Podcast appearances and mentions of Forest service

In Episode 7 of the Backcountry Report, Chris reports from the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting and covers major conservation news, including Minnesota's Boundary Waters mining debate, NOAA's revised recreational fishing data, proposed Clean Water Act changes, and the future of the Roadless Rule and Forest Service travel management. The episode also features updates from Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, and Texas, plus ways to support public lands during Public Lands Month.  Show Notes:  Help Us Get to 1 Million Signatures and Save Our Public Lands - https://www.savepubliclands.us/  Roadless Rule: A Closer Look at the Record: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/roadless-rule-a-closer-look-at-the-record  Roadless Rule: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/maintain-national-forest-roadless-areas/  Travel Management: Take Action - https://takeaction.io/bha/speak-up-for-responsible-travel-management-on-our-national-forests/  Outdoor Life - EPA to Reopen Comment on Clean Water Act Rewrite That Could Leave 80 Percent of U.S. Wetlands Unprotected https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/epa-wotus-public-comment/  Colorado's Ammendment 83 - https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/amendment-83-colorados-right-to-hunt-and-fish Texas BHA Adopt-An-Access Initiative: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/news/details/texas-bha-chapter-and-tpwd-enter-agreement-for-adopt-an-access-initiative  Forged & Found Online Auction - https://go.bhafundraising.org/forgedandfound26/Campaign/Details  Join Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the voice for your wild public lands, waters, and wildlife to be part of a passionate community of hunter-angler-conservationists.  BHA. THE VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE.  Follow us:  Web:  www.backcountryhunters.org Instagram: @backcountryhunters  Facebook: @backcountryhunters 

After more than a century away, one tiny bird is finding its way back to Missouri. In this episode of Nature Boost, we head into restored shortleaf pine woodlands in Mark Twain National Forest to witness the final year of Brown-headed Nuthatch reintroduction efforts. These little birds (who sound like rubber duckies!) once called Missouri home, but habitat changes pushed them out. But thanks to MDC, the U.S. Forest Service, Ouachita National Forest and Northern Research Station, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and many other partners, these birds are so back. Join Jill and Missouri State Ornithologist Kristen Heath-Acre to learn how habitat restoration, partnerships, and a little assist from conservationists brought the Brown-headed Nuthatch back to Missouri.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: Are Texas Democrats, through a Soros-funded PAC, effectively paying people to vote? One of the group's own managers says “Yes!”Also, more alarming anti-moral, anti-Christian items coming from little Jimmy “The Creep” Talarico's Austin so-called “church”: Lesbian “Minister” at James Talarico's “Church” Brags About Him Fooling People As a Moderate (WATCH) Why Is James Talarico Silent About Reported Support for Political Violence Among Members of His Church? – the key part of this is not the violence issue but the media double standard we've lived through seemingly forever. Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls on ERCOT to reverse $150,000 retention bonuses for its board members. Why the heck are they paid beyond meeting expenses to begin with? What happened to civic service?For the informed, Bowtie Bully Curtis Parrish's statement today on his phantom commissioner pay scandal is worthy of tremendous derision. He created the problem, involved Meurer in it, made sure the pay checks didn't stop after a court ruled Meurer is not the commissioner, and now acts as if it all just happened and we are to feel sorry for Meurer when it is Parrish who created the entire affair.Texas Teacher Misconduct Reports Triple in 2026 reports Erin Anderson of  Texas Scorecard.Get updates on Texas Wildfires here. The Forest Service responded to 8 active wildfires yesterday.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

For decades, stories of alleged Sasquatch encounters have emerged from some of America's most remote forests—but what happens when the witnesses are park rangers, military personnel, government scientists, and other public officials? And if such reports have reached government agencies over the years, what records might exist documenting what witnesses claimed to have seen? This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we revisit the strange intersection of Sasquatch and the U.S. government, beginning with an eerie military encounter before examining references to Bigfoot on U.S. Forest Service websites, a remarkable series of incidents preserved in the historical records of Crater Lake National Park, and documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. We also explore alleged encounters around Yellowstone, the story of a man who tracked Sasquatch for the state of Wyoming, and testimony from researchers and witnesses who have spent decades pursuing one of North America's most enduring mysteries. SHOW NOTES Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode. NEWS: Department of War Issues Legal W aiver to Authorize Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Disclosures to PURSUE  BURLISON: Democratic Allies Must Join Forces in the Race for UAP Disclosure - The Debrief  SASQUATCH AND GOVERNMENT Lower Trinity Ranger District, "famous for Bigfoot, achieving notoriety through the years as a hub for sightings."  Jackson Campground: "It's a popular site in the area, as it's the only known bigfoot trap in the world!" SIGHTINGS 1978: Two gov't geologists witness hominoid creature cross road about 30 min. east of Yellowstone Park's East Gate 1980: Memory told of heavy, bipedal running heard while camping in Yellowstone National Park 1993: Three field biologists describe possible sasquatch vocalizations outside Big Sky 1994: Family sees massive ape just after daybreak near Grand Teton National Park 1997: Sighting by a motorist near the park entrance approach from Cody 1997: Sighting near Yellowstone Park entrance by two witnesses cutting wood 2002: Noon sighting by family of four near Mount Washburn, Yellowstone National Park BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS. Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as "classic" episodes, weekly "additional editions" of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more. Like us on Facebook Follow @MicahHanks on X. Keep up with Micah and his work at micahhanks.com. Want to advertise/sponsor The Micah Hanks Program? We have partnered with AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program

The news of Texas covered today includes:Our Lone Star story of the day: After investigations of the larger raw numbers of data mismatches, the Texas Secretary of State identified 117 cases of likely non-citizen illegal voting and has referred such to the Office of Attorney General. Meanwhile, A.G. Paxton's office has announced the arrest of 7 for illegal voting that it has already been working on.Our Lone Star story of the day is sponsored by Allied Compliance Services providing the best service in DOT, business and personal drug and alcohol testing since 1995.Lubbock Co. payroll scandal: Demonstrating that I've gotten it right from the beginning, Mr. Meurer releases a statement claiming Bowtie Bully Curtis Parrish encouraged his getting paid as a county commissioner even when he was not serving as such. Think about what Parrish was effectively telling Mr. Meurer. He was saying that Meurer is entitled to full-time pay for the many months, could be years, Meurer was NOT serving as a county commissioner, due to court order, if he were to prevail eventually in the legal case. This exposes Bowtie Bully' extreme lack of ethical standards.Once again, someone too lazy to simply do a quick search and check, says I reported something “false and deserves correction and apology.” Sorry there Listener, but it is you who got it wrong. I did not talk about the halftime interview but what happened at the end of the UT game with Sarkisian and Holly Rowe.Get updates on Texas Wildfires here. The Forest Service says it responded to 13 new wildfires yesterday!ERCOT says Texas grid handled record-setting summer demand. Also: ERCOT reverses $6.4 million CEO contract after Dan Patrick objects. He's right to object.Listen on the radio, or station stream, at 5pm Central. Click for our radio and streaming affiliates.www.PrattonTexas.com

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when you connect people to nature? For Carolyn Ashworth, President & CEO of FIND Outdoors, that connection is at the heart of their work.FIND Outdoors grew out of the Cradle of Forestry in Western North Carolina and today works across North Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky, helping people experience public lands through campgrounds, visitor centers, recreation sites, guided experiences and education.Carolyn's connection to the Cradle is personal. She spent time there as a kid, inspired by a Forest Service neighbor who seemed to have her dream job. Decades later, she returned to the place that helped shape her—this time as the leader of FIND Outdoors.We talk about the history of the Cradle of Forestry, the changing role of partnerships in caring for public lands, the challenges facing these places, and why connecting people to nature can inspire them to care about and protect the places they love.Along the way, we explore some of the remarkable places FIND Outdoors helps manage—from the Cradle of Forestry and Carolina Hemlocks in Western North Carolina to Brasstown Bald and Anna Ruby Falls in Georgia and Red River Gorge in Kentucky.They also talk about wonder, stewardship, public lands as our shared heritage, and the experiences that remind us just how incredible the places around us really are.Discover. Connect. Care. Protect.A conversation with FIND Outdoors about the people, places and experiences that connect us to the outdoors.Mike AndressHost, Exploration Local828-551-9065mike@explorationlocal.comPodcast WebsiteFacebookInstagram: explorationlocal

