812-Uncmw Farming, Saturday, February 5, 1994
BY PAT DURKIN
National Geographic
New's Service
WASHINGTON, D.C. Like
ranks of metal geysers, thousands
of snow machines spray plumes of
tiny ice crystals into the freezing
air, laying down a base for skiers
on previously barren mountain
sides. Snow-making has become
increasingly common in the
United States and Europe since
the 19705. It was discovered in the
19S0s by an inventor in Massa
chusetts who, while working on a
misting machine for Florida
orange groves, inadvertently
created a 4-inch snowfall one chil
ly night.
Machihe-made snow has
caused an escalating dispute
between resort operators and con
servationists. The water used in
making it often comes from near
by streams. At issue is what the
withdrawal does to wintering
wildlife.
“People assume it doesn’t hurt
to take water out of a system in the
winter, but they’re wrong,” says
Dale Pontius, a vice president of
American Rivers, a Washington
based environmental
organization.
But, says Candy Moot, associ
ate director of the Vermont Ski
Areas Association, “When people
spend $4O for a lift ticket, they
want snow.”
It lakes 150,000 gallons of
water to cover an acre with a foot
of snow, experts say. It’s not
uncommon for ski resorts, espe
cially those in the eastern United
States, to cover 70 to 80 percent of
their trails with man-made snow.
When water in a stream drops
below critical levels in winter,
young trout become entombed in
ice blocks. Salmon eggs incubat
ing in shallow beds dry up. Hiber
nating frogs and turtles freeze in
exposed mud beds.
Also at risk are even smaller
organisms, called macroinverte
brates, that are essential to the
aquatic food chain. Mayflies, sow
bugs and scuds, which live in
streambeds, depend on a constant
supply of water for oxygen and
insulation from harsh winter
temperatures.
“If you have a withdrawal that
dries up the stream for several
hours, or even worse for several
days, the entire aquatic life system
likely would be eliminated,” says
Vem Lang in the New England
office of the U.S Fish and Wildlife
Service.
Although there have been no
reports that this has yet happened,
conservationists worry that it may
be only a matter of time.
* 2 Sizes In Stock
* 8 Cu. Ft. Assembled w/Solld Front
w/20” Wheels Pneumatic, $129.00
* 15 Cu. Ft. Assembled w/Removable
Front w/26” Wheels Pneumatic,
$160.00
Elam M. Ebcrsol
558 Gibbons Road
Blrd-ln-Hand, PA 17505
Call Answering Service
717-354-5561
Peeler Inquiries Welcome
The height of the sld season
coincides with the time when
mountain streams are driest. Pre
cipitation in the form of snow
tends to stay frozen on hillsides.
Winter droughts, such as New
England has experienced in recent
years, exacerbate the problem.
Conservationists concede that
it’s a difficult point to make. “It’s
an invisible problem,” says Lewis
Mumford, an attorney with the
Conservation Law Foundation in
Boston. “People have no idea
what’s at stake.”
For five years the foundation
has been battling with Vermont’s
Sugarbush Resort over the resort’s
plans to increase withdrawals
from Mad River.
Conservationists and fishermen
say the plans to begin making
snow at Sugarbush South, part of
the ski complex, would put stream
organisms at untenable risk.
Resort officials counter that
their very future is at risk. Sugar
bush was known a decade ago as
the “Aspen pf the East.” Since
then, it has lost a third of its
customers.
Today New England’s skiers
prefer places like Maine’s Sunday
River, where they can depend on a
deep base, whether it has snowed
or not. Sunday River, which
started as a small resort, began
snow-making on 93 percent of its
slopes a decade ago. Now it’s the
No. 2 resort in the East
Snow-making extends the ski
season by a month or more at
either end. It makes downhill ski
ing possible where it wasn’t
before, as in the mid-Atlantic
states. Man-made snow, which
actually is ice crystals, stands up
to ski traffic better than the real
thing.
With those advantages, ski
operators are prepared to fight
hard for permits. They often need
local and federal approval to with
draw water for snow-making.
The fight has centered in Ver
mont. Several ski areas in the state
have spent millions on legal fees
seeking the right to make snow.
As the dispute continues, Vermont
has lost 15 percent of its ski
business.
“If it takes five years to get a
permit, Vermont can’t compete,”
says Candy Moot “The knife is at
our throats.”
The snow-making lesson hasn’t
been lost on Western ski areas,
which in the past have promised
skiers some of the Western Hemi
sphere's best snow. But today’s
globe-trotting skiers are just as
likely to hop a budget flight to a
European resort
To stay competitive, Colorado
resorts have begun making snow
but not without opposition. An
alliance of fishermen, environ
mental groups and locals in the
Aspen area successfully blocked
Snowmass Village’s application
for the right to divert almost half
of Snowmass Creek’s winter flow.
Snowmass, like many ski
resorts, is in a national forest It
pays little for the privilege, but
needs a variety of federal permits
to operate.
Permit requirements enable
conservation groups to invoke an
array of environmental laws and
regulations, notably that the Fore
st Service must protect its water
resources.
“In the future, the issues will be
similar to those relating to the tim
ber industry,” says Lewis
Mumford.
But court cases are expensive
and create bad publicity. Mean
while, customers go elsewhere.
Both sides are anxious to move
KEYSTONE GUN-KMTE
CONCRETE
PUMPING
SERVICE
Featuring
• Sidewinder « Concrete Pump • Up To 40 Cubic Yards Per Hour
ISO Ft And HO Ft. Horizontal
CONCRETE SPRAYING SERVICE
• A Am* OfAfflfiq Cmmk
• Repair Retaining Walls • Manure Pit Construction
• Strengthen Existing Masonry • Trench Silo Construction
Walls • Silo Repair
• Reseal Manure Pits
• Agricultural • Commercial • Residential
• Retaining Watts • Bunker Silos • Manure Storage, Etc.
LET OUR EXPERIENCE WORK FOR YOU
ESTABLISHED SINCE 1979!
WE ORIGINATED THE CONCRETE SYSTEM!
Sizes And Layouts
To Your Specifications
We Work Hard
For Customer
Satisfaction!
KEYSTONE GUN-KRETE
II Poplar Street Gordonvflle, PA 17SS
(717) 768-3641
Commodity Bins And Trench Silos
Authorized Dealer For
KEYSTONE
CONCRETE PRODUCTS
• Hog & • Trench
Cattle Silo
Slats Walls
• H-Bunks • J-Bunks
Problems With
Higi compress irom a snow-mat
machine change to Ice crystals at the Lake Tahoe ski area
on the Callfomla-Nevada border.
f KEN CLUGSTON \
\ (717) 665-6775 \
\ CRAFT-BILT \
I CONSTRUCTION INC. \
| FARM-HOME BUILDING \
1242 Breneman Road y
MANHEIM, PA 17545 t
PH: (717) 665-4372 t
**Pt/
**■ * turn*
\ BUILDING & REMODELING FOR t
| DAIRY RESIDENTIAL \
\ SWINE POLE BUILDINGS }
|beef STORAGE \
INC.
430 Concrete Ave., Leola, PA
717-656-2016