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May 24, 2005

Doing something new in the mountains

by Shayla Ashmore
Managing Editor

One of the reasons I love this job is the opportunity I often have to talk to visionary people about their plans for Lassen County. pharmaoffshore.com

I spoke to two such visionaries last week who are among a group of people planning an environmental development for the Dyer Mountain Four Season Resort in Westwood.

Some might say the term environmental development is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. But everything they told me convinced me Dyer Mountain Associates is trying to do something new in the mountains.

“We will be managing timber on site both around the houses and to the top of the mountain in perpetuity,” said DMA Resource Manager Jerry Duffy. “It’s set up to be done that way so that we always have trees and by and large always have bigger trees.”

DMA will thin trees and clean up brush on the ground to produce healthy trees. Clean forestry will also drastically reduce the fire danger.

Fire can be an environmental tool, but recent crown fires that leave only scorched earth are also undoubtedly the greatest environmental danger in California.
DMA also has some visionary plans for fighting fire, planning to put hydrants in the forest “we can hook up to and have water as opposed trying to go find a stream to pump out of like you would in a woodland fire.”

Three golf courses will be built with sprinklers that can shoot out into the forest, creating firebreaks up to 300 feet wide. Duffy said the snowmaking machines will also supply pumped water all over the mountain. He said it would be foolish not to plan for fire protection.

In a fire situation, Duffy wants to tell homeowners they are as safe on Dyer Mountain as anywhere they can be. He said the resort will have its on fire trucks own site in a few short weeks.

DMA also plans to promote public transportation to the resort, providing bus access right to ski lifts. Duffy said vacation homeowners at Lake Almanor have already told him they will spend winter months in the area if their grandkids can ski.

“If you take public transportation we’re going to drop you off right at the lift,” Duffy said. “If you want to bring your car, you’re going to have to go through some hassle. So why wouldn’t you, if you live as close as East Shore, West Shore, Susanville, why wouldn’t you take public transportation?”

DMA Marketing Director Jerry Armosino said public transportation will be the safest way to send kids from nearby communities for a day of skiing.

Even homeowners will be encouraged to leave their cars in safe lots and use alternative forms of transportation. Armosino said people will be able to bike into town or walk all over the mountain.

DMA envisions visitors leaving Dyer Mountain with a story to tell about a place where the trees are green, there’s wildlife everywhere and it’s quiet because there aren’t a lot of cars.

He said people will be able to say they are comfortable at Dyer, because they don’t feel like they’re trampling on nature.

DMA will also train employees to protect the environment.

“That’s going to be a part of our brand,” Armosino said. “This is a green place. Your grandchildren, if you work with our program, can come here and have 5he same experience you and the guests who are here are having right now.”

He said the pride in the community will be passed from generation to generation with the employees exerting peer pressure to maintain that pride and make the resort successful for generations into the future.

In some ways, DMA employees seem more concerned about the local environment than some people whose families have lived here for generations

Whether their vision will ever become reality is for history to judge. But without visionary people I’d be scratching this on a rock, if I could write at all, so at the very least, they keep life interesting.

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News Releases

>>Environmental review officer extends comment period May 24, 2005	>>Water, traffic and fire protection top discussion of DEIR May 24, 2005
>>Planning Commission convenes in Westwood for public hearing on Dyer Mountain EIR May 10, 2005	>>Doing something new in the mountains May 24, 2005
>>Westwood PinePress Wednesday, March 10, 2004	>>San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, March 29, 2001
>>Westwood PinePress Wednesday, April 7, 2004	>>Paid Advertisement: Lassen County Times Wednesday, October 25, 2000