Heath Perrine of the U.S. Forest Service explains the process to choose the 2026 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. USDA Radio NewslineSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I still write long-form newsletters. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 16.Transcript updateFollowing up on yesterday's feedback, there are now two transcripts available for each podcast:* Substack's transcript: This transcript is auto-generated when I upload the podcast file to Substack, which is the platform that hosts stormskiing.com. This one is cool because you can click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Click the “transcript” button above to access. * Zoom's transcript: Zoom automatically generates this transcript as I record. It should be more or less identical to Substack's transcript, but with names attached to each quote block. The downside of this transcript is that you can't teleport to that point in the pod by clicking on the text block, as you can with Substack's. Another downside: the timestamps are off, since I typically start recording prior to the start of the podcast. I'll work on cleaning this up.So until the robots get smarter, we're stuck with two different transcripts. Both are auto-generated, and I don't proofread either one, as that would be the fastest way to make sure my quick-turnaround, up-to-date podcast turns into a slow-turnaround, out-of-date one. My hope is that Substack will soon hire or invent or weld from raw iron a robot that's smart enough to know who's speaking when. I'll just keep following the robots around and using their hyper-intelligence until they decide to kill me.The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)Stuart Winchester: Welcome to The Storm! I'm your host, Stuart Winchester. It is Tuesday, September 15th, 2026, and I am very excited today to bring you a conversation with the General Manager of Monarch Mountain, Colorado, Chris Haggerty. Now, I've never featured Monarch either on the long-form pod or on the short-form pod.00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:11.000Stuart Winchester: There's never really a reason behind that, other than this is just kind of when it happened. If you run an area, a ski area anywhere in America, I do want to talk to you. I've just never had the opportunity to feature Monarch before, so we will talk about Monarch in just a little bit here.00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:27.000Stuart Winchester: Part of the reason why we're talking about Monarch is because they were one of two Western Mountains to this year join Snow Operating's Snow Pass. Now, the Snow Pass, if you missed the news, it works a lot like the Indy Pass or the Mountain Collective Pass, where you get two days each.00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:37.000Stuart Winchester: at a set number of ski areas. In this case, it's planned to be 14 ski areas for the 2026-27 ski season. And…00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:45.000Stuart Winchester: That product went on sale last Tuesday. I had Snow Operating CEO Joe Heschen on the podcast to talk through it with us.00:10:45.000 --> 00:11:01.000Stuart Winchester: Couple days later, I got an email from Snow Operating saying, Hey, guess what? Our first round of Snow Operating and Snow Triple Play, which are two different products, and I'll explain the difference in a moment, sold out. So we're taking it off sale. We're putting it back on sale next Monday, September 21st.00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:13.000Stuart Winchester: at 10 a.m. Eastern. It will be $349.99 for Snowpass, and $184.99 for Snow Triple Play. Still a pretty good deal. Those products at full price.00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:24.000Stuart Winchester: the prices that Snow Partners gave me, and they anticipate selling both products through Christmas Eve, December 24th, just like they did last year with the first season of the Triple Play.00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:40.000Stuart Winchester: They, the final prices they anticipate will be 3 99 99 for snow pass and 1 99 99 for snow triple play. So you get a nice little discount, particularly with the snow pass, $50 off if you buy it in the next round. So let's talk a little bit about the snow pass because.00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.000Stuart Winchester: When this product debuted.00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:53.000Stuart Winchester: I… I've been saying for years, there's 4 national ski passes, right? There's obviously Epic and Icon, and those have some season pass unlimited tiers at certain mountains.00:11:53.000 --> 00:12:08.000Stuart Winchester: And a limited number of days at other partner mountains. And then you have Indian Mountain Collective, which essentially worked the same way, 2 days at each ski area that is on their roster. Uh, Mountain Collective is more expensive, tends to be your bigger, more high-end resorts, Snowbird, Jackson Hole.00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:23.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, Sun Peaks up in Canada. And Indy tended to be the lesser-known ski areas, but still some really dynamite stuff there, and a lot more ski areas. Mountain Collective always has around 30, and Indy is more like 250, not counting their cross-country.00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:36.000Stuart Winchester: ski areas. So, I always thought there was probably room for a fifth national pass, but I wasn't sure, and as time went on, and more and more mountains joined multi-mountain passes.00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.000Stuart Winchester: I…00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:41.000Stuart Winchester: I thought, okay, maybe there's not room for a fifth national pass. Maybe everyone who's…00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.000Stuart Winchester: who wants to join a pass has, because I know Indy, uh.00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:58.000Stuart Winchester: Now, I'm not saying they don't have standards, but they'll let just about anybody on the pass just to help them get that exposure and that national marketing. But Snow Operating, the outfit that owns Mountain Creek in New Jersey and the indoor big snow ski area in New Jersey, they launched.00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:15.000Stuart Winchester: their Snow Pass, and it's a pretty good roster. Here, I'm gonna share my screen for those of you watching on video, and if you're not watching on video, don't worry, I'm gonna talk through it. So, here's the Snow Triple Play East roster, and here's the Snow Pass roster. Now, the Snow Pass has 14 ski areas on it.00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.000Stuart Winchester: And you get 2 days at each ski area.00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:22.000Stuart Winchester: The Snow Triple Play has…00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:27.000Stuart Winchester: 23 total ski areas on it, and you get 3 days total.00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:43.000Stuart Winchester: across all 23 ski areas. That's why it's so much less expensive. The most days you can use at any ski area is 2, so you can't buy this as a 3-pack Force A Gore Mountain, alright? So, that's the first important.00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:59.000Stuart Winchester: distinction is that Snow Triple Play is a much more limited basket of days. You also don't want to assume that they have the same roster. Just because something's on Snow Pass doesn't mean it's on Snow Triple Play, and vice versa. Snow Triple Play right now has a pretty…00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:15.000Stuart Winchester: Big roster that I wish was on the, uh, Snow Pass, because it has Jiminy Peak in, uh, Massachusetts, and also Cranmore in New Hampshire, which is jointly owned. It has Platykill up in the New York Catskills.00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:30.000Stuart Winchester: It has all these summit ski areas around Quebec. It has Bromont, one of the great eastern townships ski areas. Uh, so that's Snow Triple Play. Snow Triple Play does not have anything in the west. It's all east. It's all east coast, either eastern Canada or eastern New York.00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:45.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, Snow Pass has… it's a pretty interesting roster, and it's a great roster for a very particular type of skier. Now, it does have two ski areas in the West, uh, Snow King, which has been controversial, I'm gonna set that aside, and Monarch, which we'll talk about in a moment.00:14:45.000 --> 00:15:00.000Stuart Winchester: The core of the Snow Pass, and the reason why it makes sense, is because of the south to north line of ski areas that it offers. So if you buy the Snow Pass, again, goes back on sale for $349.99 next Monday, September 21st.00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.000Stuart Winchester: You would get two days each at Bel Air, which is in New York's Catskills.00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.000Stuart Winchester: Gore.00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:16.000Stuart Winchester: higher up in the Adirondacks, and Whiteface, which are all owned and run and operated by the state, all fantastic ski areas. So it's 2 days at each of those, that alone would be worth $350.00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:33.000Stuart Winchester: Then you add in the fact that you get two days at Mountain Creek, which is right there in New Jersey, uh, two days at the indoor snow dome, big snow American dream. Uh, if you have kids, two days at Butternut and two days at Mount Southington in Connecticut. Uh, Butternut is in Massachusetts. They're both day drive distance from New York City.00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:42.000Stuart Winchester: Let them wander around, let them explore. They're both, uh, especially Butternut. It's very up-to-date, very modern lifts, very, very well-run ski area. So…00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.000Stuart Winchester: You have a really great little, you know.00:15:46.000 --> 00:16:03.000Stuart Winchester: 5, 6, 7 ski areas that really make sense. Now, Ski Martok doesn't really make sense. It's all the way up in the middle of nowhere in the, in the Atlantic provinces in, in Canada. Uh, and, and Pleasant Mountain makes less sense. It's, it's up in Maine and, uh, harder to get to from, from the folks who would likely buy this as.00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:13.000Stuart Winchester: But what you have to ask yourself is, okay, the snow pass, that's a pretty good deal, right? It's $349.99 for 2 days each of 14 mountains. Then you look at Indy.00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.000Stuart Winchester: And Indy Pass is 254.00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:34.000Stuart Winchester: uh, alpine ski areas, and it just went off sale for $429 for the base pass. So, it would be 2 days each at all of these, and the… the plus pass, the ND plus pass, was $469. It had no blackouts. Now, the other thing to know about Snow Triple Play.00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:50.000Stuart Winchester: and snow passes, there are a lot of blackouts, okay? So, a lot of these are holidays, you probably expect that. Uh, you know, here I see Big Snow, Oak Mountain, Plattekill, a lot of holiday blackouts, Butternut holiday blackouts, Gore, uh, Bel Air. Bel Air, though, you want to stop.00:16:50.000 --> 00:17:06.000Stuart Winchester: Bel Air is blacked out every Saturday and Sunday. That's a big deal, because when do you probably want to go to Bel Air if you're someone skiing around with your little kids? Probably on a Saturday or Sunday. So, you want to be really careful and really look at these, uh, these blackout dates before you pull the trigger.00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.000Stuart Winchester: on the snow pass. So…00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:14.000Stuart Winchester: So if you have a snow pass, I I'm calling it.00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:18.000Stuart Winchester: A national pass, kind of, uh…00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:24.000Stuart Winchester: out of anticipation, right? It's more of a, I think they'll get there, sort of designation, because right now.00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:40.000Stuart Winchester: it's not really a national pass, right? You have one small skier in Wyoming, one small skier in Colorado. Is someone who lives in New York's metro really going to travel to Colorado just to ski that because they have a snow pass, right? Because it's not cheap to get up to Colorado.00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:56.000Stuart Winchester: And there's a lot of much bigger mountains out there. So… so I think that Snow Pass, much like Indy did when it started in 2019, will grow into a national… a true national pass. Uh, for now, just based on the reputation of the operators, uh, the fact that I think that they will be able to grow this thing, the fact that I…00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:11.000Stuart Winchester: know their relationships with folks all around the country, and how much folks like working with them, I am assuming that this pass will grow up, and if it does, Monarch will be the OG Western partner. So, let's talk more about Monarch now, and I'm gonna bring.00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:13.000Stuart Winchester: Chris Haggerty in.00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:17.000Stuart Winchester: And we will, uh… Chris, how you doing?00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.000Chris Haggerty: I'm doing well today, Stuart. How are you?00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:37.000Stuart Winchester: I'm doing great. All right, you passed the sound check, so I'm going to give you an intro here. Joining us now is the general manager of Monarch Mountain, Colorado. Monarch has six chairlifts serving 1,017 acres of terrain, including the 377-acre no-name expansion that opened last winter.00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:44.000Stuart Winchester: Monarch's 10,727-foot base elevation is the third highest in American skiing.00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:59.000Stuart Winchester: Prior to taking the top job at Monarch in 2024, he spent 21 years as general manager of Mountain Creek, New Jersey. Chris Haggerty is my guest. Chris, welcome to The Storm. Awesome to connect with you. I've really been wanting to spotlight Monarch for a long time now, and I'm so hyped we get to.00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:10.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah. Thanks for having me, and I'm excited to be here and chat Monarch. It's a special place, so excited to share some discussion about it.00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:23.000Stuart Winchester: So, the New Jersey to Colorado pipeline is maybe not necessarily a well-trod one, although there are a surprising amount of IntraWest vets working in the ski industry because of its relationship with IntraWest, but talk to us about…00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:40.000Stuart Winchester: Getting to Monarch, and you were taking over for Randy Stroud, super experienced guy, he was retiring, uh, he'd been there 23 years, a decade as GM, and he stayed on, I believe, for, for a year. So, talk to us about going from New Jersey, where they have a lot of snowmaking, because they have to.00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000Chris Haggerty: Mmhm.00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:47.000Stuart Winchester: to Monarch, where they have no snowmaking, and just what that adjustment period was like, and how you settled into the role.00:19:48.000 --> 00:20:07.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, just a quick story is that, you know, as you mentioned, I was at Mountain Creek for a long time, and, you know, really where I found my love for the ski industry, and after college, I had taken a trip out to Colorado and got my first taste of, like.00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:12.000Chris Haggerty: the Rockies, right? So it's always been something in the back of my mind. Um…00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:28.000Chris Haggerty: And I ended up stumbling upon Monarch. I hadn't been to Monarch before, and I was like, oh, this place looks pretty cool. It definitely screamed the ski independent. I definitely wanted to.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:50.000Chris Haggerty: you know, if I was going to relocate, wanted to find an area where the resort and the local community both had that kind of just feeling of community and stuff. So a monarch was it. And I was blessed to step in after Randy Stroud, and we shared a season together. So I got to learn a lot of institutional knowledge from him.00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:58.000Chris Haggerty: Um, but also bring my viewpoints coming from New Jersey in an area where, you know, we're not…00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:15.000Chris Haggerty: maybe blessed with natural snow. Um, so last year was, like, a challenging winter, and, um, I was ready for it, because I was like, man, 120 inches, like, if you gave me that in New Jersey, we'd be celebrating for years, right? So, um, you know, just kind of a unique perspective, but…00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:21.000Chris Haggerty: um, definitely happy to be here, and just pumped to keep the Monarch kind of spirit going forward.00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:37.000Stuart Winchester: So you've been there for a couple years, one full year as GM, and one of the… there's been tons of stuff coming out of Monarch, it's amazing for a small ski area, which is why I wanted to get you on. So you recently joined the Snow Pass, one of two Western partners to join the Snow Pass, which gives pass holders.00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000Chris Haggerty: Thank you.00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:54.000Stuart Winchester: Two days at Monarch. I don't think there's blackouts on that, but correct me if I'm wrong now. Now, Multimon Pass has been around for years and almost everybody in Colorado is on either Epic or Icon if they're large and if they're small, a lot of them have joined Indy. So the option has been there for years.00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:00.000Stuart Winchester: Why was it finally time for Monarch to join a multi-mountain pass, and why the snow pass?00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:15.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, two parts there. I think on the, I mentioned it before, we're ski independent as our tagline, right? Part of independence is like the definition is freedom.00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:11.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.000Chris Haggerty: Right? Like, you make your own choices. You do what you wanna do.00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:31.000Chris Haggerty: we've been approached in the past for IndyPass, and, you know, it wasn't right for us because it kind of went against our spirit of being independent. Like, we want to be able to work with who we…00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:43.000Chris Haggerty: who we choose at any given moment, um, and that just isn't something that, um, is available through the Unipass, so… so we've passed on that. Um, we were even approached about it this year. Um…00:22:43.000 --> 00:23:00.000Chris Haggerty: As far as Snowpass goes, they respect that. They're all about, hey, you want to work with XYZ Pass, go for it. And obviously, I've spent some time working with the Snow Partners group.00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:05.000Chris Haggerty: You know, from my perspective, that group is all about, um…00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:17.000Chris Haggerty: you know, rising tides lifts all boats, right? And, um, you know, for me personally, they've opened doors for me, right? And helped me throughout growing in my career, so, um…00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:40.000Chris Haggerty: We're down.00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:52.000Stuart Winchester: I want to share, because you've sort of created your own… I'm sharing my screen now, if you can see that, and hopefully the folks watching can as well, and if you're listening, I'll talk through it. So, Monarch has…00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:46.000Chris Haggerty: Thank you.00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:07.000Stuart Winchester: not joined a pass, necessarily, but you've kind of built your own pass, and what I have on the screen right now is a list of Monarch's reciprocals, and it's a pretty amazing pass all in and of itself, so if you buy a Monarch season pass, which I believe now is, what, $6.59, less if you renew.00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:24.000Stuart Winchester: It comes with a lot of reciprocal days. Some of the big ones that people probably are really attracted to, 3 days at A-Basin, 3 days at Copper. Now there's blackouts on that, but still, it's freaking Copper Mountain. Uh, 3 days at Purgatory. And then, uh, 3 days each at all of the Mountain Capital Partners-owned skiers, which Purgatory.00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:08.000Chris Haggerty: Mm-hmm.00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:16.000Chris Haggerty: I'll do that.00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.000Chris Haggerty: Yes.00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:39.000Stuart Winchester: Also, Arizona Snowball. And there's a bunch more. I don't want to list them all, given our time constraints here today. But talk about this reciprocal program, because essentially, you're saying you're going to give pass holders of all these mountains.00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.000Chris Haggerty: Yes.00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:38.000Chris Haggerty: Sure.00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:46.000Stuart Winchester: free visits to Monarch in exchange for your pass holders getting free visits there, so…00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.000Chris Haggerty: Oh.00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:44.000Chris Haggerty: Yes.00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:52.000Stuart Winchester: whatever you did or didn't like about IndyPass, it does pay per visit, so what was attractive about.00:24:47.000 --> 00:24:49.000Chris Haggerty: Just a second.00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:57.000Stuart Winchester: this, and why did it make sense to do these free visit exchanges with other ski areas?00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:15.000Chris Haggerty: We look at it as other skiers are not our competition, right? There's 350 million people roughly in the United States. Less than 5% actually ski or snowboard, right? So there's a lot of people out there that just need to be introduced into the sport.00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:17.000Chris Haggerty: Um…00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:23.000Chris Haggerty: rather than trying to fight for visits between resorts. So… so one of the things is just…00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:39.000Chris Haggerty: How do we get more people skiing and snowboarding, which is obviously a huge conversation you could talk about forever. But with this one, it's just like, hey, these are other resorts that are interested in also giving their pass holders as well as ours.00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:10.000Chris Haggerty: allow our pass holders to try each out while still knowing that, like most people that have a copper pass, they're not migrating to Monarch because they came here for two days.00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:28.000Chris Haggerty: they're bought a Copper Pass for a reason, they love that, and they're like, yeah, if I could get two days over at Monarch, cool. Same thing with our Monarch guests, like, they… they… they love Monarch, they want most of their days to be here, and if we could break it up for them, um, you know, a couple times a year, or they could go to A-Basin and Copper, then.00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:17.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:37.000Chris Haggerty: That adds a lot of value to them and gives them that flexibility to move around and go where it works for them.00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:52.000Stuart Winchester: You know, Monarch is small by Colorado standards, but it always surprised me to see that it actually does have a pseudo national following. And I get emails from people all over the country that say they buy the Monarch Pass because it gives them all those reciprocals and they come out and they like to support the small ski area.00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:59.000Stuart Winchester: I want to get your take on something here, Chris. I'm going to share my screen again, and I want to share a chart that I made.00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:14.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, so, so this is a chart of Monarch's skier visits since 1997, up to 2024 to 25, right? And I've compiled these from all kinds of different places, and I have a little bit of a gap there. But as you, as you see right here, they've been going steadily up, right?00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:29.000Stuart Winchester: So, so you were averaging below $200,000 for most of the, of the 2010s, you know, much lower some years, and now you're pretty steadily adding, averaging over $200,000. Now, last year, I don't have your numbers, I'm, I'm sure that they were, uh, pretty bad, but.00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.000Stuart Winchester: You know, in relation to what your past numbers were.00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:35.000Stuart Winchester: So here's my question.00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:48.000Stuart Winchester: Monarch was supposed to be one of the ski areas that got squeezed out by Epic, squeezed out by Icon. That was one of the big worries. Uh, independent ski areas can't compete. We're seeing the opposite, because I've put some things on this timeline.00:27:48.000 --> 00:28:04.000Stuart Winchester: So, for example, 2007, IntraWest buys Steamboat. Uh, 2008, the Epic Pass launches. 2009, Powder buys Copper. Uh, the Mountain Collective launched in 2012. Uh, Mountain Capital Partners bought Purgatory in 2015. Powder bought Eldora the following year.00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:21.000Stuart Winchester: Uh In 2017, Alterra combined Steamboat and Winter Park in 2018, they launched the icon pass. Uh And then we had the 20% epic price cut in 2022. So all these things you think, ok, Vale and Alterra putting their mountains on sale. These are big world famous mountains, Steamboat Vale Mountain.00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:25.000Stuart Winchester: Monarch must be getting crushed. No, it's not. Why?00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:45.000Chris Haggerty: I think it's a couple of reasons. Number one is we've just stayed true to who we are. And as the population has grown in the front range, like since 2010, Denver and Colorado Springs have grown by about 20%.00:28:45.000 --> 00:29:00.000Chris Haggerty: Right? So there's just more people, um, that are finding Monarch, and they're, they're like, wow, we like this, this is what we want. You know, you also throw in the fact that, um, I-70, for those in Colorado, are pretty familiar with, like, the traffic that is.00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:50.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:17.000Chris Haggerty: created there on the weekends and it's not for everybody. So thankfully the drive to Monarch currently is a pretty attractive one, a lot less traffic. And I give credit to our ownership group, our current ownership group. They bought the resort in.00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:33.000Chris Haggerty: 2002. And part of it was, you know, a little bit of a passion project. Right? Like, they had come here and just really liked the vibe at Monarch and and wanted to protect that. And what they've been able to do is, number one, protect it.00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:53.000Chris Haggerty: Um, by not selling, you know, to, to one of the larger players, um, to just investing into our, our core, um, like deferred maintenance projects and those types of things, and then being really committed to the no name project, which we talked about and, and making sure timing was right on that and.00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:11.000Chris Haggerty: Um, that we were a healthy company before we jumped into that, so we didn't need a lifeline from, you know, someone else. So, um, there's kind of a lot of pieces that go into it. Um, and it's also worth noting that, like, our pass holders, like, and I think this goes to the growth, like, once people find us.00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:25.000Chris Haggerty: Um, our pass holder, uh, renewal rate is about 85% every year. Um, and the industry standard, depending on where you, you know, who you ask, it's somewhere between, like, 55% and 62%.00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:42.000Chris Haggerty: Um, and, and most of the 15% that we lose as we've dug into it is because of, uh, we have a lot of season pass holders from Fort Carson, um, military base outside of Colorado Springs, and they've just moved out of the area, right? So, um, I think our growth is partly due to, like.00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:35.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:49.000Chris Haggerty: Once people come here and they discover it and they love it and they just keep coming back and we're just building upon that.00:30:49.000 --> 00:31:06.000Stuart Winchester: So you have owners that are willing to invest and that's really important. And Randy Stroud, I interviewed him, not on the podcast, but just for an article a couple of years ago. And he told me, and I'm not sure if this ended up being true, but their intention was to pay for the entire no name expansion in cash, including a brand new SkyTrak.00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:22.000Stuart Winchester: triple chair, or Doppelmayr, I can't remember what it was offhand, but regardless, it spoke to a very stable operation. Now, meanwhile, you still have some pretty old lifts, some pretty old infrastructure on the front side of the mountain, and recently Monarch's.00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:36.000Stuart Winchester: Master Development Plan was accepted by the U.S. Forest Service, which, for the listeners, just means that they said, okay, we'll let you consider doing these things on a project-by-project basis in the future. I have a lot of questions about the Master Plan, but first.00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:52.000Stuart Winchester: I want to focus on one that you called out, that Monarch Mountain called out in its first blog post announcing acceptance of the Master Plan, and it was about snowmaking. And Dan Torsell, the longtime GM of Ski Cooper, told me a long time ago when he came on this pod that.00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:04.000Stuart Winchester: that Ski Cooper and Monarch were the only big lift-surf ski areas in Colorado that don't have snowmaking. I think Silverton is too, but that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. So, uh, you have it in your master development plan.00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:19.000Stuart Winchester: to a sort of rudimentary snowmaking system that would allow you to open early. But, this is a quote from your blog, quote, Before anyone panics when they read about snowmaking, let me assure you that Monarch is committed to remaining 100% all natural.00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:37.000Stuart Winchester: Snowmaking has been a part of our previous MDPs, Master Development Plan, and we have chosen not to implement it as we truly believe that natural snow provides the best skiing experience. This continues to be the case as snowmaking is in the plan to cover all bases, but we will not implement anything unless Mother Nature gives us no other choice.00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:40.000Stuart Winchester: Care to expand upon that at all?00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:53.000Chris Haggerty: Definitely. And yeah, and we are committed to that. And I actually, last summer, I spoke in front of some of the locals and pass holders, and when I let them know that we were committed to.00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:43.000Stuart Winchester: Or elaborate.00:32:53.000 --> 00:33:09.000Chris Haggerty: 100% all natural. That was the loudest cheer we got all day. So, like, that's what our, that's what our guests want. That's what we want. Um, as far that, you know, snowmaking has come a long way, and, and it is a necessity for a bunch of resorts.00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:19.000Chris Haggerty: Um, we're not at that point, um, and we're gonna push as far as we can, um, leaning into, like, snow farming and everything else before we ever, um.00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:35.000Chris Haggerty: have snow… have snowmaking. But, you know, in the Master Development Plan, it's in there because, like, part of putting things into that document is because it's a conceptual document. It's, like, it's designed to be a 15-year document. If it's not in there.00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:51.000Chris Haggerty: The Forest Service really doesn't even consider something. So if 15 years from now we're like, we need to put snowmaking in and it's not in there, we'd have some challenges. I will say our base elevation being basically 10,800 feet.00:33:51.000 --> 00:34:02.000Chris Haggerty: has helped us out, right? Like, as weather patterns has changed, and temperatures have rised, and winters are, you know, different every year, um…00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:13.000Chris Haggerty: we've been pretty lucky because of that base elevation, where we're… we are seeing snow, where other resorts are seeing some of that other precipitation falling, right? So, um…00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:30.000Chris Haggerty: you know, and then I mentioned the snow farming, like, we're… we're gonna do everything we can, like, on that side of things, right? And that's all the way from, like, fences strategically placed throughout the mountain, whether they're permanent or temporary, to catch the snow when the winds are coming from whatever direction.00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:47.000Chris Haggerty: And we do early season, we take the snow in the parking lots and we plow it all up and get it into one of the corners and then our groomers take it from there and start to build our base in the base area. So we have some different techniques to try to insulate us as much as possible.00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:53.000Chris Haggerty: And we're going to keep going that way as long as Mother Nature allows us to.00:34:53.000 --> 00:35:09.000Stuart Winchester: So snowmaking, it sounds like, is Monarch's emergency parachute. Meanwhile, there are a lot of big chairlift upgrades outlined on the master development plan. So Monarch has had substantially the same footprint for decades until last season's snowmaking upgrade.00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:24.000Stuart Winchester: And like I said before, more and more skier visits, and you were still running, with the exception of the 1999 Pioneer lift, the quad that was put in, with a lot of older double chairs. So Breezeway is a 1968 hall, Garfield is a 1969 hall, Panorama is a 1980 hall.00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:40.000Stuart Winchester: Tumbling as a 1981 hall. Those are all doubles. Now they've all gotten new drive terminals. So I understand they're, they're more modern in their actual functioning than, than in their look. However, the capacity is probably not a whole lot more than maybe it would have been. The master development plan proposes.00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:43.000Stuart Winchester: Replacing all of these with.00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:54.000Stuart Winchester: is advanced of a lift as a high-speed quad. Now, I realize you wanna… maybe the same reason as somebody… you say high-speed quad because you can always take it down, easier to go down than up, but talk us through…00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:05.000Stuart Winchester: your lift upgrade plan, and whether you think that high speed would be good for Monarch, or if you think that maybe fixed grip is the way you want to stay.00:36:06.000 --> 00:36:09.