SAVE DONNER SUMMIT
Castle peak in background; skating on Lake Serena

Conservation Communities? Not quite!

Foster Syme are presenting their development plan as 'Conservation Communities' and 'Camps' but what does that really mean as it relates to this proposed development?

Well my dictionary defines conservation as:
'The act of conserving, preserving, guarding or protecting; preservation from loss, decay injury or violation'

So just how does the proposed development plan fit that definition? The developers claim that they will "respect the land's natural carrying capacity" and will preserve "scenic, environmentally and culturally sensitive areas as open space" while their "Goal" is to "Conserve sensitive and scenic lands in perpetuity". But the details of the plan belie these public relations driven statements.

The plan calls for four sets of high to medium density developed areas, areas all previously undeveloped if not undisturbed. The four areas are: Van Norden Meadow in Soda Springs (Summit Camp), the Razorback ridge area above Serene Lakes (Ski Camp), the Point Mariah warming hut area (Wilderness Camp) and the area just west of the current Summit Station Lodge (Lake Camp).

In addition to these four scattered developments, the developers plan to build as many as 20 "Forest Homes" scattered throughout the entire development area, 3 ski lifts, 3 areas for employee housing, a relocated Summit Station (in Van Norden Meadow), 2 maintenance yards, an elevated road over the train tracks, an "improved intersection" at Old 40 and various and sundry "cabins", barns and fishing shacks spread throughout. This is forest sprawl at its finest.

What this plan does not include, but is still on the books, is an additional 18 homes in the Van Norden Meadow which are proposed to be developed under "Separate Plans" already under consideration by Nevada County.

The developers say these will be "Green" buildings, but Green building cannot exist where traditional models of road grading, deforestation and surface and sub surface water sources are impacted. These plans as proposed clearly require major earthwork and grading as well as substantial logging and watercourse "improvements" all of which will cause considerably increased sedimentation and other water clarity issues in Serene Lakes, the North Fork of the American River and the Yuba from it's headwaters in Van Norden Meadow.

Ski lifts, as we mountain users know, are both visual and environmental disasters for any formerly undeveloped area. I encourage each of you to read Downhill Slide, a shocking expose on the reasons for and repercussions of ski area development, such as is proposed by Foster Syme. If you are in the camp of folks who believe a ski "camp" would add value to our area, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the books' conclusions. I won't write any more on this topic since it is so thoroughly and admirably covered by Hal Clifford in Downhill Slide.

Another book well worth reading is Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate an invaluable resource written by Alex Wilson of the Rocky Mountain Institute (http://www.rmi.org/). The book will show you that development can be "Green", but you will also clearly see that this specific proposed development is not. Both books are available through (Barnes and Noble.)

For additional information on how development can (and should) improve an area, financially, environmentally and socially, check out our local organization (The Sierra Business Council.) Their mission statement is: "Working to secure the social, natural and financial health of the Sierra Nevada for this and future generations." They have an amazingly good business model for doing things right, in a way that all people benefit from any development.

This plan does not meet the dictionary definition of conservation or any realistic measuring stick of "conservation" in common use.

Camp is defined thusly in my dictionary:
"The place where an army or other body of men is or has been encamped; the collection of tents or other erections for the accommodation of a number of men, particularly troops. To put into a lodge or camp, as an army."

Now thank goodness, this is not the vision we (or the Foster Syme partnership presumably) have when we think of camping.

We envision families sleeping in tents and sitting at picnic tables and around fire pits spending time together, telling ghost stories and enjoying the quiet and solitude of the unspoiled outdoors. Camping is casual, rustic, undeveloped and often quite dirty, all things in its favor if you love the wilderness.

So again, how does the Foster Syme model meet this vision?

Well again, based on the description provided by the developers themselves of the scope of the proposed project these are clearly not camps in any meaningful sense of the word. Will there be tents? Possibly. Will there be campfires? Maybe. Will there be picnic benches for families to sit around telling ghost stories late at night? Who knows? None of these features are described in the plan presented by the developers.

We do know there will be lifts and some currently undefined retailers and roads and more lights dimming the night skies and grooming equipment (downhill and cross country) running late at night and increased noise and traffic and pollution and... and on ad naseum. Nothing even remotely related to camping as we know it.

So, "conservation" and "camps"--not in any world based in reality!

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