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J.32124 Record of Decision CONDITIONS No summer activities will be pennitted until the construction of the on-mountain facilities and base village development are complete or far enough along to not jeopardize the safety of the visiting public. A hardened well defined trail will be developed prior to the public being allowed to access the area south of the interpretive facility. There will be an interpretive program and/or educational materials available to inform and educate the public about the sensitive nature of the fragile alpine ecosystems. The eating/picnic facility and restrooms will be operational in conjunction with the sky ride. No lift assisted or outfitter guide assisted mountain biking access to the top of the Aspen Highlands Ski Area will be permitted. The Proposed summer activity will be allowed to occur between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. ADMINISTRATIVE MODIFICATIONS SPECIAL USE PERMIT BOUNDARY It is required that I consider whether the acreage included under a ski areas's Special Use Pennit to be sufficient and appropriate to accommodate the pennittee's needs for operations and appropriate ancillary facilities (16 USC 497b Sec.3(b)3). The EIS identified those areas which may not be needed for such purposes. Under Alternative C, this would include the Maroon Bowl area and the area down slope from the Steeplechase Catwalk. Figure I identifies the authorized Special Use Pennit boundary. The Special Use Pennit boundary has been reduced from 2.213 to 1.561 acres. This is approximately a 30 percent decrease in pennitted acres. I have carefully considered this situation, my responsibility, and the status of other planning efforts. The Forest Plan revision is now underway and is expected to be completed in 1999. This process offers a format to examine long-range needs associated with additional ski terrain in a comprehensive fashion. Accordingly, the area noted above will be removed from the penn it 10 the Aspen Skiing Company until such time as their disposition is addressed in the larger context of the Forest Plan. HIGHLANDS PERMITTED CAPACITY The current pennitted capacity for the Aspen Highlands Ski Area is 4,500 SAOT. The EIS analysis has indicated that the limiting factor is the initial access (Exhibition I and Thunderbowl lifts). The analysis shows a initial access capacity of about 3.500 SAOrs. Therefore, I am adjusting the pennitted daily skier capacity to 3.500 SAOT. This is a reduction of 1,000 SAOrs from the previously pennitted capacity. In order to assure that this daily capacity is not exceeded, the Aspen Skiing Company will be required to supply daily capacity numbers to the Forest Service. When skier days reach or exceed 3,500 SAOrs on ten (] 0) or more days of the ski season, a mutually acceptable strategy for limiting numbers will have been jointly devised and implemented. Administrative Modificalions High/wids Permitted Capacity 13