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, fixed script is, you know.00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:24.000Chris Haggerty: Well, let me back up. A lot of that is in there because it's got to be in there if we choose to do that. And with no name opening, there's a lot of unknowns as far as, like, how is that going to change skier traffic around the mountain, right?00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:15.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:41.000Chris Haggerty: One of the things we worked with the SE group, so they're, you know, a company that helps ski areas, right, with all sorts of development projects, big and small. And one of the things that they do is they do this density analysis, right? And it's a complicated, you know.00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:57.000Chris Haggerty: Analysis that takes on a lot of different data, but basically it's like they look at your uphill capacity based on the speed of the lift, the size of the lift, the length of the trip up, the time, and then what terrain it accesses from that lift.00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:14.000Chris Haggerty: And, like, an optimal score where, like, you have, like, perfect harmony from uphill and downhill is, like, a hundred percent. If you're below that, you're actually putting fewer people up the hill, that the downhill terrain can handle.00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:34.000Chris Haggerty: Monarch, in our current state, sits at a 56%. So basically, like, when you ski the runs at Monarch, even on our busiest day, because of the capacity that we have at our lifts, like, you have, like, semi-private runs, right? If we were to do all of our lift upgrades in the 2025 MDP.00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:49.000Chris Haggerty: we would actually get to an 84% density analysis. So even still, you wouldn't feel overcrowded on the runs. So knowing that, we're like, wow, well, we don't need to right away push for any kind of high speed lifts.00:37:49.000 --> 00:37:58.000Chris Haggerty: Um, and in fact, again, things that our guests like about them is twofold. Number one, it's like…00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:11.000Chris Haggerty: that slow metering from a fixed grip lift just adds, like, this extra time, right? Like, part of why we ski and snowboard is because we like to just disconnect, right, from reality for a little while and, like, be out in nature and, like.00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:21.000Chris Haggerty: you know, our guests like taking a step back and slowing things down here, and it feels like things are just moving a little slower. And second, one thing that we feel is like a…00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:36.000Chris Haggerty: a strong differentiator for us is, um, having a fixed grip lift. Our lift operators have to be at, like, the load point, and, um, you know, bumping the chairs and helping our guests on, and.00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.000Chris Haggerty: It's this, like, human interaction piece that, like.00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:56.000Chris Haggerty: You don't get everywhere else, especially with some of the newer lifts where, you know, it's everything's so automated, um, which has its value, but for us, again, with who Monarch is and taking that step back in time a little bit like that, that face-to-face interaction.00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:14.000Chris Haggerty: like, so many of our reviews are constantly calling out our lift operators, like, oh, yeah, I remember so-and-so, like, he's awesome, he helped me on, or he just said hello, or he remembered what kind of skis I'm wearing, or told me about this secret powder stash, which… another benefit of a slower uphill capacity is, like.00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:23.000Chris Haggerty: Monarch, even though it's smaller in size, doesn't get tracked out. Like, you get powder turns at the end of the day on a powder day.00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:34.000Stuart Winchester: So the, I'm gonna share my screen to, to talk about this next bit. So those are the lift upgrades that you're proposing. There's also two, and I'm, I, so for those watching.00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:49.000Stuart Winchester: On YouTube or stormskiing.com, I have the master development plan, conceptual plan up. There's also two infill lifts. Okay, so there would be this planned NNB lift, which is a redundant lift in the No Name Basin expansion. This is the new lift that opened last year. And then there's this…00:39:49.000 --> 00:40:04.000Stuart Winchester: Plan, divide, express. So, again, it's two more lifts on the same footprint. And I didn't see in the master plan, maybe I missed it, that you do have all this cat skiing terrain over here, so…00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:10.000Stuart Winchester: So, talk us through the logic of putting in more lists to serve the same amount of terrain, and if you've considered.00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.000Stuart Winchester: moving lift surf skiing into the cat skiing, as Targi did with its peaked mountain expansion a couple of years ago.00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:37.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, so no name is actually was a part of our cat skiing terrain. So we did take a little bit of that. That redundant lift out there is just because we'll see what happens, how many people just access the terrain and no name. And if we ever need a second lift there, then.00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:24.000Stuart Winchester: Hmm. Okay.00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:55.000Chris Haggerty: um, we'll consider it. As far as further into cat skiing terrain, um, you know, our current MDP outlines our next 15 years, so we're not looking to push any further into that. Um, we also have, um, the Mirkwood terrain, which is a little bit of a hike-to terrain.00:40:55.000 --> 00:41:04.000Chris Haggerty: Um, between, like, the front side and no name, and we get… that's… that's the area we most commonly get asked about a lift, and uh…00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:12.000Chris Haggerty: I will tell you from my, uh, initial conversations with owners, it's… it's not a, um…00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:27.000Chris Haggerty: the answer isn't no, we're not putting a lift there, it's a expletive no, we're not putting a lift there. Um, we take pride in having, like, being a small mountain, but still offering, like, all these other things, right? Which one being hike to terrain, um, which is pretty cool for…00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.000Chris Haggerty: a small mountain like this. And then that, um…00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:41.000Chris Haggerty: the Divide Express, right, that would get us all the way from the base area to the summit on the front side. Um, that… that is one that we've, you know, had some…00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:55.000Chris Haggerty: serious discussions about, and, um, you know, it probably… number one, it would just, you know, allow guests to not have to take two lifts to get to the… to the summit on the front side. Um, but also, if we…00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:06.000Chris Haggerty: explore, um, summer operations in the future. You know, having a high-speed, you know, detachable lift gives you more flexibility to do that.00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:13.000Chris Haggerty: So that kind of, you know, would add into that if we get to that point.00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:24.000Stuart Winchester: So let me ask a stupid question, because that's what I'm here for. So Garfield Lyft, as I said, was built in the 60s. Pioneer Lyft came along in 1999. So I would have thought, okay, they cross over each other.00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:41.000Stuart Winchester: Because they, they retroactively built Pioneer and didn't realize it. Uh, I would have thought, hey, the master plan is an opportunity to straighten those out so they don't have to cross over each other. Maybe I'm overthinking it and it's not that complicated, but, but talk about this interesting crisscross pattern you have here and, and why that's where Garfield and Pioneer are slated.00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:25.000Chris Haggerty: Mm-hmm.00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:45.000Stuart Winchester: to continue to exist, even if you were to upgrade their lifts.00:42:47.000 --> 00:43:05.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that I have the best answer. We do have a proposal to shift the base of the bottom terminal of Pioneer uphill a little bit, just because the terrain is a little more desirable there. And obviously, if we needed to add the Divide Express, we need to open that area up.00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:06.000Chris Haggerty: um…00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:21.000Chris Haggerty: but other than that, right, we just kind of… we like the terrain that they serve right now, we don't really have a better spot, so the lifts crisscrossing wasn't like a, oh man, we need to change this. It wasn't something that we were focused on solving, um, in a way.00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:24.000Chris Haggerty: I think it's kind of a little cool, I guess.00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:40.000Stuart Winchester: I do like criss-crossing lifts, so I'm glad we're doing this one a video, because every time I bring this up, I get tomatoes thrown at me. Uh, Monarch skier visits have gone up and up, as we said. However, as they've gone up and up, there's still nowhere to stay on the mountain. There never has been. Uh.00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:51.000Stuart Winchester: a philosophical choice? Is that just a practical matter of, hey, the Forest Service owns the land at the base? Is it both? Talk us through why there's nowhere to stay at Monarch as a drive ski area only.00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:55.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, there's a couple of reasons.00:43:56.000 --> 00:44:02.000Chris Haggerty: And, you know, one of them, again, I'll say our pass holders and our guests, like…00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:18.000Chris Haggerty: are pretty vocal about not wanting that, right? Like that's what separates Monarch. We're not that resort that has the big base village. And again, that's not to knock those resorts. I think that that's, you know, I've gone to those resorts as a guest. I think it's awesome.00:44:18.000 --> 00:44:38.000Chris Haggerty: I think another side of it for us is we're really focused on our community, right? We're a small mountain ski area and there's a small mountain community 15 miles from where we are that has a really cool, the town of Salida has a really cool downtown, a main street.00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:52.000Chris Haggerty: Um, with a ton of restaurants, a ton of mom-and-pop-owned shops, right? And, um, you know, we're our largest, uh, driver for winter visits, and, and, you know, um…00:44:52.000 --> 00:45:01.000Chris Haggerty: in the wintertime, and we want to make sure we embrace that community. If we moved a village up onto the mountain, like.00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:16.000Chris Haggerty: Salida is going to suffer. All those guests now are going to stay in the lodging up at Monarch versus in town. And we want to be good community partners and be like, no, here, you guys should be the ones to have lodging. And we live.00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:35.000Chris Haggerty: all of us live in the community as well, and we want to see those restaurants, you know, stay active all year round, the mom-and-pop shops, like, you know, thrive. So part of it is just, like, wanting to be a part of something bigger, right, in that larger community, rather than.00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.000Chris Haggerty: moving everything up to… to Monarch.00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:53.000Stuart Winchester: So if Snowpass skiers do decide to come out and visit Monarch, they'll stay in Salida, most likely, and drive up that day. So leave us with this, Chris, because Joe Heschen, the CEO of Snow Partners.00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:58.000Stuart Winchester: Said we get so caught up on stats, but stats aren't aren't always the thing and and.00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:04.000Stuart Winchester: when you look statistically at Monarch, it's 1,100 vertical feet.00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:21.000Stuart Winchester: Lift serve drop. That's 25th in Colorado. Uh, 1017 acres that ranks 17th in Colorado is bigger than Aspen Mountain. I'll point, I'll point out, uh, it's 308 inch average annual snowfall is good, but it's, it's good for ninth best. It has the third highest base, as I said, but the 12th highest summ.00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:28.000Stuart Winchester: It has those older lifts in a state that has 120 high-speed lifts, and there's nowhere to stay on the mountain, so…00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:34.000Stuart Winchester: I'm just stating those facts, right? So what's your pitch to someone to come.00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:37.000Stuart Winchester: use that snow pass, and try out Monarch.00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:44.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, the big one is to start with, we're 100% natural, right?00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:59.000Chris Haggerty: you want natural snow, it is a definitely a different feel, even as good as snowmaking is these days, like, come check it out. And this, and the second part is, um, the people that are at Monarch are a unique group, right? Like, we're, we're.00:46:59.000 --> 00:47:18.000Chris Haggerty: past the characters, whether you work here or you're a guest here. And, um, we're looking out for each other, right? Like, it's not, um, it's not judgmental, like, no matter what you show up wearing or what your ability is, like, we just want everyone here to have a fun day on the mountain.00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:37.000Chris Haggerty: whether you're the extreme person out in the cat skiing terrain, hiking Mirkwood, the Never Ever, or the SnowTuber, which I love SnowTubers, you know, I think that's who we all are at our core. Um, you know, it's just… it's just a cool vibe that you gotta just come check it out, and our track record's saying that.00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:31.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:40.000Chris Haggerty: People love it once they find it. So give it a shot.00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:51.000Stuart Winchester: I'm always telling my readers that these old lifts, these hauls, these riblets, they're not gonna be around for a whole lot longer, right? There's still hundreds in operation, but they don't last forever.00:47:51.000 --> 00:48:08.000Stuart Winchester: And the best thing you can do to memorialize them, you can't really preserve them forever because they're functional machines, right? But go ride them. And right now, Monarch, along with Lost Trail, is probably the best place in the West to go and ride all Old Hall Liftley. And I understand, again, they've been updated.00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:23.000Stuart Winchester: But the aesthetic is similar. So, alright, Chris, look, I gotta take my own advice and get out there and ride those hauls with you this winter. It was really great to talk to you. I really appreciate you coming on. I can't wait to catch up and hopefully make some turns together this winter.00:48:23.000 --> 00:48:27.000Chris Haggerty: Yeah, thanks a lot for the time and look forward to seeing you out here at Monarch.00:48:26.000 --> 00:48:29.000Stuart Winchester: All right. Talk to you soon. Thanks so much, Chris.00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:30.000Chris Haggerty: Thank you. Bye.00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:47.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, that was Chris Haggerty, the General Manager of Monarch Mountain. That was really fun, I'm really glad that he came on. Uh, Randy Stroud, just to be clear, the former GM, it's not that he ever didn't want to come on the podcast, it's just that.00:48:47.000 --> 00:49:00.000Stuart Winchester: I covered Monarch in a different way for the story about the expansion. So he was very good to the storm as well. I do want to tell you that today's podcast is brought to you by Profile Search International.00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:08.000Stuart Winchester: If you want to find a great leader for your mountain team, I want to introduce you to the pros at Profile Search International.00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:18.000Stuart Winchester: They are the ski industry talent acquisition experts, and they are the only executive search and recruitment firm in the entire world that is 100% focused on the ski industry.00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:31.000Stuart Winchester: ProfileSearch has used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries, and of available candidates worldwide, to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past 30 years.00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:44.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search has offices in the US and Canada. They find and negotiate with the right leaders for your team, which sometimes you don't even know that you need in this era of online everything and big data. You can reach Profile Search.00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:59.000Stuart Winchester: Directly at ProfileSearch.com, where you will find their email or phone number. You can also send me a note. I will be happy to connect you directly with this expert team. My email address is skiing at substack.com. Alright, we are going to wrap up today.00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:05.000Stuart Winchester: With some reader reaction to yesterday's podcast on…00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:22.000Stuart Winchester: with Midwest skiers, Matt Zabranski, and there wasn't a lot of feedback. I think, number one, because the Midwest doesn't get as much feedback in general, but also because I published this one pretty late, I think I put it out at 8 or 9 at night, and so folks may just have not had a chance.00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:27.000Stuart Winchester: really process it yet. So…00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:30.000Stuart Winchester: Nell says…00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:41.000Stuart Winchester: Midwest Skiers, meaning MidwestSkiers.com, Matthew Zbrensky's site, is a regional treasure. The ride-throughs are so thorough, and what Nell means by that is.00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:52.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, Midwest Skiers puts up on their YouTube channel a, hey, look, here's the trail map at, say, Trollhagen, Wisconsin. Here's all 32 trails, whatever it is.00:50:52.000 --> 00:51:03.000Stuart Winchester: and then it rides the reach for the GoPro, and tells you about them, and gives you a really specific breakdown, uh, with some great graphs. So the production quality is really, really good. So, I second that now. Really good.00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:15.000Stuart Winchester: breakdowns of the ski areas from Midwest Skiers. Eric Morris says, great Midwest content, it'd be great to talk to the Dean of Southern Skiing, Randy Johnson, who wrote Southern Snow, the new guide to winter sports.00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:31.000Stuart Winchester: Couldn't agree more, Eric. If you know him, I would love an introduction. I am not acquainted with Mr. Randy Johnson, but I would love to meet him, as the South has certainly been an undercovered region from my point of view, and not on purpose, just because there's…00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:44.000Stuart Winchester: a little different culturally than the rest of the United States from a ski point of view, and I have not sunk as far of roots in there as I would like to, especially since I'm not too far from those ski areas. There was also…00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: We're not getting as much action on the chat, but here's one.00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:57.000Stuart Winchester: question on the chat, and this is not to do with the podcast from yesterday, but I want to talk about it a little. What will it take for Vail Resorts to turn around? That's from Saurabh Jain.00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:06.000Stuart Winchester: And commenter Slappy said, redefine what success looks like and suspend the dividend and stock buyback. Of course, those last two may be non-negotiable.00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:24.000Stuart Winchester: I'm not going to get out of my lane and talk too much about dividends and stock buybacks, though I do like stocks and follow that world nominally. It's certainly nothing that I'm an expert to speak on. What Vail needs to do to turn around, I think, is very simple, and I've said this many, many times.00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:25.000Stuart Winchester: And I've written about it.00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:37.000Stuart Winchester: many times, and we've talked about it on the podcast many times, is they need to treat every single ski resort like it's Vail Mountain, and every single guest like they're the President of the United States. They…00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:40.000Stuart Winchester: They need to make sure that.00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:48.000Stuart Winchester: the experience of a lifetime ethos is transferred to any Skiera, whether it's Beaver Creek.00:52:48.000 --> 00:53:03.000Stuart Winchester: or it's Mad River, Ohio. And that has not always seemed to be the case since Vail Resorts purchased Peak Resorts in 2019 and sort of doubled the size of its owned resort portfolio within a year's span. Now.00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:08.000Stuart Winchester: Certainly, Vail has recently recommitted to.00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:11.000Stuart Winchester: To that sort of quality, and we'll see how that plays out.00:53:11.000 --> 00:53:13.000Stuart Winchester: I think…00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:19.000Stuart Winchester: maybe a little more shuffling with the Epic Pass, uh, maybe a higher-priced.00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:22.000Stuart Winchester: Full pass to to.00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:37.000Stuart Winchester: help traffic some of the more popular ski areas, and maybe some more options. They do a really good job, actually, with the Epic Regionals, with the Tahoe Local, the Northeast Local, and the Summit County Local. So, I think Vail's done a nice job with that. And I think…00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:45.000Stuart Winchester: From my experience, Vail executives, and I've hosted many of them on this podcast. They're very receptive to criticism.00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:47.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and they are…00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:53.000Stuart Winchester: Willing to listen and change and evolve. I'm not sure.00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:57.000Stuart Winchester: If that always comes through.00:53:57.000 --> 00:54:04.000Stuart Winchester: Outside of direct lines of questioning, if that makes sense. So, so the, the owning of mistakes and saying, okay, you know what?00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:19.000Stuart Winchester: we messed up because Paley Peaks was only open 25 days a year in 2021, or whatever it was. There was a year when a lot of its Midwest ski areas were extremely restricted, or the COVID restrictions and everyone else, but the local ski area operators there.00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:24.000Stuart Winchester: we're out competing them. Uh, you know, when Vail first bought Wilmot, Wisconsin.00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:27.000Stuart Winchester: In 2016, there…00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:38.000Stuart Winchester: their… or maybe that was 2012. They bought Afton Alps, Wilmot, and Mount Brighton in some order, two of them in 2012 and one in 2016. Anyway, there was a great article I read that said.00:54:38.000 --> 00:54:49.000Stuart Winchester: what Wilmot skiers can expect, and Wilmot's a small ski area outside of, well, it's broad, it has a lot of lifts, outside of Wisconsin and Chicago, uh, Milwaukee and Chicago.00:54:49.000 --> 00:54:56.000Stuart Winchester: And what they said was, we're gonna bring Western standards to the Midwest, right? And that was very out front. Dale spokespeople were saying that.00:54:56.000 --> 00:55:11.000Stuart Winchester: You never hear them say that anymore, and it's not clear that that is the standard, and I had a very nice time at Wilmot when I went two years ago, and super friendly staff, and all the lifts were running, even though clearly they didn't need to be, because it was a Monday, and hardly anyone was there, so I'm certain they were.00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:19.000Stuart Winchester: losing money on that day, and yet they still did their best to provide an experience. I'm just not…00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:21.000Stuart Winchester: It's just not always…00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:31.000Stuart Winchester: super clear throughout the portfolio, particularly in the Lower Midwest, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, uh, in some of the Pennsylvania ski areas, Mid-Atlantic.00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:36.000Stuart Winchester: that that this is their operating philosophy. So I think that.00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:38.000Stuart Winchester: I think Vail's better than most…00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:49.000Stuart Winchester: than you would think, scrolling through social media. Uh, in general, I've been to pretty much every Vail resort in North America, other than, I think, the two in Missouri and Paoli Peaks.00:55:49.000 --> 00:56:07.000Stuart Winchester: And I generally have a really good time and a positive experience, and I find the staff friendly, and that's a super important thing to me. I love that Vail puts bars on all the lifts. I love that they're focused on safety in general, that they help police speed. As someone who skis with my kids, that's important to me.00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:13.000Stuart Winchester: So I generally have a pretty good experience. I think…00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:29.000Stuart Winchester: there's a little too much gum in the machine, maybe, when it comes to communicating these things and owning and correcting mistakes. So, anyway, with that, I will leave Vel alone for today, and you're probably wondering why I haven't yet covered the new Slate.00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:44.000Stuart Winchester: of proposed board members by Oasis Capital for Vail Resorts. I don't want to get too into the weeds on stock stuff, but I do have some thoughts on that. I want to wait till I have a little bit more time to break it down.00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:50.000Stuart Winchester: So I thank you for coming today. I hope you enjoyed that podcast episode.00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:58.000Stuart Winchester: If you are not already subscribed to the Storm Skiing newsletter, please click over to stormskiing.com and subscribe.00:56:58.000 --> 00:57:14.000Stuart Winchester: That will come right to your inbox. It is not only podcasts, I do a ton of writing. And if you want to upgrade to a paid subscription to the Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast, that will give you everything below the paywall, which is a lot of really deep analysis.00:57:14.000 --> 00:57:29.000Stuart Winchester: that I do on the lift service ski industry, particularly in North America, and especially in the United States. Also, if you're a paid subscriber to The Storm at stormskiing.com, that is the only way to interact with the podcast, because I'm only reading comments from the.00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:30.000Stuart Winchester: Previous.00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:47.000Stuart Winchester: Day's podcast and only paid subscribers can comment. Only paid subscribers can join the chat, which is the second way that they can interact with the podcast. If you want to rep the storm, we have a swag store. You can buy shirts, hats, et cetera, at stormskiing.myshopify.com.00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:48.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:52.000Stuart Winchester: Please follow me on YouTube. YouTube is…00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:55.000Stuart Winchester: Where we will increasingly.00:57:55.000 --> 00:58:02.000Stuart Winchester: It'll be increasingly important to us, and right now, we don't have that many subscribers there. Uh, everything is going there, but it's just not…00:58:02.000 --> 00:58:12.000Stuart Winchester: made it into the cultural fabric of that site just yet, so please follow me at Storm Ski Journal on YouTube. Also, Instagram, which I post on more during the winter season.00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:27.000Stuart Winchester: I will be back tomorrow, or I'm scheduled to be back tomorrow, with, and this is one a lot of people have asked me for, a conversation with the general manager of what I think was perhaps the most improved ski area in the country last year, Camelback.00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:38.000Stuart Winchester: Pennsylvania. If you're rolling your eyes, if you live out west, I encourage you to tune in anyway, because the story of Camelback is a really good story of how do we do things wrong?Stuff referenced in the pod:Monarch's amazing season pass reciprocal network:A full breakdown of Monarch's U.S. Forest Service masterplan:Conversation with Snow Partners' CEO Joe Hession: Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Send us a text and chime in!The City of Sedona proudly announces that Chance Wnuck, Emergency Management Coordinator for the Sedona Police Department, received the prestigious “Rising Star” award from the Arizona Association of Emergency Managers. He was also selected to be the association's secretary for a two-year term. As Sedona's first dedicated Emergency Management Coordinator, Wnuck has transformed the city's approach to public safety in just under a year. He has built strong partnerships with county agencies, local fire districts, and the Forest Service, and has led critical initiatives such as intergovernmental agreements and community education programs. Wnuck's expertise was vital during the White Sage...   For the written story, read here >> https://www.signalsaz.com/articles/sedona-emergency-manager-earns-statewide-recognition/ Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

