Clear back in 2002, FOMH joined with seventeen other conservation groups to stop a destination resort planned for the north side of Mount Hood. The groups formed the Cooper Spur Wild & Free Coalition, and, working with the Hood River Valley Residents Committee (HRVRC), they were successful in convincing the Hood River County authorities to deny the planned resort. (See “Cooper Spur Land Trade” under Actions)
The developer, Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort, had assembled almost 800 acres on the historic north side of the mountain made famous by Cloud Cap, Tilly Jane, and Cooper Spur.
Meadows agreed to go into negotiations with the HRVRC in order to find an agreeable solution. Meadows identified 120 acres of federal land adjoining the ski town of Government Camp that had been set aside for future expansion. Meadows agreed to abandon their north side plans if the government would do an exchange of the 800 acres for the 120 acres.
With the backing of thousands of citizens represented by the groups that had stopped the planned resort, Meadows asked the Forest Service to make the land exchange. However, the Forest Service refused, claiming that it was not in the public’s interest.
The congressional delegation of Oregon disagreed. Congress wrote a bill that was signed into law in 2009, and this law instructed the Forest Service to perform the land exchange within sixteen months of the signing.
Meadows has spent six years trying to meet the terms of the land exchange without success. Finally, saying, “Enough is enough!”, HRVRC has filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service for failure to follow the directives of the law.
News of the filing of the lawsuit and other relevant links can be found HERE. You can learn much more about this by visiting the HRVRC website.