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COAL BASIN <br /> ITS POTENTIAL FOR POSTMINING USE AS A SKI AREA <br /> February 1980 <br /> By Paul I. Hauk, Consultant <br /> (Retired in 1977 as Staff Officer - starting in 1957 - in charge of the <br /> Recreation, Land Uses, Minerals and Watershed Management functions on <br /> the White River National Forest, Glenwood Springs, Colorado) <br /> ABSTRACT: An appraisal of the skiing potential -- primarily as a lift- <br /> served ski area -- in and immediately adjacent to Coal Basin and gener- <br /> ally west of Restone, Colorado. Even though the overall area lacks <br /> certain terrain features to rate as "outstanding", such as the Snowmass <br /> and Vail ski areas, the southeast one-third of the Basin has the poten- <br /> tial (with some slope modifications) to make a "good" medium-size public <br /> ski area. <br /> Such a development - on private and National Forest lands - would be a <br /> feasible and appropriate postmining use of the area in conjunction with <br /> most of the existing multi-million dollar coal mining support facilities <br /> constructed during the past twenty-four years by Mid-Continent Resources, <br /> Inc. of Carbondale, Colorado. The reclamation plan required by the <br /> "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977" (P.L. 95-87, 91 <br /> Stat. 445) , provides for such alternative action as set forth in Sec- <br /> tions 784.15, 810.1 and 2, and particularly in Section 817.133 of the <br /> surface mining and reclamation regulations of the U. S. Department of <br /> Interior. <br /> The above conclusion is based on thirty years experience in ski area <br /> feasibility work, ski area administration, avalanche control and related <br /> training workshops, the inventory of potential ski areas on the White <br /> River National Forest during the late 1960's, and special use permits <br /> for all of the ski areas on the White River Forest. Details covering <br /> this experience follows the "Summary and Conclusions" section. <br />