We're independent and non-profit, and we don't receive funds from WESA, WPSU or any other radio station. So we must turn to you, our listeners, for support. Take action today so we can continue to keep you informed.  Donate today.  Or send us a check to: The Allegheny Front, 67 Bedford Square, Pittsburgh, 15203.  On this week's show: The U.S. Forest Service wants to repeal a rule that prohibits new roads and logging in some sections of National Forest land. A grove of trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial serves as a living monument to the passengers and crew who died there on 9-11. A group of friends hiked and looked for reassurance in nature and one another on September 12th, 2001. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined Shell $15 million for air quality violations at its Beaver County plastics plant. Pittsburgh International Airport's new terminal now has an official designation as a green building. Our Environmental Travel Guide through Pennsylvania continues with one of western Pennsylvania's most scenic forests.   Never miss a story: Sign up for our newsletter!

On Today's Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/Frustrations have boiled over within the Forest Service as fire supervisors voice concerns about Agency direction, poor facilities, experienced firefighters leaving the ranks, and infighting with line officers.Wildland firefighter entrapments have hit a 20 year record this season, raising further concern about experience levels in middle management. Unease remains about what the future will look like, and there is urgency to “rip the band-aid off” on plans for Agency change. I cover their concerns as they see it.This is the time for professionals on all levels of the Agency to come together and solve these issues, which ultimately affect the boots on the ground the most. Sometimes voicing these concerns is what it takes for everyone to sit at the table and figure out how to move forward.Change isn't simple, and this isn't an easy situation for anyone involved, but cooler heads must prevail.THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.

