scorecard implicated locals first brought attention to the Environmental Scorecard in November of 2008 after an clause published in the local newspaper, Ashland Daily Tidings, appeared.