News Release

US Forest Service
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit 
35 College Drive
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Public Affairs (530) 543-2627
Fax: (530) 543-2743

Date: January 16, 2009
Contact: Public Affairs, Cheva Heck (530) 543-2608 or Rex Norman (530) 543-2627

Public Comment Sought for Drilling of Heavenly Resort Test Wells

South Lake Tahoe, CA. --The US Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) is seeking comments on a proposal to drill two exploratory snowmaking water wells at Heavenly Mountain Resort. The Proposed Action is intended to confirm water availability for snowmaking on trails that are located within Heavenly's Forest Service-administered Special Use Permit boundary. The proposed test wells are outside of the Lake Tahoe Basin (watershed boundary) and are on the Nevada side of the ski mountain. The proposed exploratory water wells will be drilled in July and August 2009.

Currently, Heavenly Resort purchases the water used for snowmaking on the Nevada side of the resort from the Kingsbury General Improvement District. However, Heavenly and the LTBMU currently own and control valid ground water rights appropriated through the Nevada State Engineer's Office. If pumping tests for these two wells have favorable results, permanent wells could be installed in the future.

The proposal is to drill two exploratory water wells south of the Galaxy lift's top terminal. One test well would be located on an existing ski trail near the intersection of Lower Milky Way and Orion's Belt Trails. The second test well would be located adjacent to the existing Mott Canyon summer maintenance road. Both sites will be accessible by existing summer maintenance roads.

If the exploratory wells are successful, they will be temporarily cased and capped consistent with State of Nevada Division of Water Resources requirements. This proposal only covers the test well drilling. Conversion of the exploratory wells to permanent production wells would be subject to further National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation and approval. If the exploratory wells are unsuccessful, they will be abandoned consistent with Nevada state requirements.

The proposal can be viewed at the LTBMU website: www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu/projects.

How to Comment and Timeframe
If you have information the Forest Service may not be aware of, or feel you have issues regarding potential effects of the Proposed Action, please send your comments to Matt Dickinson, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, 35 College Dr., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

Written, facsimile, hand-delivered, oral, and electronic comments concerning the Heavenly Mountain Resort Exploratory Snowmaking Water Wells should be submitted by February 23, 2009. The office business hours for those providing hand-delivered comments are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Oral comments may be provided during normal business hours via telephone (530) 543-2769 or in person. Electronic comments must be submitted in a format such as an email message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), or Word (.doc ) to comments-pacificsouthwest-LTBMU@fs.fed.us (please put "Heavenly Mountain Exploratory Water Wells" in the subject line).

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