The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. The only way to interact with the podcast is to upgrade to The Storm's paid tier. Thank you for supporting independent ski journalism.Welcome to the Storm's short-form, news-focused podcast. Don't worry, I will still write newsletters too (I blasted out this post on Smuggs joining Indy Pass this morning). To browse a podcast transcript, click the “transcript” button above - click on any block of text and the audio will jump to that point in the conversation. Paid subscribers can leave a comment in the article below, or by joining The Storm's chat (also below). I'll respond to some comments in the next episode. The Zoom transcript (click “transcript” above for the Substack transcript, which will zoom to any point in the video when you click on the associated text block; timestamps below DO NOT MATCH THE VIDEO)00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:56.000Stuart Winchester: Welcome to Storm. It is September 9th, 2026 on a Wednesday. I've got a really great show for you today. We are going to visit with Loon President and General Manager, Brian Norton, who has been on the show before.00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:04.000Stuart Winchester: But we are going to have him on to talk about the Blackridge expansion that Loon announced last week.00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:10.000Stuart Winchester: There's actually a couple of expansion items in the news today, and I want to hit on those first before we get to Brian.00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:27.000Stuart Winchester: Altera today confirmed a couple of things we already knew in their 2026 to 27 capital plan. So unlike Vale who tends to release all their lifts and expansions and projects at once, Vale or Altera lets them leak out.00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:41.000Stuart Winchester: and then officially announces them sometime later. So, we had a pretty good idea these were coming. The first one will be up at Mont Tremblant, and Tremblant is…00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:44.000Stuart Winchester: If you've been there, it's…00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:55.000Stuart Winchester: an IntraWest legacy, so it has one of these really nice walkable villages of the sort that I'm always pushing for, and it has really great ski terrain. Busiest… it's…00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:11.000Stuart Winchester: Traditionally, Intrawest had the three busiest ski areas in Canada. They had, uh, Whistler was number one, obviously. Number two was Tremblant, and number three, surprisingly, was Blue Mountain, Ontario, which we covered on in the podcast.00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:14.000Stuart Winchester: Pretty recently, but I want to…00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.000Stuart Winchester: show you something here. So this is why it's cool to watch, because you can see…00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:31.000Stuart Winchester: some of these things on YouTube or Substack if you're watching the podcast. So this is Tremblant's timber expansion that they're gonna open for 27 to 28. They're gonna have a new.00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:46.000Stuart Winchester: quad, high-speed quad, coming up to the Timber Summit with 8 new trails over here. Uh, and that's gonna be… let's see, they gave an acreage on that, 62 acres. So sometimes it's hard when you see these things, especially if you don't know the mountain.00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:57.000Stuart Winchester: to really know where it fits in. So this one, here's from the top, you can see the new trails, the timber trails, coming down here off of the new.00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:09.000Stuart Winchester: high-speed quad that'll come out of the Versant-Soleil base. And then here is the existing, if you're watching, here's the existing lift that comes up to the current Tremblant Summit.00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:19.000Stuart Winchester: And you can see that right here. So the new expansion will go bloop right up here, and we'll have some new trails over there. And then Altera also announced.00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:32.000Stuart Winchester: or not really announced, but reconfirmed, that will be when the Club Med is open, so that all-inclusive experience will be there for Tremblant. So, nice expansion coming for Tremblant. Obviously.00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:42.000Stuart Winchester: Altera has had a big expansion ongoing at Deer Valley for years and years. So, Deer Valley, prior to 2023.00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:46.000Stuart Winchester: was really just Bald Mountain.00:04:46.000 --> 00:05:02.000Stuart Winchester: On over to Empire. Uh, and then here's the front side, and then this little baldy peak was here. But over the past three seasons, they've really blown the place out and added thousands and thousands of acres. Uh, Deer Valley, believe it or not, is now the…00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:18.000Stuart Winchester: Sixth largest ski area in America. And, and they're opening 200 more acres this year. Hale Peak will be another high speed quad. I don't have a vertical on Hale Peak, but they did confirm today that Hale Peak will be.00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:29.000Stuart Winchester: 200 acres, so Deer Valley will now total 4,500 acres. It looks, it sounds pretty big, but right next door to it is Park City, which.00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:45.000Stuart Winchester: Combined with the historic canyons is 7,300 acres. That's the largest ski area in the United States. So those are a couple of the expansions that we have coming up. We'll talk about another one in a little bit with Loon. And the reason I wanna talk about expansions with you.00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000Stuart Winchester: Is… is I… I…00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:58.000Stuart Winchester: I write about this over and over again, but sometimes when I write an article, it fritters off into the wilderness, and I'm not able to…00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:12.000Stuart Winchester: it doesn't have the staying power necessarily where people might find it sometime later. So I want to revisit some of these points that I made in the past about expansions and how important they are. So I wrote this article a few years ago.00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.000Stuart Winchester: I was looking at…00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:34.000Stuart Winchester: So everyone always gets hung up on this active ski ski areas number. And the NSA has tracked this for years and years. And here's the numbers you can see on the screen if you're watching in 1991 to 92 season.00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:46.000Stuart Winchester: The United States had 546 active ski areas. As of 2023 to 24, it had 486. The number for this season was right around 490.00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000Stuart Winchester: So, oftentimes.00:06:49.000 --> 00:07:04.000Stuart Winchester: We will see articles usually written by folks who are not ski media, just general media, and they'll write about this number and they'll find this statistic and they'll point to the declining number of ski areas and say, skiing is dying. Climate change is killing skiing.00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:17.000Stuart Winchester: But there's actually a much more nuanced story behind that. So I pulled this number last year when I was reading an article from The Motley Fool, which is an investor site that I use. I love The Motley Fool.00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:24.000Stuart Winchester: But it was talking about MTN stock, which a lot of you know is the stock ticker for Vail Resorts.00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:33.000Stuart Winchester: And the Motley Fool article pointed out that in 1992, and this was their bear case, their case against buying MTN stock.00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:44.000Stuart Winchester: During… I'm gonna quote here, the Motley Fool. During the 1992 ski season, there were 546 ski areas operating in the United States, compared to 486 today. This article's from 2025.00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:57.000Stuart Winchester: Supply, says the fool, is flat to shrinking. On the demand side, 3 of the top 5 busiest ski seasons on record occurred each of the last 3 years. Demand is up. So, they were trying to make the point that.00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:07.000Stuart Winchester: Vail Resorts had a very valuable commodity, because the number of ski areas was shrinking. I said, wait a second, this doesn't really make sense, because…00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.000Stuart Winchester: How are you having so many fewer?00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:25.000Stuart Winchester: ski areas, and so many more skier visits? Well, the answer is pretty simple. We have a lot more ski terrain. In fact, I did an analysis in response to that Fool article.00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:27.000Stuart Winchester: And I found, just examining…00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.000Stuart Winchester: The 11 western ski states.00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:40.000Stuart Winchester: that, minus Alaska, that those 11 states had 54,598 more acres of terrain.00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:50.000Stuart Winchester: available at their ski areas, their lift service ski areas, than they had in 1994. So, yes, there are fewer ski areas.00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:00.000Stuart Winchester: now than there were in the early 90s. There were 546 in 92, 486 today, but there's a lot more terrain, and so what ended up happening was.00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:08.000Stuart Winchester: The ski areas that were successful expanded. It was as simple as that. And when I did this analysis.00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at…00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:24.000Stuart Winchester: I looked at 92 ski areas that I had the data for from 1992, and they happen to be some of the biggest ski areas in the West. And I compared their acreage in 1994 according to a guidebook I had from that date that I'd kept.00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:30.000Stuart Winchester: 107,671 acres was the total for these ski areas.00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:45.000Stuart Winchester: Fast forward to 2025, when I did this analysis, those same 92 ski areas had grown from 107,671 acres to 159,754 acres.00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:55.000Stuart Winchester: Then I added in a few ski areas that had opened since then, places like Tamarack in Idaho, Blacktail in Montana. There hasn't been a lot, but there's been a few.00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:11.000Stuart Winchester: And then I subtracted the lost ski areas. The biggest of them was Ski Rio in New Mexico. But for the most part, the ski areas that closed were small surface tow operations and they were in the region of a much larger area and most likely failed in large part.00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:29.000Stuart Winchester: Because they couldn't compete with that full service area, which could offer folks not only beginner terrain, but a progression up to more interesting terrain. So, there's a lot more ski terrain than there used to be, and to give you an idea of how much terrain 54,598 acres is.00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:36.000Stuart Winchester: Currently in Colorado, the whole state of Colorado, which has a quarter of the ski terrain in the entire United States.00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.000Stuart Winchester: there's 45,552 acres of terrain. So we've added the equivalent of another Colorado.00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:45.000Stuart Winchester: Now, there's a caveat to that.00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.000Stuart Winchester: The ski industry has been able to grow by expansion.00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:58.000Stuart Winchester: But it hasn't necessarily been able to grow where it needs to grow, and I made another point, a related point, in another recent article that I wrote.00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:11.000Stuart Winchester: for… about the U.S. Forest Service, and how most of the ski areas in the western United States are built on U.S. Forest Service land. They're leased from the U.S. Forest Service under 40-year terms.00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:18.000Stuart Winchester: However, following the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, those permits.00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:33.000Stuart Winchester: got almost impossible to obtain new permits. The Forest Service had lots and lots of ski areas proposed, but they were all shut down. Everyone except for Beaver Creek and then Blacktail in 1998 were shut down with.00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:51.000Stuart Winchester: court challenges that came out of NEPA in 1969. So, while we have more terrain, skiable terrain, than we had in 1994, the reason it often feels as though the mountains are overcrowded and insufficiently distributed.00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:57.000Stuart Winchester: is because they are. Because we've only been able to expand the ski areas where they were.00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:10.000Stuart Winchester: rather than building new ski areas where people move to. Look at snowy regions like Washington and Oregon, some of the snowiest ski areas in the country. A lot of them still don't have snowmaking because they get so much snow there.00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:22.000Stuart Winchester: Washington in 1980 had 4.1 million people. Today it has 8.2 million people, double the population, but fewer ski areas and some larger.00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:37.000Stuart Winchester: Stevens Pass has certainly grown, Crystal has grown, Mission Ridge has grown. Oregon, same thing, went from 2.6 million people in 1980 to 4.3 million today, but has fewer ski areas now than it did in the 1980s. So…00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:48.000Stuart Winchester: For better or worse, we are stuck right now with growth through expansion. So, I want to get to an expansion. First, I want to tell you about one of my awesome partners.00:12:48.000 --> 00:13:00.000Stuart Winchester: I've been working with Bonfire Collective for a long time, and if you run a ski area or an outdoor brand, you should consider hooking up with them as well.00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:10.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective is a fractional marketing team that collaborates with ski areas and outdoor brands to give your marketing a fresh perspective and better storytelling.00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire can help you rethink your approach in ways that can turbocharge your business.00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:31.000Stuart Winchester: Bonfire Collective, for example, took on the marketing at one New Hampshire sea area and doubled revenue in just three years. And when the storm was ready to invest in its first ever digital marketing campaign last year, I worked with Bonfire to make it happen.00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.000Stuart Winchester: I could not be happier with the results. I think you will love working with them too.00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.000Stuart Winchester: To get started, you will want to talk to Eric over at Bonfire Collective.00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:56.000Stuart Winchester: Eric was a co-founder of Bluebird Backcountry Colorado, the first human powered ski area. He knows the ski business, as many of you know from that episode of the Storm Skiing Podcast that he appeared on last year. Visit bonfirecollective.com or I will be happy.00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:03.000Stuart Winchester: to make that connection for you. Alright, with that, let's go to our guest for today.00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:15.000Stuart Winchester: Here he is, Mr. Brian Norton. Brian, what an awesome background! Where are you at?00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.000brian norton: Uh, I'm in my office, but that's hanging outside my office, so…00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, okay, cool, I thought maybe you were in the, uh, the kink barn with the, uh…00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:27.000Stuart Winchester: With that, with the cool groomer behind you.00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:44.000Stuart Winchester: All right, well, let me give you a proper introduction here. Uh, my guest today is president and general manager of Loon Mountain, New Hampshire since 2022. Loon claims New Hampshire's tallest vertical drop at 2,190 feet.00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:58.000Stuart Winchester: served by 13 lifts. Last week, Loon announced the 272-acre Black Ridge expansion that, when added to the resort's existing 403-acre footprint.00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:08.000Stuart Winchester: will make Lune the largest ski area in New Hampshire, and the sixth largest ski area in the eastern United States at 675 acres.00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:23.000Stuart Winchester: He began his Loon career in 2001 as a Lyft attendant, and now he's running the place. He is Brian Norton. Brian, welcome back to the storm. Always good to see what's new at Loon, because there is always something new at Loon. How you doing today, Brian?00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:29.000brian norton: I'm doing awesome. It's sweatshirt weather right now, so we're getting closer.00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:33.000Stuart Winchester: Nice. Did you do a snowmaking test yet, or is that Sunday River's ter.00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.000brian norton: No, we have not done that yet. Sunday will probably beat us to that one.00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:54.000Stuart Winchester: All right, let's talk about Black Ridge. This is really an amazing project, and I've been pretty vocal and frank over the years about what I saw as Loon's biggest shortcoming, which was not enough real expert terrain, and by that I really meant glades, wild terrain.00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.000Stuart Winchester: Talk to us about Black Ridge, what it is, and how it's going to change Loon.00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:14.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, it's a pivotal project for the ski resort. As you mentioned, it's almost doubling the size of the ski resort. For those not familiar with it, it's this kind of secret shoulder glade skiing. It's been there.00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:30.000brian norton: It was developed over time by some locals just kind of going out there, you know, maybe not necessarily following the rules, certainly not at our approval, but people have been skiing there. I mean, I think the first time I went skiing over there, I was in college, like 2001, and it was like you had to kind of find your way over there. You had to commit to it.00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:28.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:42.000brian norton: beautiful, um, beautiful area. It's like a big catcher's mitt off the side of the ski resort that just holds snow really well, and there's a lot of, um, it's a mile and a quarter.00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:51.000brian norton: hike, uh, across a ridgeline. You can actually ski or skate most of it. There's a few sections where you have to, you know, unclick and walk and…00:16:51.000 --> 00:17:09.000brian norton: um, you just get this incredible glade scheme that brings you right back to the bottom of North Peak, so it's like this full circle, you're way the heck out there, there's a couple viewpoints where you can stand at this cliff and just look back at the ski resort and look into the town of Lincoln, you're like, whoa, I am way out there, but a completely different view than, you know, most people would.00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:23.000brian norton: would ever get to see from Loon. And so, yeah, we've been working on it for a couple years with the Forest Service, trying to, like, wrap that into our special use permit. And, um, yeah, super happy to have that announcement, kind of. Like I said, planning.00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:28.000brian norton: For a long time, but awesome to have that hit the newsstands the other day.00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:34.000Stuart Winchester: So help us understand Loon's Forest Service footprint. This is a conversation I'm accustomed to having with.00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:53.000Stuart Winchester: your partners who run western ski areas. There's very few, just 7 in New England, that touch Forest Service land. My understanding is that Loon is not entirely on Forest Service land. I believe it's Kissing Cousins Lift. You're riding up, and you see a sign, welcome to the White Mountains National Forest. So, where are those boundaries at?00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.000Stuart Winchester: at Loon.00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:05.000brian norton: Yeah, it's really just the bottom. I mean, like, pretty much if you can hit a golf ball there, you're on private land from a base area, hit it up, and then everything above there is forest service land, so…00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:02.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.000brian norton: Yeah, it's the top 95% of the skewers work.00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.000Stuart Winchester: So how?00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.000Stuart Winchester: Right, so Loon went through quite a process as I remember it back in the 90s to open up South Peak and there was…00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:22.000Stuart Winchester: a lot of resistance to that locally, and ultimately, you got it opened.00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.000Stuart Winchester: was…00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:30.000Stuart Winchester: if you look at Black Ridge, it's… there's no new lift, right? It's essentially…00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.000Stuart Winchester: Glade thinning. So, so I want to talk about the process for that in a minute, but.00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:45.000Stuart Winchester: What was the process like of working with the Forest Service? Did they seem much more amenable and does the local community seem much more amenable?00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:54.000Stuart Winchester: to this given the small actual environmental impact? And was that a consideration in deciding how to develop this terrain?00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:10.000brian norton: I mean, it was definitely a consideration for us as we think about, you know, growing the ski resort sustainably. I think the, you know, and our partnership with the Forest Service is a really great one. I hear, you know, different stories from around the industry or around the country.00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:26.000brian norton: I just can't speak highly enough of our team here and the relationship that we have with them. And, the fact that this was kind of already skiing, the fact that it was super low impact, we weren't ever going to put a lift or a lodge or some sort of, you know, driving snow cats over there. We're not even doing any of that.00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.000brian norton: really, so it was a small lift, I think, to bring this kind of.00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:43.000brian norton: thing that people were skiing into the permit boundary, which really, you know, there's some work to clean it up and to create slightly better access, mostly for our patrol team to react out there.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:44.000Stuart Winchester: Mm-hmm.00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.000brian norton: But this is, um…00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.000brian norton: It's a small lift to bring our…00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.000brian norton: Services, so that we can go, you know, in the past.00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000brian norton: Someone would get hurt, someone would get lost ‘cause they thought they knew where they were going.00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yep.00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:14.000brian norton: technically, we're supposed to call fish and game, and they're supposed to go rescue them. A lot of times, we helped with that. So, by bringing this into the permit boundary, we're allowed to help manage it. So, um, this is really a win-win for everyone. It's a win-win for the skiers, it's a win-win for the Forest Service, because now we can actually manage something that wasn'.00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:02.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.000brian norton: That's a great opportunity for us.00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:28.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, it's going to be tremendous terrain. You know, another big difference between working in the East and the West is sometimes if you want to open 500 acres of glades in the West, you just drop a rope.00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:39.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, in the east, there tends to be a lot of undergrowth. Now, I don't know if that's the case at Loon, because maybe you have some old growth there, where the canopy is, is, has, you know, shut out some of that little stuff.00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:45.000Stuart Winchester: 200 and what is it, 267 acres? That's a lot of acres to clear.00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:55.000Stuart Winchester: What does it look like in there, and what is the… what is the labor lift gonna be like to glade that out and make it so that you don't need 4 feet of snow to ski it?00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:08.000brian norton: Um, we'll talk about snow in a minute, but in terms of glading, you get across the ridgeline, and you get to this… it's not the high point, like, the actual peak of the mountain, but the high point of the ridgeline.00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:23.000brian norton: And you kind of drop in there, and then it just funnels out both directions. And from that point, it's all hardwoods. And it's just… it's really open. You can kind of ski wherever you want. Now, we're gonna manage it slightly better, so there's better waypoint finding, you know, kind of…00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:42.000brian norton: more organized corridors. There's a river, uh, a stream valley that is between what I would call, you know, Black Ridge proper and, like, the North Peak Glades and Walking Boss, um, that you don't want to end up in, so that's kind of the part of the land that, you know, we're going to try to manage away from, and.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:53.000brian norton: kind of cut that, you know, the extent of it, kind of clear those glades a little more, so that it's obvious, like, no, no, no, I want to go this way, or I want to go that way, so you all come back out to the… to.00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.000brian norton: But it's not a heavy lift to cut a lot out there.00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:54.000Stuart Winchester: So I.00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:13.000Stuart Winchester: So as far as snow goes, you mentioned a, a little catcher's mitt and along North Peak, and there are some terrific glades in lower New England. Stratton, I think has really, really excellent glades. Magic Mountain has some excellent glades. They're in a little bit different.00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:33.000Stuart Winchester: snow pocket, obviously, than you are, but also farther south. So, so talk to us, you know, Loon averages 160 inches of snow per year, but I don't know where you measure that, and I know that snow stays on different parts of the mountain in different ways, right? Because you can ski in New Hampshire in June on natural snow at Mount Washington and Tucks.00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:34.000Stuart Winchester: But…00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.000Stuart Winchester: That's not the case in most places. So, so talk to us about.00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:48.000Stuart Winchester: the snow in that area, and how often you think you'll realistically be able to offer that glade skiing experience in Black Ridge.00:22:48.000 --> 00:23:06.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, I think it's gonna be… it's definitely a different experience, so we're gonna have different, um, opening protocols when that part of the mountain will open versus your traditional glade skiing, so it's gonna be a little more raw, a little more rugged, we're gonna be a little more free with opening it. Um, we're working through those kind of details with our patrol team right now.00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:23.000brian norton: Um, in terms of holding snow, predominant northeast wind here, everything cuts across the ski resort as you're looking at it, right to left, and guess what's far left? This, right? So, um, I'll tell you a funny story. We were walking over there with the Forest Service this.00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.000brian norton: Spring, and we're walking along the ridgeline.00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:38.000brian norton: And we're contemplating, like, how we get snowmobile access out there for our patrol team to, you know, manage this terrain in a reasonable amount of time to, like, respond to an incident. And we get to these two big boulders.00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:47.000brian norton: like, oh man, how are we gonna get a snowmobile through here? Like, it's… we can't get a machine all the way out here to move these boulders, what are we gonna do? And then it, like.00:23:47.000 --> 00:24:06.000brian norton: I don't remember seeing these boulders in the winter. That means there's 4 feet of snow here on this ridgeline, so it's like… it just… it's not the same as the rest of the ski resort when you think about, like, how that pocket holds snow and takes all the wind-deposited snow from the whole area and just stacks up in there, so it was a bit… it was eye-opening for us to be like.00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.000Stuart Winchester: Wow.00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:11.000brian norton: Wait a minute, we don't see these in the winter, and they're 4-foot boulders, so.00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:28.000Stuart Winchester: Oh, man, you're really making me want to get back in there. You know, I did not mention in the intro that Loon is owned by Boyne Resorts, one of the 11 ski areas in the Boyne family. And Boyne has done just a tremendous amount of work over the past decade, putting in new lifts and doing expansions.00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000Stuart Winchester: In fact, I think…00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:42.000Stuart Winchester: the last 5 expansions in New England were all Boyne Mountains. It was Brackett Basin, Burnt Mountain, it was, uh, Merrill Hill at Sunday River, it was the little one you did at Loon the other… the other, uh, couple years ago, and… and.00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:54.000Stuart Winchester: Black Ridge, you know, the one that this most echoes for Sugarloaf fans, and Sugarloaf is far, far, far, far north, but it's worth going to, is… is they opened that several hundred acre.00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:04.000Stuart Winchester: terrain expansion of Brackett Basin back in 2011. They expanded it with Burnt Ridge a few years later, and it's all natural bladed. How much…00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.000Stuart Winchester: Did you…00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:21.000Stuart Winchester: did Loon and the team at Loon use Bracket Basin as an inspiration, either… either to see as, like, a proof of concept this'll work, or… or just to imagine a… a different way of, uh… of expanding the resort without necessarily having to spend.00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:28.000Stuart Winchester: you know, $20 million on a new lift. Just talk about it, if there's any relationship there, or, you know, learning how to manage it, etc.00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:51.000brian norton: A lot for me personally, and for the team here. I mean, I'm not the the people that have been out there developing that glade skiing probably aren't necessarily thinking about bracket basin, but 100%. That was the equivalent. That was, you know, I've referred to it through this whole planning process as our version of bracket basin. We've been in communication with the team up there about how they manage it, what their entrance looks like all of those things. So.00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:31.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:54.000brian norton: Yeah, it's our version of that, 100%.00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:12.000Stuart Winchester: And just from a liability point of view, it's funny, because I grew up in Michigan, and I've been skiing the Boyne Mountains there since the 90s, and I remember you weren't allowed in the trees, and that was a big no-no. So now here you have, fast forward 30 years, and they're developing these enormous glade skiing pockets, and obviously Jay Peak was a leader.00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.000Stuart Winchester: our early leader in that, in New England. But what has Boyne learned, do you think.00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:25.000Stuart Winchester: by operating Brackett Basin for the last 15 years, about liability and skiers' abilities to self-manage in terrain like that.00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:36.000brian norton: Yeah, I mean, Sugarloaf, they're Sugarloafers, right? So they're a slightly different clientele than we have here, so I'm sure we'll learn different things. I think the big thing is, you know.00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:50.000brian norton: clear messaging, and… and with this project, it's… it's very different. I said it earlier, it's different than the rest of the Glades here, so, um, you gotta know what you're doing, and it's gonna be messaged that way, but it's gonna be managed that way, too, and…00:26:50.000 --> 00:27:06.000brian norton: it's gonna pull people around the resort and move people around to places that, you know, it's a bit of a destination now. Camp 3 in North Peak was already a destination, and now you've got another, you know, 300 acres or so just past there that's serviced by the same portal, so…00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:15.000brian norton: yeah, I think our patrol team's gonna have a little bit of work cut out for them, but frankly, the guys and girls that work for our team that are gonna end up over there, like.00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:18.000brian norton: They… they're looking forward to that, so…00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, well, let's talk about access a little bit. I'll tell you…00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:39.000Stuart Winchester: That, or the listeners at least, people who haven't been there. So you access this expansion through the North Peak lift. It's a high speed quad built in 2004, 1500 vertical foot, 4,800 foot long. But the view off the top is an absolute showstopper. It's one of the best.00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:49.000Stuart Winchester: in New England. I just love it. Uh, my question for you, Brian, is Flight Path 2030, your… your Loon 2030 plan, essentially 10-year plan, published around 2020.00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:55.000Stuart Winchester: did consider an upgrade for the North Peak lift. Now, it's obviously not a very old lift.00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:10.000Stuart Winchester: But I would imagine that there may be some volume considerations as you look to expand the terrain available off this lift. So, A, am I right in seeing that you will be able to fully lap Black Ridge?00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:17.000Stuart Winchester: on the North Peak lift? And B, do you have thoughts on what might be next for North Peak lift?00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:26.000brian norton: Um, yes, you access it from the top of that lift. The entrance is 150 feet from the top of that lift, maybe, off of Whatcom House.00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:45.000brian norton: the primary exit is slightly lower in elevation than North Peak. You come out onto Brookway Extension there, so if you really wanted to lap it, you'd probably unclick and go down there. More often than not, I think what people will do is they'll ski down Brookway, go up Seven Brothers and a gondola, and get back over there if they want to do it again.00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:28:46.000 --> 00:29:06.000brian norton: So, yeah, I mean, access is pretty strong. In terms of replacing North Peak, yes, that lift is on our planning process. It's probably equivalent to South Peak on any given day, or Lincoln Express, I should say. On any given day, I flip-flop which one's more important. You know, we did the Timbertown expansion, and we thought, oh, these people are over here.00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:22.000brian norton: maybe we should be focused on this lift, and now we're doing this thing over here, or maybe we should be focused on North Peak, and, um, I'll tell you that the RFID data that we, you know, 3, 4 years ago, we put RFID gates at North Peak, remote up mountain, you can't get to it without passing another gate, and everyone was kind of looking at us, like.00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.000brian norton: What are you doing that for? Data collection, 100%. The things we've learned about how people use that terrain have…00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:26.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:40.000brian norton: driven our snowmaking philosophy, our investment philosophy. Uh, it's… it's last winter that Lyft opened on day one and closed on day 151, I think it was, so it was open every day of the season, so…00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:45.000brian norton: Maybe today, if you're asking me, that one gets done before Lincoln Express.00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:48.000Stuart Winchester: And are you thinking a six-pack? One of those nice D-lines?00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:51.000brian norton: Yeah, I'm sure that's what it would be at a minimum, yeah.00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:56.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, do you like the bubbles, like the one you have at CANC and up at Sunday River?00:29:55.000 --> 00:30:17.000brian norton: The bubbles are awesome for all the reasons they're awesome, but there are some hidden challenges with them as well, particularly when they come into the terminal. They're aerodynamic when the chairs are on the line, but when they come into the terminal, if the wind's blowing the wrong way and the bubbles opening and the wind wants to shut it or vice versa.00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:26.000brian norton: Uh, there's a little give and take there. I… we'd probably end up with bubbles, I think, but, um, yeah, there are… it's not all… it's not all easy with them.00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.000Stuart Winchester: That's that.00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:34.000Stuart Winchester: It's Boyne style, right? I was surprised, actually, when I got out to Brighton, and the, uh… their new Sixer, their D-Line out there does not have bubbles. I was like, oh, this.00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:28.000brian norton: Yep.00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:42.000brian norton: Or footrests, or footrests, which is the only one that I think doesn't have footrests, and as a snowboarder, I appreciated that when I rode that.00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:36.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah.00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:52.000Stuart Winchester: Right, right, right. Yeah, well, the Utah guys don't want to bring the bar down anyway so So, you know, I always think of this expansions like this first, Brian, as a skier.00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:10.000Stuart Winchester: Unless as a customer or as someone, you know, doing a business, I'm really curious. Loon has already historically been the busiest skier in New Hampshire and the pub, the skier visits aren't public anymore. But I would imagine that's still the case. It is busy, busy, busy all the time. It is the idea here.00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:18.000Stuart Winchester: Is it to bring in more skiers, or is it to create more variety at a mountain that…00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:28.000Stuart Winchester: I really think has traditionally had the reputation as a good intermediates family mountain. To maybe start to nudge that a little bit more toward a…00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:40.000Stuart Winchester: uh, more of a Killington profile, where there's… where there's more than one kind of skier? Like, the whole family can have fun there. So is it… is it more skiers, or more terrain for the same amount of skiers to spread them out better?00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:46.000brian norton: Um, both, and I'll clarify more skiers, because, um.00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:58.000brian norton: as the ski resort develops, and as the town develops, we inch closer to destination ski resort instead of day ski resort. I think we're still a day ski resort, but we're working our way towards destination.00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:18.000brian norton: Um, and as you become a destination, your skier visits spread equally over the 7-day week, right? We're heavily skewed to weekends right now. We're not talking about more skiers on the weekends. We're already managing tickets and limiting sales to keep guest experience where we want it. I think we can have more visits mid-week, or early season, late season.00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:33.000brian norton: this will certainly help with that, but on your peak Saturday in January, like, no, we don't… we're… we're not having more skiers here. We're… we're happy with where we're at. Um, in terms of terrain, yeah, I mean, you and I talked about it, I think, the last time we were together talking about glade skiing here.00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:40.000brian norton: We need more of it. Variety of terrain, um, is important, and this is a huge step in the right direction.00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:48.000Stuart Winchester: So I think in New England, when you talk about more skiers, more capacity, reflectively, we think parking, but you have this interesting project going on.00:32:48.000 --> 00:33:05.000Stuart Winchester: Where a pulse gondola is set to leave from near the new Timbertown quad that you put in 2023, go over the river, uh, and land, not exactly in the town of Lincoln, but to service some resorts there. Uh, I thought that project was gonna open.00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:15.000Stuart Winchester: This winter, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Tell us about that Pulse Gondola, Brian, what you hope to achieve with it, and kind of where you're at with approvals and permits.00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:33.000brian norton: Um, yeah, me too. I was hoping it was gonna open this winter, too. Um, yeah, we've said with that project all along that we're not really in a rush, and we want to do it right. More importantly, we want to get buy-in from all the current stakeholders, and that's where the project, um, lives. It's a really unique thing where.00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:48.000brian norton: you've got three different parties that are involved, two different completely owned land, uh, landowners, plus Loon being the easement and holders on some of that land, and, um, just working with the town currently and trying to.00:33:48.000 --> 00:34:08.000brian norton: none of us have been through this. I can't think of another example where you've got so many different entities trying to get one project approval. I actually have a planning board meeting tonight, and we're on the docket. So if you're if you're not doing anything at 6 o'clock tonight, feel free to join the zoom. Yeah. So we're we're still working on that. We've gotten essentially approval on one side. And now we're working on the loon side.00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:57.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:23.000brian norton: our hope is that that project still comes through in the next year. It's unique in the sense that it doesn't need to happen, like, for day one of ski season. It can be built during the ski season, because it's not replacing something, it's a true add to the ski resort, so…00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:22.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:38.000brian norton: the Daubmeyer team that would do the lift is kind of excited that, you know, they have a project that they can work on out of cycle, keep their team busy year-round, have the electricians there when they'd otherwise, you know, not be doing anything, because the crew's still standing steel somewhere else, that kind of thing.00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:44.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, Boyne's had a lot of success doing those sorts of lifts at Big Sky, and it's amazing what.00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:59.000Stuart Winchester: Even if it's a low capacity, low use lift, like the one and only gondola or the lift that connects to the montage out there in Big Sky, it really gives the skiers a lot of freedom. And I think it really would make a big difference in being able to connect to the town. So let's talk about a lift.00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:01.000Stuart Winchester: That would not be easy.00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:18.000Stuart Winchester: Let's talk about that. Uh, the four passenger gondola you have, I believe it's the last four passenger Gandhi left in the east. It is a monster. This is a 1738 vertical foot lift, 6970.00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:30.000Stuart Winchester: foot long, uh, and recently Loon filed an application with the Forest Service to replace it, so tell us, Brian, what you want to do with the White Mountain Gondola.00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um…00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:44.000brian norton: a really cool old lift. You probably know better than me, but one of the oldest detachables in New England. It's one of the highest utilized lifts in Boyne's network.00:35:44.000 --> 00:36:00.000brian norton: around this 10-plus months out of the year, you know, between winter and summer. Uh, two years ago, I got a text message from our lift mechanic showing me the hour meeting that was 8675309. Um, it's nearing… it's nearing 100,000 hours now, so yeah, it's due for replacement.00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:10.000brian norton: Um, we filed some paperwork with the Forest Service to get in the queue. We're still working out the details of that project, that's why we haven't really addressed it publicly.00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:23.000brian norton: Try to figure out how it fits, where it goes. It will be a D-line Omega 10, you know, 10-person cabins. Boeing style, as you like to say, you know, we're gonna do it right. It's a pivotal lift for us.00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, okay.00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:29.000brian norton: the main base area that opens first and closes last, and, um, yeah, we want to make sure we do it right. So, we will.00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:48.000Stuart Winchester: One detail I thought was really cool in the permit, Brian, was, and obviously I'm not holding you to this, the permit is, you know, the application is the application, but this notion of moving the load terminal, it gets set 100 feet or 80 feet up the hill, away from the Octagon Lodge, I imagine that opens all kinds of possibilities for you.00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000Stuart Winchester: Talk about what you have in mind there and how that would change just the whole flow of Loon.00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:02.000brian norton: Yeah, the problem is that the current lift is inside of a building, and the new one, you know, without tearing the building down, is not going to go inside of the same building, so…00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:57.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, thank you.00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:03.000Stuart Winchester: Right.00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:21.000brian norton: how do we handle that? And, you know, I'd say there's a couple options on the table. Some of them is, you know, partially modifying that building, putting the lift against it, and or the polar opposite of that is just pushing it into the hillside as far as you can, and, um, you know, using the building for something else, which we have some cool ideas for.00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:36.000brian norton: Um, this lift is gonna need parking. That's a big space constraint that we don't necessarily have. I mean, those cabins aren't small, and you're talking, you know, another Kank 8 size. Probably not that big, but close to Kank 8 size, you know, parking structure to park all the cabins in, and.00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:42.000brian norton: Is parking at the top? Is parking at the bottom? You know, how do we, uh… how does our… if we put it…00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:57.000brian norton: upslope, not in the building, how does our food and beverage team that uses that as their main, you know, mover up the mountain, get food and everything else up, how do they get their food to the Summit Cafe now in the winter? And so, there's a lot of challenges with that, and that's why we haven't, you know.00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:13.000brian norton: really detailed the project, because we're… I mean, just this morning, I was walking out there, driving stakes in the ground, like, trying to visualize, okay, if we did this, how would it work? How would that work? So, yeah, ongoing, um, super exciting project, and I can't wait till we have that nailed down, and we can really start.00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:15.000brian norton: Showing people what we're doing.00:38:14.000 --> 00:38:20.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, that would be huge, and maybe quiet at the Peanut Gallery, because I know a big storyline.00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:31.000Stuart Winchester: when the cant gate went in was, why'd they do that before the gondola? And I know there's a lot of reasons for that, but… and I love the cant gate, but I'm sure you heard those same narratives. You know.00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:40.000Stuart Winchester: Out with the old, I guess. Quick note, Brian, the little sister, a 1966 Hall double.00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:57.000Stuart Winchester: has taken its last ride. I just made this connection prepping for this podcast. That's actually an original lift from Loon's opening, right? So tell us about Little Sister. It was a small lift, a hall lift, but you took it out this summer. Why was it time to retire Little Sister?00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:01.000Stuart Winchester: And what are you doing with the lift, the chairs, the pieces, the parts?00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:07.000brian norton: Yeah, so, um, Old Lyft, um, couple things. One…00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:10.000brian norton: When we installed Seven Brothers.00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:21.000brian norton: the skiers really stopped using that lift, because… sorry, when we upgraded Seven Brothers Triple to the Seven Brothers Quad, which was the old Kank Quad and got rebuilt.00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:14.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:21.000Stuart Winchester: Mmhm.00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:37.000brian norton: the lap time off Seven Brothers was just as quick as Little Sister, but you got more vertical, and we had more uphill PPH. So, um, no one was really using it for skiing. We maintained it for tubing for a while, we got out of the tubing business.00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:56.000brian norton: Um, we'll maybe be back in the tubing business in the future, but not in that location. So, um, at the same time, it needed some maintenance work. Our friends at Cypress, one of the other Boyne properties, um, needed some spare parts to one of their lifts. We had them in the drive here at Little Sister, so…00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:13.000brian norton: Um, plus, in a base area that's crammed for space, when that thing eventually, you know, physically moves away, it'll be additional space, it'll open up skiing possibilities, it'll open up more space for our seasonal programs that are in that base area, or that part of the base area over there. Uh, in terms of what we're doing with the lift.00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:30.000brian norton: Um, towers are still standing right now, the terminals are still standing, we'll hopefully get that down next summer. The chairs were all auctioned off recently, we sold a few to employees, like myself, I bought one, I'll have that hanging on my porch at my house.00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:27.000Stuart Winchester: Nice.00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:44.000brian norton: Um, the rest of… I think we sold… there was 20, or there was 31 chairs… 30 or 31 chairs, and um, we sold some to employees. We're keeping 5 for spare parts, maybe future auction-type stuff. The rest of them…00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:50.000brian norton: were auctioned off to the public, and they're benefiting two incredible local charities, one, the Pemi Valley.00:40:51.000 --> 00:41:07.000brian norton: Uh, Upper Pemi Valley Historical Society, um, who's, you know, I saw some really cool historic stuff, check out their Instagram feed, there's some cool stuff about the Riverwalk Gondola, and then they just put a couple posts. Um, and then, uh, Lincoln Friends Iraq, which, you know, one of our purposes is making sure.00:40:57.000 --> 00:40:59.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah. Okay.00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:15.000brian norton: That we're connected to the community and doing everything we can for the youth of the community, and so that's what we're doing with the money, and we're proud to say that.00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:30.000Stuart Winchester: So don't go looking for Little Sister Lift this year. It is gone. That leaves you with one haul lift, a 1968 East Basin. I didn't see a map for that gondola proposal. Brian, is part of that proposal removing that East Basin haul lift?00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:20.000brian norton: And it's gone.00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:39.000brian norton: I started at East Basin and as long as I'm here, East Basin will, you know, I shouldn't say that. And maybe it'll go away, but it's not going away as part of.00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:34.000Stuart Winchester: Okay.00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:37.000Stuart Winchester: Okay, I love it.00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:55.000Stuart Winchester: Love that. All right, Brian, hey, I really appreciate you joining us today on the New Look Pod. You're my second guest ever, and I really want to make this timely, so the fact that we could talk about this new expansion at Loon is awesome, and I hope I can be up there on opening day.00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.000Stuart Winchester: And I hope that's next winter.00:41:57.000 --> 00:42:00.000brian norton: Yeah, and I hope to get out there on Black Ridge with you.00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.000Stuart Winchester: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, good luck at your planning board meeting tonight, Brian. Talk to you.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:05.000brian norton: All right. Thanks, Stuart.00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:06.000Stuart Winchester: Thanks so much. Bye.00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:06.000brian norton: Bye.00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.000Stuart Winchester: All right, so…00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:17.000Stuart Winchester: That is Brian Norton, President and General Manager of Loon Mountain.00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:25.000Stuart Winchester: Before we move on to the closing segment, I want to tell you about my friends at Profile Search International.00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:31.000Stuart Winchester: A lot of you come to this podcast to hear from the best minds in skiing, guys like Brian Norton.00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:41.000Stuart Winchester: Managing mountains that are making big moves like Loon. But, what if you want to find one of these great leaders for your own mountain team? Brian is pretty happily employed.00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:46.000Stuart Winchester: I'd like to introduce you to the folks at Profile Search International.00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:59.000Stuart Winchester: Profile Search are ski industry talent acquisition experts, and they are the only executive search and recruitment firm in the world that is 100% focused on the ski industry.00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:05.000Stuart Winchester: ProfileSearch has used their intimate understanding of skiing and related industries.00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:14.000Stuart Winchester: and of available candidates worldwide to place hundreds of transformational leaders at the best and most progressive ski areas over the past 30 years.00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:21.000Stuart Winchester: With offices in the US and Canada, they find and negotiate with the right leaders for your team.00:43:21.000 --> 00:43:33.000Stuart Winchester: You can reach out to Profile Search directly at profilesearch.com, or contact them by email or phone, or send me a note, and I will connect you directly with this expert team.00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:40.000Stuart Winchester: Alright, I'm really looking forward to this next segment. As promised, I am going to use this segment.00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:52.000Stuart Winchester: to read reaction to the previous podcast. I'm not at a point where I can do the podcast live, maybe someday, but right now, we are…00:43:52.000 --> 00:44:08.000Stuart Winchester: Read and react the next day. So, uh, the way that you can interact with the podcast is to make a comment on the article that accompanies this podcast on stormskeeting.com. Only paid subscribers can do that.00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:23.000Stuart Winchester: You can upgrade to the paid tier of the storm, which is the very best way to support the product@stormskiing.com. That will get you 100% of the content below the paywall, and it will also allow you to interact with the podcast, but.00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:31.000Stuart Winchester: everyone can listen to the podcast. The podcast has always been for everyone, and my intent is to keep it that way. So…00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:40.000Stuart Winchester: Some reaction to yesterday, and a lot of this is just reacting to… So yesterday, as a reminder, Joe Hessian came on, talked about…00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.000Stuart Winchester: The Snow Pass, uh, talked about…00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:51.000Stuart Winchester: Indy Pass and Snow Pass, both claiming Snow King and the confusion around that.00:44:51.000 --> 00:45:00.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and I talked a little bit about, just in general, uh, the Indy Pass and the fact that smugglers not to join. So…00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:14.000Stuart Winchester: Reading the comments from top to bottom. And again, these are all paid subscribers, so thank you very much, and a lot of these folks I have been in dialogue with for years, so they're not necessarily new to me, but perhaps new to the community.00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:17.000Stuart Winchester: Starting with Peter Schlachtes.00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:21.000Stuart Winchester: So, just under an hour, in the short format?00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:27.000Stuart Winchester: I liked it. I had heard the backstory on Hessian and didn't need to hear it again.00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:30.000Stuart Winchester: It focused on the compelling stuff.00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:44.000Stuart Winchester: But remember that your growing audience, I hope, consists over time of more and more people who won't have heard or remember that context and texture and won't necessarily seek it out on an old podcast that features your speaker.00:45:44.000 --> 00:45:59.000Stuart Winchester: By the way, though, you really must make a point of steering people to relevant past podcasts that provide the backstory on guests and mountains you cover in the new format. Mention it, flash it on the screen, put it in a subtext, and leave it there, because people won't know they're interested in learning more until…00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:00.000Stuart Winchester: They are.00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:08.000Stuart Winchester: Yes, Peter, I appreciate the short comment, and short has never been my…00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:25.000Stuart Winchester: Strength. So expect some experimentation. Uh, expect me to play around with this a little bit. Expect some episodes to be longer than others. I truly will try to get some bite size episodes out there, but I, I find that the podcasts that I listen to that are news focused are usually right around an hour and.00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:34.000Stuart Winchester: And I don't run out of steam with that, as long as what they're talking about is interesting to me. As far as your point about linking to past podcasts, look.00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:38.000Stuart Winchester: One of the reasons that…00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:42.000Stuart Winchester: I had to move to a different podcast format.00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:43.000Stuart Winchester: Was that…00:46:43.000 --> 00:47:03.000Stuart Winchester: the old podcast was becoming too laborious, and part of the reason was I was too concerned with building a big story around it, and making sure that everything I mentioned had some context that a reader could go back to. And what that… and it was great, and a lot of people appreciated that, and again, I'll still do some long-form product…00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:17.000Stuart Winchester: Podcasts and I'm still doing plenty of writing, but it actually gummed things up to the point where I was just not making as many podcasts as I should be. So my goal here with the new short format podcast, keep it light, keep it moving.00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:33.000Stuart Winchester: The trend is toward search, right? So with all the AI tools and everything available, it's pretty easy to find my old podcast. I do have a master list that I linked to from the homepage, uh, and, and.00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:38.000Stuart Winchester: As much as I agree with you, it would be nice, I think that most people…00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:50.000Stuart Winchester: will just Google Joe Hessian Storm Skiing Podcast, and it will pop right up. But, we'll see how it evolves. Next comment from Mimi Ma, another long-time paid subscriber. Shout out to Mimi.00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:57.000Stuart Winchester: Like the format, especially good that I can skim read if needed, and then jump to the sections of interest. Keep up the good work. I want to make that point.00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:09.000Stuart Winchester: there is a transcript for every single episode. You can click on the transcript, and when you're reading it, you click to any section, and it will go to that section of the podcast, if you're on Substack.00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:22.000Stuart Winchester: If you're on YouTube, you won't have that capability, so you can always check out the video version on Substack. Again, if you're listening via audio on Apple or Spotify or something, you also won't have that. So, go to stormskiing.com to get that capability.00:48:22.000 --> 00:48:36.000Stuart Winchester: Comment from Robert. Quote, I think Joe's comment about Eric self-describing himself as the, quote, anti-collaborator, and I'm curious to hear what his, Eric's, answer is.00:48:36.000 --> 00:48:39.000Stuart Winchester: To what is apparently a self-reference.00:48:39.000 --> 00:48:58.000Stuart Winchester: I don't see how you can't be anti collaborative and run a ski area, not to mention operating what is effectively a business to business service business and to Benny and the need to work with all their customers. What's the business justification for not wanting to collaborate outside the sphere he controls?00:48:58.000 --> 00:49:14.000Stuart Winchester: The ski Cooper thing was a bit different in many ways. Here we're talking about two third party systems meant to drive skier visits, and at least at the moment, given the portfolios, I think it is a relatively small percentage of skiers that are most likely choosing between the snow pass and Indy.00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:27.000Stuart Winchester: Most of them, I would assume, are likely NYC Metro-based. Good stuff on the new format. Looking forward to its evolution. Look, Joe was referencing a conversation that he had with Eric. It wasn't…00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:39.000Stuart Winchester: a publicly available conversation, so this is why I'm going to get Eric on the podcast tomorrow, to give his reaction to it. I… you know, Eric, from my point of view.00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:55.000Stuart Winchester: Look at the explosive growth of IndiePass under his tenure, right? He's, he purchased the pass, I believe in 2023, and, and I believe the number of partners, and I can double check this, uh, has more than tripled since Eric took it over, and he's really done a phenomenal job.00:49:56.000 --> 00:50:08.000Stuart Winchester: transforming Black Mountain and 10x-ing revenue at a ski area, which is simply unheard of in the ski business, and making it to Benny, which is a platform that people use.00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:19.000Stuart Winchester: As with any person doing a lot of things, Eric sometimes runs into controversies, but that's what this podcast.00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:34.000Stuart Winchester: Is here for is to give folks an opportunity to air their sides of the stories. Uh, I have a lot of respect for Joe and for Eric, and I think they're both doing really cool things in the ski industry. So, so we'll, we'll see. We'll see what Eric's.00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:51.000Stuart Winchester: answer is to that. From Scott Abraham, another long-time reader, I presume your hair is still standing out from being present at the Hail Mary. Quack, he's a Ducks fan. Alright, Scott, I'm gonna move right past that one. Eric Morris, great new format. You've written great stuff on walkable ski areas. How did you develop those thoughts?00:50:51.000 --> 00:51:00.000Stuart Winchester: Are you aware of strong towns? Are you aware of the Congress of New Urbanism? Eric, thank you. Yes, that is a running theme.00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:03.000Stuart Winchester: We threw out the storm.00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:19.000Stuart Winchester: I'll say this. There's a reason I live in New York City, and it's not because I think it's the greatest place in the world. It's because I value living in a walkable community. I value a pedestrian environment. I like that I don't need to get in my car.00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:26.000Stuart Winchester: Every time I need to go to the grocery store to get a box of pancakes. And New York City offers a really.00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:30.000Stuart Winchester: Great environment for that sort of lifestyle.00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.000Stuart Winchester: Uh, and when you travel around Europe.00:51:32.000 --> 00:51:45.000Stuart Winchester: those sorts of communities are everywhere, including in the ski towns. And our ski areas, being developed post-World War II, were mostly developed as most of America was at the time, which is around the automobile.00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:47.000Stuart Winchester: And…00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.000Stuart Winchester: I don't think that…00:51:49.000 --> 00:52:04.000Stuart Winchester: Car-centric mountain towns are necessarily the best way to evolve our towns into the future. So I think there's a rethinking in order. And yes, I am familiar with the schools of new urbanism and read frequently.00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:09.000Stuart Winchester: I'm not claiming these are ideas I'm coming up with mysel

