First of all I am not attacking a family per se but I am saying that profiting off public land is wrong. And it sets the precedent that if you develop one area, why not another, Secondly, development is precisely what has brought us to this point in world history where there are rampant wildfires and other extreme weather conditions due to man-made climate change (just look at the weather over the last 72 hours here). We need to think of outdoor wild-life habitats not as a commodity to develop but ones to preserve. I don't know if you've noticed all of the out-of-state licence plates from people trying to flee Covid hot-spots, they are coming here and buying properties and soon this place will be like California. What makes New Mexico special is that it is an amazingly beautiful and largely preserved geography. Why anyone would want to upend that is foreign to me. Third, yes, there is a ski lift structure built as it is obviously a ski area, which I consider a carbon-neutral, natural activity. Building a mountain coaster will be far more invasive and hideos to look at. Deer and other wildlife will absolutely stay away. The ski area is the one place where I am consistently able to ride among deer and I would hate to see that go. Moreover if anyone believes that vacationers will decide to come to NM to ride a mountain coaster are mistaken. What brings people here are unspoiled natural lands. We need to protect that.

On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 1:10 PM Aaro Heinonen via Bike-racers <bike-racers@mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

Counterpoint:

I have worked at Purgatory resort in July for most of the past 11 summers. Development and tourism have bred more development and tourism and sadly, traffic. 11 years ago I would ride from Durango to Silverton, or even Ouray, but not today. Once past Purgatory resort the constant stream of traffic in both directions and narrow roads make it a less than wonderful experience. 11 summers ago I would carry bear spray on my 6 am runs from the resort. Now, I just have to be mindful of the constant traffic: campers, motor homes, construction trucks and commuters traveling to Silverton or Durango.
I can't see the benefit to cyclists of even more development and tourism to the area. Four years ago I encountered a bear at the four mile marker while riding solo up to the Crest. It would be nice to continue to have those experiences. I think I already encounter enough vehicular traffic.

Aaro Paavo Heinonen

On Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 11:39:42 AM MDT, powergwa--- via Bike-racers <bike-racers@mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

Counterpoints: The mountain coaster at Purgatory / DMR is completely compatible with skiing and cycling and provides an income stream to the area in the off season. This provides pay to employees and funds for mountain maintainence and improvements. The winter-serving equipment at Sandia Peak, as a designated recreation area, could use significant upgrades. Having worked/volunteered at multiple ski areas, I have witnessed them to be rational environmental stewards, and compromising entities on multi-use issues. Several of the owners of Sandia Peak are excellent cyclists and supportive of the sport.

Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque is irrelevant with respect to this project. Your statements on destroying the 10k et. al trails are not true; this is from the environmental Q&A that you referenced:

4 to 5 switchbacks of the Golden Eagle mountain bike trail would be rerouted to accommodate the coaster.
The coaster would not affect the 10K Trail, King of the Mountain Trail or South Crest Trail.

-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin Ubayyed via Bike-racers <bike-racers@mailman.swcp.com>
To: NM Bike Racers <bike-racers@swcp.com>
Sent: Tue, Sep 8, 2020 10:20 pm
Subject: [NMCycling] Sandia Ski Area Roller Coaster Publc Comment

Hey Folks.

I can't believe that we are revisiting this stupid project but the forrest service is asking for comments regarding a roller coaster that a private interest wants to build in federal/public land up at Sandia skia area. This would probably destroy the 10k and Golden Eagle trails and even if not it would render them useless due to conflicting seasonal usage. To my way of thinking, in a time of climate change and rampant forest fires, we need to conserve rather than develop public lands. Besides we already have a roller coaster in town. Anyway I hope you will feel similarly and are willing to make such a comment at the forest service website, which we are able to do through December. Here is the link: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput

--

~Benjamin Ubayyed

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