Episode OverviewOn this episode of The Articulate Fly, Trout Unlimited President and CEO Chris Wood returns to discuss the fight to save the Roadless Rule, the 25-year-old policy now facing a full rescission by the U.S. Forest Service. With a public comment period closing September 21st, host Marvin Cash and Chris cover why this fight matters well beyond hunters and anglers. Chris, who helped write the original 2001 Roadless Rule as a Forest Service policy staffer under Chief Mike Dombeck, walks through its origins, the parallel legislative attack led by Senator Mike Lee and why the rescission would open 44 million acres of backcountry to new road construction. The conversation ranges from Idaho and Utah's grazing and oil and gas leasing inside roadless areas to the outsized role these lands play as cold, clean water sources for the Tongass National Forest, Colorado's greenback cutthroat trout habitat and Idaho's bull trout and Chinook and steelhead runs. Chris also details recent Trout Unlimited conservation wins, including record coho returns from the North Coast Coho Project and a deal to acquire four dams on Maine's Kennebec River to open habitat for Atlantic salmon. The episode closes with concrete advice on how anglers can make their voices heard before the comment deadline.Key TakeawaysWhy the Roadless Rule's rescission would strip protections from 44 million acres of backcountry that provide the coldest, cleanest water for downstream trout and salmon fisheries.How to submit an effective public comment before the September 21st deadline, including personalizing it with a specific roadless area or species that matters to you.Why the "de facto wilderness" argument against roadless areas doesn't hold up, since these lands already permit off-road vehicle use, grazing, oil and gas leasing and mining.When a more deliberate, iterative rulemaking process (like the state-specific rules Idaho and Colorado developed under the Bush administration) makes more sense than a blanket rescission.Why building a broader coalition beyond traditional hunters and anglers is becoming essential to winning public lands fights in the current political environment.Locations & SpeciesThe episode centers on the 58.5 million acres of national forest backcountry protected by the 2001 Roadless Rule, with particular attention to Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Alaska's Tongass National Forest. These roadless areas supply drinking water for more than 40 million Americans and serve as critical, contiguous habitat: 70% of Colorado's greenback cutthroat trout, 68% of Idaho's bull trout and 70-75% of the Tongass' and Idaho's Pacific salmon and steelhead populations depend on habitat found within roadless areas.FAQ / Key Questions AnsweredWhat is the Roadless Rule, and why is it being challenged right now?The 2001 Roadless Rule bars new road construction across 58.5 million acres of national forest. On August 18th, the U.S. Forest Service proposed rescinding it entirely, with a public comment period ending September 21st. A parallel legislative effort led by Senator Mike Lee also seeks to eliminate the rule and bar any future administration from reinstating it.Why do roadless areas matter for trout and salmon fishing specifically?Roadless areas are the source of the coldest, cleanest water for the larger rivers downstream that support wild trout and salmon. They protect outsized shares of at-risk populations, including most of Colorado's greenback cutthroat trout, Idaho's bull trout and the Tongass National Forest's Pacific salmon and steelhead runs.Isn't a roadless area basically the same as a designated wilderness area?No. Unlike wilderness, roadless areas already permit off-road vehicle use (33% of all motorized trails in the 12 Western states are in roadless areas), oil and gas leasing, grazing and mining, so the argument that they're "de facto wilderness" locked away from any use doesn't hold up.How can anglers make their comments count before the September 21st deadline?Personalizing a comment with a specific roadless area, species or memory that matters to you is more effective than a generic form submission. Comments can be submitted through Trout Unlimited, and the goal is to exceed the 1.6 million comments the original rule drew 25 years ago.What happens if the rescission goes through anyway?Advocates expect the rescission to face extensive litigation. Continued advocacy and public pressure are seen as important groundwork for reversing the rescission under a future administration if needed.Submit Your Comment Before the DeadlineSponsorsThanks to TroutRoutes for sponsoring this episode. Use ARTFLY20 to get 20% off of your TroutRoutes Pro membership.Related ContentS2, Ep 40 - Chris Wood of Trout UnlimitedS7, Ep 98 - The Fight for Our Future: Land Tawney on Grassroots Advocacy and Public LandsS7, Ep 105 - Changing the Narrative: Robbie Kroger's Mission with The Origins FoundationConnect with Our GuestFollow Chris on Instagram.Follow Trout Unlimited on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.Follow the ShowFollow The Articulate Fly on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and YouTube.Follow our Substack newsletter for episode updates, tips and resources.Support the ShowShop through our Amazon link to support the podcast.Join our Patreon community to support the show.If you are in the industry and need help getting unstuck, learn more about our consulting options.Subscribe & AdvertiseSubscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app.Think our community is a good fit for your brand? Advertise with us.Helpful Episode Chapters0:00 Introduction3:56 Why the Rule Matters10:38 How It All Started18:18 Roadless Areas Aren't Wilderness25:26 Habitat Benefits for All32:41 The Agency's Staffing Crisis39:25 Why Nuance Got Lost43:01 Broadening Conservation Messaging45:34 How to Take Action51:20 TU's On-the-Ground Wins

In this week's public lands news briefing, we are covering three main stories:1. The first data center approved on public lands near Boulder City, Nevada, was halted by a federal judge for not following proper environmental review.2. The Travel Management Rule enters a scoping period for repeal, adding more stress to the Forest Service ft. Tom Delehanty, a senior attorney with Earthjustice's Rocky Mountain Office.Comment before September 23: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/24/2026-17211/travel-management-national-forest-system-lands3. The Roadless Rule Repeal enters its final public comment period before the USDA strips protections for around 45 million acres of roadless National Forest, ft. Kate Gretzinger, communications director at the Center for Western Priorities.Comment before September 21: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/20/2026-16965/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation------------------Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/outdoor.minimalist.book/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@theoutdoorminimalist⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theoutdoorminimalist.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Buy Me a Coffee: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/outdoorminimalist⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Listener Survey: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/jd8UCN2LL3AQst976⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------Episode Sourceshttps://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/judge-stops-data-center-construction-on-public-landhttps://nevadacurrent.com/2026/09/01/judge-halts-data-center-construction-on-public-land/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-026-00450-2https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/recreation-conservation-groups-unite-against-forest-service-travel-rule-rollbackhttps://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/24/2026-17211/travel-management-national-forest-system-landshttps://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/20/2026-16965/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation

I feel a sense of urgency to talk with the Sierra Club about a public comment opportunity to protect our public forests and remote wilderness habitats in the USA by defending what is called “the roadless rule” (passed with popularity in 2001) from being overturned by our USDA (the United States Dept of Agriculture), as that would mean more roads would be built in remote wilderness, and more trees logged in our National Forests, higher road maintenance costs for taxpayers, more wild animal habitats harmed and thus more animal lives lost, and potentially more wildfire risks for all of us. In this 51-minute conversation, host Carrie Freeman talks with guest Alex Craven, The Sierra Club's forest campaign manager who explains how the Roadless Rule is “The Forest Service's best idea," and what we can do to save it and also support National Forest Service employees and all public lands under threat in this current administration. We discuss a helpful website --created by the Sierra Club and a partner nonprofit called More Than Just Parks -- that helps us all draft our own strategic public comment to the government officially recording our opinions regarding the roadless rule and specific roadless areas near us (the website contains a map of all roadless areas at risk across the USA, over 44 million acres). Public comments must be posted by Sept 21st 2026. The website is https://morethanjustparks.com/roadless-rule/   There is also a simpler comment process at the Sierra Club website. Alex also mentions that we can contact our congress people about co-sponsoring and supporting the Roadless Rule Conservation Act that would provide longer-term protection for wild national forest habitats. "In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody -- radically candid and compassionate. And remember to take care of yourself and others, including those who rely on tens of millions of acres of intact old growth forests. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Farmers, ranchers, volunteer firefighters and hunting access are more connected than you might think. We share this week our own recent scary fire on the ranch in the old farmyard and why supporting rural fire departments helps strengthen communities and builds relationships. Join radio hosts Rebecca Wanner aka ‘BEC' and Jeff ‘Tigger' Erhardt (Tigger & BEC) with the latest in Outdoors & Western Lifestyle News! When a Bird Becomes a Firestarter Some days start normally. Then, around noon, Tigger got a call that the place where he grew up was on fire. Yep. Definitely an Oh $hit Day. We arrived about 30 minutes later to find more than 40 friends, neighbors, and members of the Volunteer Rural Fire Department already fighting the blaze. One building was lost, a couple of others were damaged, and thankfully, the old farmhouse was spared. With the wind changing directions, it could have been so much worse. Tigger's dad, being Dad, immediately found the bright side. "Well, I guess we don't have to tear down that old building anymore." Problem solved. Sort of. What really stood out wasn't just the fire. It was the response. Neighbors showed up. Firefighters showed up. Equipment showed up. People offered trucks, water, machinery, manpower and whatever else might be needed. And they did it for a family that lives about 30 miles away. That's rural America. When something goes wrong, people don't always wait to be asked. They just show up. And we can't thank the New Salem Rural Fire Department firefighters and our neighbors enough. Then came the question: How did the fire start? A bird. That's right. An avian saboteur. The feathered little menace landed on a transformer, created an electrical arc, and apparently decided the ranch needed a little remodeling. Whether it was the bird or a piece of hot metal that hit the ground, the result was the same: buildings burned and a new family story was born. So, remember folks, check if you are under a burn ban. Apparently, somebody needs to explain that to the birds. Rural Fire Departments Need Rural America The humor helps us tell the story, but there's a much more serious point behind it. Rural fire departments are the people who show up when a grass fire jumps a fence, a combine catches fire, lightning starts a pasture blaze, or—apparently—a bird decides to conduct electrical experiments. And many of the people answering those calls are farmers, ranchers, landowners and other community members who volunteer their time. Across the country, volunteer firefighters play an enormous role in protecting rural communities. National Fire Protection Association data shows volunteer firefighter numbers have fallen dramatically—from roughly 898,000 in the 1980s to about 635,000 in recent years, a decline of more than 29%. At the same time, the threat isn't getting smaller. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that millions of acres of livestock grazing and pasture land burn each year. And recent wildfire seasons have shown just how quickly conditions can turn dangerous across the West. That creates a difficult equation: More fire risk. Fewer volunteers. More pressure on the people who remain. Supporting the People Who Protect Rural Land Rural fire departments are generally funded through a combination of local government support, state funding mechanisms, grants, insurance-related revenue and public donations. But firefighting isn't cheap. A single response can cost thousands of dollars, and a major incident can quickly climb into the tens of thousands—or more. That's why supporting your local rural fire department matters. You don't necessarily have to become a firefighter. You can donate. Attend the fundraiser. Buy a ticket to the fire department's annual event. Bid on the silent auction. Help with a fundraiser. Or simply ask your local department what they need. Every bit helps. And there's another reason this matters for those of us who hunt, fish and spend time on private land. Good Relationships Keep Gates Open Hunters depend heavily on relationships with farmers, ranchers and landowners. Those relationships aren't built by knocking on a door five minutes before opening morning and asking, "Can I hunt your place?" They're built over time. You show respect for the property.  You follow the rules.  You don't leave gates open.  You don't drive where you're not supposed to.  You pick up your trash.  You say thank you. And sometimes, supporting the rural community that provides hunting access means supporting the people who protect that community. Rural landowners are often the same people volunteering at the fire department, donating equipment, hosting fundraisers, fighting grass fires and helping their neighbors. When hunters contribute to those communities—not just by asking for access, but by becoming part of the community around that access—it strengthens relationships. And strong relationships can help keep those gates open. The Takeaway That fire at the ranch could have been much worse. Instead, firefighters and neighbors arrived quickly, worked together and protected what they could. We got a reminder of something rural America already knows: When things go bad, your neighbors matter. So support your local rural fire department! If you hunt, fish or enjoy access to private land, support the farmers, ranchers and landowners who make those opportunities possible, too. And if you happen to see a bird sitting on a transformer... Maybe suggest it find another perch. References: https://www.farmprogress.com/tv-and-radio/wildfires-scorch-7-5-million-acres-across-western-u-s- https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/newsroom/by-the-numbers OUTDOORS FIELD REPORTS & COMMENTS We want to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, or stories to share about bighorn sheep, outdoor adventures, or wildlife conservation, don't hesitate to reach out. Call or text us at 305-900-BEND (305-900-2363), or send an email to BendRadioShow@gmail.com. Stay connected by following us on social media at Facebook/Instagram @thebendshow or by subscribing to The Bend Show on YouTube. Visit our website at TheBendShow.com for more exciting content and updates! https://thebendshow.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thebendshow WESTERN LIFESTYLE & THE OUTDOORS Jeff ‘Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca ‘BEC' Wanner are passionate news broadcasters who represent the working ranch world, rodeo, and the Western way of life. They are also staunch advocates for the outdoors and wildlife conservation. As outdoorsmen themselves, Tigger and BEC provide valuable insight and education to hunters, adventurers, ranchers, and anyone interested in agriculture and conservation. With a shared love for the outdoors, Tigger & BEC are committed to bringing high-quality beef and wild game from the field to your table. They understand the importance of sharing meals with family, cooking the fruits of your labor, and making memories in the great outdoors. Through their work, they aim to educate and inspire those who appreciate God's Country and life on the land. United by a common mission, Tigger & BEC offer a glimpse into life beyond the beaten path and down dirt roads. They're here to share knowledge, answer your questions, and join you in your own success story. Adventure awaits around the bend. With The Outdoors, the Western Heritage, Rural America, and Wildlife Conservation at the forefront, Tigger and BEC live this lifestyle every day. To learn more about Tigger & BEC's journey and their passion for the outdoors, visit TiggerandBEC.com.

Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center argues the 2001 Roadless Rule is hampering efforts to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk in federal forests. In the Pacific Northwest, more than half of roadless areas fall in high or very high wildfire hazard zones, and the average fire in those areas burns more than double the acreage of fires on other Forest Service lands. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-wildfire-risk-demands-a-more-flexible-approach-to-roadless-areas/ #WildfireRisk #RoadlessRule #ForestManagement #WashingtonState #PacificNorthwest #PublicLands #Opinion #WashingtonPolicyCenter #ClarkCountyToday

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 Today, a USPS whistleblower tells Congress that the agency defied a court order and moved ahead with implementing vote by mail rules that could disenfranchise millions; the Commerce Department quietly cut language banning political interference from the department's scientific integrity policy; Tina Peters turned down a Shasta County registrar's office job after Governor Newsom pledged to block any transfer of her parole supervision to California; a Haitian immigrant took his own life after ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor; ICE is planning to buy robot dogs to carry out immigration enforcement; the Forest Service chief is under scrutiny over logging industry ties as Trump plans to gut protections; plus Allison and Dana deliver your Good News. Thank You, Trees.com Get 20% off your first purchase. Trees.com code DAILYBEANS The Trump Epstein Memorial Bookmobile The Daily Beans is proud to partner with Miles Taylor and our friends at DEFIANCE.org For a limited time, members of the Daily Beans community can receive a FREE 3-month full membership to DEFIANCE.org and gain access to one of the fastest-growing pro-democracy movements in America. Join here: https://www.defiance.org/beans Diamond Dames - Subscribe here: Diamond Dames - A Ted Lasso PodcastDiamond Dames - YouTube playlist Guest: Santiago Mayer - Founder and Executive Director - Voters of TomorrowVoters of Tomorrow@VotersTomorrow - Instagram, @voterstomorrow | TikTok The Latest Breakdown→ The Breakdown | Trump DOJ Nears Contempt Over Epstein Cover-Up StoriesWhistle-Blower Says USPS Is Secretly Proceeding on Trump's Mail Voting Plan Before Midterms | The New York Times Trump officials cut political interference ban after unusual Census Bureau report | NPR College student steps into traffic, is killed after losing immigration status | The Washington Post ICE plans to buy robot ‘dogs' for some immigration enforcement operations | NBC News Forest Service chief faces scrutiny over logging ties as Trump plans to scrap protections | Logging and land-clearing | The Guardian Tina Peters turns down job with California county's registrar of voters | The Hill Good TroubleSan Carlos Soiree for Election Protection – Indivisible Mid-Peninsula →Hands Off Our Vote! 2026 Toolkit | Indivisible →Operation Take Up Space - Commondefense.us/otus →Voter Registration Deadlines - Vote.org →Voter Registration Volunteer Opportunities · Mobilize →Helpline Orientation- Spanish Speakers Needed! · VoteRiders →Help save Texas from Ken Paxton! →NO HATE in WA State →Stand With Minnesota →iceout.org Good NewsWill Republicans in Congress Torch OSHA's Heat Standard? | Labor Notes Rainworks Oct 9 -Southwest Funny Fest:Dana Goldberg's Southwest FunnyFest - City of Albuquerque -Email Dana@DanaGoldberg.com for sponsorship informationTickets for Dana Goldberg: Outrageous - Sep 23 - Den Theater - Chicago →Share your Good News & Good Trouble - The Daily Beans →Beans Talk audio -beans-talk.simplecast.com Subscribe to the MSW on YouTube - MSW Media - YouTube Our Donation Links The Trevor Project - trevorproject.org/beans Blue Wave California - ActBlue.com/donate/msw-bwc Donate to Public Citizen - https://citizen.org/beans/ National Security Counselors - Donate, WhistleblowerAid.org/beans Donate to It Gets Better / The Daily Beans Fundraiser Pathways to Citizenship - boomerang - pathways Dana and The Daily Beans support of Human Rights Campaign ONE CAUSE HRC The Daily Beans supports It Gets Better Dr. Allison Gill - The Breakdown | Allison Gill, Mueller, She Wrote @muellershewrote.com - Bluesky, MSW & The Daily Beans Podcast @muellershewrote - Instagram, MSW Media - YouTube →Federal workers email AG - fedoath@pm.me Dana Goldberg - Dana is on Patreon! At Dana's Dugout, @dgcomedy - Bluesky, @dgcomedy - IG, Dana Goldberg - Facebook, DanaGoldberg.com More from MSW Media - Shows, Cleanup On Aisle 45 pod, The Breakdown | Allison Gill Reminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:https://apple.co/3XNx7ckWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?https://patreon.com/thedailybeanshttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/https://apple.co/3UKzKt0 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The search is on for a bear in the Columbia Falls-area that attacked a woman Monday. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and U.S. Forest Service investigators say a woman who was walking her dog sustained significant injuries following the attack.

GI Rights Hotline's Steve Woolford: Rising Number of U.S. Troops Seek Exit Over Trump's Wars, International Law ViolationsAmerican Doom Editor Justin Glawe: Trump's 19 Schemes to Subvert the Midterm ElectionStarbucks Workers United's Nick Parker-Smith: Starbuck Workers Union Calls For Nationwide Boycott as Contract Negotiations StallBob Nixon's Under-reported News Summary• Majority of former Soviet states oppose Russia over Ukraine•Trump-DOGE cuts leave U.S. Forest Service scrambling to fill staff shortages• NYC tenants sue over NYPD surveillance expansion plan in public housingVisit our website at BTLonline.org for  more information, in-depth interviews, related links,  transcripts and subscribe to our BTL Weekly Summary and/or podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday at 12 noon ET,  website updated Wednesdays after 4 p.m. ETProduced by Squeaky Wheel Productions: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus, Bob Nixon, Anna Manzo, Susan Bramhall, Jeff Yates and Mary Hunt. Theme music by Richard Hill and Mikata. 

GI Rights Hotline's Steve Woolford: Rising Number of U.S. Troops Seek Exit Over Trump's Wars, International Law ViolationsAmerican Doom Editor Justin Glawe: Trump's 19 Schemes to Subvert the Midterm ElectionStarbucks Workers United's Nick Parker-Smith: Starbuck Workers Union Calls For Nationwide Boycott as Contract Negotiations StallBob Nixon's Under-reported News Summary• Majority of former Soviet states oppose Russia over Ukraine•Trump-DOGE cuts leave U.S. Forest Service scrambling to fill staff shortages• NYC tenants sue over NYPD surveillance expansion plan in public housingVisit our website at BTLonline.org for  more information, in-depth interviews, related links,  transcripts and subscribe to our BTL Weekly Summary and/or podcasts. New episodes every Wednesday at 12 noon ET,  website updated Wednesdays after 4 p.m. ETProduced by Squeaky Wheel Productions: Scott Harris, Melinda Tuhus, Bob Nixon, Anna Manzo, Susan Bramhall, Jeff Yates and Mary Hunt. Theme music by Richard Hill and Mikata. 

http://www.UnderThePuppet.com -  Lee Armstrong is a puppeteer, producer and the co-owner of Images In Motion, a company that specializes in TV Production, puppets and 3D Printing.  Lee worked as a puppeteer on three seasons of Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock and her other screen puppetry credits include Being John Malkovich, Follow That Bird and Mustard Pancakes.  She won a Regional Emmy for her special Land of I and as a lifelong teacher, Lee has taught puppetry to thousands as well as teaching the course "Jim Henson and the Art of the Muppets" at the University of California at Santa Cruz.  I'm excited to welcome Lee Armstrong as my guest on this episode of Under The Puppet. Support the show!  Visit www.patreon.com/saturdaymorningmedia for info and to help create more episodes like this. Connect with Lee Armstrong: Website - https://www.imagesmedia.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/images_inmotion/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ImagesinMotionMedia/ IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0035796/ Discussed on the show: Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia - https://mermaidtheatre.ca/ Acadia University - https://www.acadiau.ca/ Mount Allison University - https://mta.ca/ Children's Fairyland - https://www.fairyland.org/ Folkmanis Puppets - https://www.folkmanis.com/ Puppeteers of America - https://puppeteers.org/ Puppetry Journal - https://www.puppeteers.org/shop/ UNIMA-USA - https://www.unima-usa.org/ Canada Council for the Arts - https://canadacouncil.ca/ HB Studio - https://www.hbstudio.org/ Fraggle Rock - https://www.henson.com/fraggle-rock/ Jim Henson - https://www.henson.com/jim-henson/ The Jim Henson Company - https://www.henson.com/ Julie Taymor TED Talks - https://www.ted.com/speakers/julie_taymor The Public Theater - https://publictheater.org/ University of Toronto - https://www.utoronto.ca/ Quigley's Village - https://www.quigleysvillage.com/ James and the Giant Peach - https://movies.disney.com/james-and-the-giant-peach Mattel - https://corporate.mattel.com/ Crayola - https://www.crayola.com/ The San Francisco Music Box Company - https://www.sanfranciscomusicbox.com/ LeapFrog - https://www.leapfrog.com/ Industrial Light & Magic - https://www.ilm.com/ Swazzle - https://www.swazzle.com/ Smokey Bear - https://smokeybear.com/ U.S. Forest Service - https://www.fs.usda.gov/ Adventures with Kanga Roddy - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138998/ Oracle - https://www.oracle.com/ Being John Malkovich - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120601/ Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Burkett Mustard Pancakes - https://www.courtneycampbell.com/ Follow That Bird - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089994/ Sesame Street - https://www.sesameworkshop.org/what-we-do/shows/sesame-street University of Connecticut Puppet Arts - https://drama.uconn.edu/programs/puppet-arts/ Black Hills Institute of Geological Research - https://www.bhigr.com/ California Academy of Sciences - https://www.calacademy.org/ Southern Oregon University - https://sou.edu/ University of California, Santa Cruz - https://www.ucsc.edu/ San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild - https://sfbapg.org/ Center for Puppetry Arts - https://puppet.org/ Connect with the Show: http://www.instagram.com/underthepuppet https://www.facebook.com/underthepuppet http://www.twitter.com/underthepuppet Connect with Grant: http://www.MrGrant.comhttp://www.twitter.com/toasterboy https://instagram.com/throwingtoasters/ Art by Parker Jacobs Music by Dan Ring Edited by Stephen Staver ©2026 Saturday Morning Media - http://www.saturdaymorningmedia.com

In June 1979, a group of U.S. Forest Service employees and volunteers boarded a routine flight into the remote Idaho backcountry to begin another summer season at the Moose Creek Ranger District. They never arrived. When both engines of their DC-3 failed over the narrow Selway River canyon, the pilots fought to keep the powerless aircraft in the air as the passengers prepared for the worst. What followed was a remarkable story of survival, an enormous wilderness rescue effort, and an investigation that uncovered the failures behind the deadliest aviation disaster in U.S. Forest Service history. For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to this week's partners! DeleteMeTake control of your personal information online with DeleteMe. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you use code NPAD at checkout.Special 20% Off - DeleteMe IQBARGet 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Text PARK to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. QuinceFind elevated everyday essentials, from Mongolian cashmere and washable silk to denim, leather goods, jewelry, bedding, and more. Get free shipping and 365-day returns.Women's Best Sellers — Mongolian Cashmere, Silk & Care Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re bringing you the best from the KUOW Newsroom… First, the Suquamish Tribe has unveiled a new social studies curriculum for neighboring public schools to use. It’s part of a statewide decades-long effort to teach Washington state students tribal history. Next, at least three research and development facilities in the Northwest are being considered for closure after US Forest Service restructuring. Scientists are working to continue long term research as they wait for answers. And finally, a group that’s been working for years to help address the opioid epidemic in Pierce County is being quietly shut down. We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Tap here to make a gift and keep Seattle Now in your feed. Got questions about local news or story ideas to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at seattlenow@kuow.org, leave us a voicemail at (206) 616-6746 or leave us feedback online or on the KUOW App.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Top federal prosecutors from the Four Corner states are descending upon the Phoenix metro this week as part of an annual conference meant to tackle crime and justice in Indian Country. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details. A hotel room full of victim advocates, attorneys, and tribal law enforcement personnel congregate in Glendale. Arizona's top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine, reminds them why they are all meeting. “It may sound like priorities are elsewhere in this administration, but all of the U.S. attorneys up here and every member of leadership in the Department of Justice will tell you: Indian Country is always a priority.” From Phoenix and Albuquerque to Denver and Salt Lake City, Courchaine stresses they are all on the same team. “If you work with a rural tribe, whether it's in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico or Arizona, it might feel like you are at the ends of the earth.” Three cubs belonging to Osso in the Anan Wildlife Observatory at Tongass National Forest. (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service / Facebook) A major logging project planned for Alaska's Tongass National Forest is raising concerns about potential impacts to subsistence resources. The U.S. Forest Service acknowledges the project could affect deer harvests relied on by communities in Southeast Alaska, where the Tongass has long supported Alaska Native cultural and subsistence practices. Conservationists are now pushing back against plans to log thousands of acres of old-growth forest, as Mark Moran reports. Conservationists are pushing back on a massive old growth logging plan by the Forest Service that would carve new roads through thousands of acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The agency says it will revitalize the logging industry and improve habitat and ecosystems for native species. The Revilla Integrated Research Project aims to log 4,000 acres of old growth trees in the Tongass near Ketchikan, harvest 83 million board feet of timber, and build more than 40 miles of roadway. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council’s Nathan Newcomber says the development plan threatens the habitat of a number of animals. He says even the Forest Service has acknowledged the risk. “Deer, bears, wolves, birds like the Queen Charlie Goshawk. They also state that they acknowledge the significant likelihood of impact to subsistence, including on deer harvest.” There were at least 120 objections to the plan during a public comment period, but the Forest Service says it intends to begin the work and address legal challenges later. Southeast Alaska has been transitioning away from clear cutting old tree stands in favor of what’s known as young growth logging, which Newcomber and other environmental advocates support, even though the practice now comprises only about one percent of the region’s economy. “To go back to this bygone era from the 1970s where you just clear-cut landscapes, it makes absolutely no sense. Nobody supports it apart from extractive industry and politicians. But local communities in Southeast Alaska, they wanna protect what we have. It’s our cultural way of life. It’s the way that people live up here.” Southeast Alaska is also highly dependent on tourism to support local economies. Driven largely by cruise ship traffic, the region sees as many as two million visitors a year, according to Alaska’s Southeast Conference. Confederate Brig. Gen. William L.. Cabell, left, and Union Col. William F. Cloud led troops during the skirmish. And on this day in 1863, fighting broke out near Camp Pike in the Choctaw Nation, in what is now Oklahoma. The skirmish came during the Civil War, when Indian Territory became a battleground involving Union and Confederate forces. Camp Pike had been used by Confederate troops following the Battle of Honey Springs, one of the war's largest battles in Indian Territory. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, August 28, 2026 — Two states make progress in Native-focused education

Twenty-five years ago, the Forest Service made one of the most consequential land management decisions in its history: protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forest from new roads and logging. That protection — the Roadless Rule — is now on the chopping block, with the USDA formally proposing to rescind it and a public comment period open through September 21. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, who helped write the rule from inside the Forest Service back in 2001 and has spent the decades since defending it. Chris breaks down the real economic, ecological, and cultural reasons the rule exists in the first place — from a $8.5 billion road maintenance backlog to jaw-dropping habitat numbers (75% of Idaho's Chinook and steelhead habitat, for example, sits in roadless country) — and then dismantles the arguments being used to justify tearing it down, including the Forest Service's own data showing roadless areas actually see more wildfire fuel treatment, not less. It's a clear-eyed, fact-first breakdown of what's really at stake for hunters and anglers, and a case for why showing up with data — not just outrage — is how this fight gets won. Comment on the Roadless Rule before September 21! Trout Unlimited's Roadless Report Chris Wood Roadless podcast with Hal Herring

Trump's budget cuts to the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service are threatening Southern Nevada's $24 billion outdoor recreation economy, so we break down what those cuts actually mean for the trails, waterways, and outdoor spaces that locals and visitors depend on. Clark County School District police just gained access to hundreds of Flock license plate reader cameras across the valley, and the revelation raises serious questions about whether or not surveillance technology should be used by schools and what guardrails should exist on how it's used. A Las Vegas chef helped Team USA clinch a spot in the Pastry World Cup, which got us thinking about our favorite places to pick up a pastry in the valley. Host Jesse Merrick breaks it all down with Nevada Current reporter Michael "MJ" Lyle and NPR Mountain West News Bureau regional reporter Yvette Fernandez. Learn more about the sponsors of this Thursday, August 27th episode: Neon Museum Elect Alex Quagge Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter. Learn more about becoming a City Cast Las Vegas Neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

My friend Travis Hall Associate Editor @fieldandstream joined the show to discuss the Forest Service reorganization, resending the roadless rule, Public land access, and much more. Tune in to hear the rest of the story. #publicland #hunting #podcast

Today's program examines developments involving military chaplains, religious freedom concerns in Canada, and issues connected to the U.S. Forest Service.

Nancy Churchill of Dangerous Rhetoric argues the 2001 Roadless Rule locked up nearly 45 million acres of National Forest land and left Washington forests vulnerable to catastrophic fire. The Little Giant Fire has burned 136,000 acres inside two roadless areas. The Forest Service is now accepting public comments on a proposed rescission through midnight Sept. 21, 2026. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-one-size-fits-all-wildfire-failure/ #Opinion #WildFire #WashingtonState #RoadlessRule #ForestManagement #FederalForests #NancyChurchill #DangerousRhetoric #FixOurForestsAct #ClarkCountyToday

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested three people during a traffic stop within the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona earlier this month. As KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the Valley tribe's leader says the encounter stoked fear. Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis claims the tribe made a deal allowing federal agents to conduct activities on their sovereign lands – so long as they first notify the Gila River Police Department. But tribal officers will not assist. “Now with this recent incursion, that agreement clearly broke down and needed to be urgently and directly and clearly addressed.” In a video message on social media, Lewis revealed he has contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “And to their credit, they understood immediately that this was a genuine problem, and arranged that same day to put our new chief of police in touch with the local regional ICE leadership.” None of the apprehended men are reportedly tribal members. Three cubs belonging to Osso in the Anan Wildlife Observatory at Tongass National Forest. (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service / Facebook) A proposed logging project in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest is facing opposition over concerns it could affect wildlife and subsistence hunting in Southeast Alaska. The U.S. Forest Service plans to log thousands of acres of old-growth forest near Ketchikan, Alaska, as Mark Moran reports. Conservationists are pushing back on a massive old growth logging plan by USFS that would carve new roads through thousands of acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The agency says it will revitalize the logging industry and improve habitat and ecosystems for native species. The Revilla Integrated Research Project aims to log 4,000 acres of old growth trees in the Tongass near Ketchikan, harvest 83 million board feet of timber, and build more than 40 miles of roadway. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council’s Nathan Newcomber says the development plan threatens the habitat of a number of animals. He says even the Forest Service has acknowledged the risk. “Deer, bears, wolves, birds like the Queen Charlie Goshawk. They also state that they acknowledge the significant likelihood of impact to subsistence, including on deer harvest.” There were at least 120 objections to the plan during a public comment period, but the Forest Service says it intends to begin the work and address legal challenges later. Southeast Alaska has been transitioning away from clear cutting old tree stands in favor of what is known as young growth logging, which Newcomber and other environmental advocates support, even though the practice now comprises only about 1% of the region’s economy. “To go back to this bygone era from the 1970s where you just clear-cut landscapes, it makes absolutely no sense. Nobody supports it apart from extractive industry and politicians. But local communities in Southeast Alaska, they wanna protect what we have. It’s our cultural way of life. It’s the way that people live up here.” Southeast Alaska is also highly dependent on tourism to support local economies. Driven largely by cruise ship traffic, the region sees as many as two million visitors a year, according to Alaska’s Southeast Conference. Fort Howard along the Fox River in what would become known as Green Bay, Wisc. is where the treaty was signed on Aug. 25, 1828. And on this day in 1828, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Ottawa leaders signed a treaty with the United States at Green Bay. The Native leaders had declined a U.S. request to cede additional land. Instead, the agreement established a temporary boundary amid conflicts over white settlers occupying Native lands for mining. The United States also agreed to provide $20,000 in goods as compensation for damages caused by the occupation. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Tuesday, August 25, 2026 — How to make relationships work

Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center argues that the U.S. Forest Service's consideration of rescinding the roadless rule is driven by wildfire risk, not timber revenue, pointing to the 136,000-acre Little Giant Fire burning through two roadless areas filled with heavy dead and down fuels. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-the-forest-is-burning-the-roadless-rule-is-making-it-worse/ #RoadlessRule #Wildfire #ForestManagement #WashingtonState #WashingtonPolicyCenter #Opinion #FireSeason #FederalLands #ForestPolicy #PacificNorthwest

The Forest Service has proposed to rescind the Roadless Rule, which protects nearly 45 million acres of National Forest. These forests play a role in maintaining clean water and air, wildlife habitat and provide lots of recreational access for climbing, hiking, biking and paddling.     Today, Tracy Stone-Manning, executive director of the Wilderness Society and former director of the Bureau of Land Management, joins us to talk about why Roadless Areas matter, the latest efforts to dismantle protections for our public lands, and how to write your best comment.  The Wilderness Society has made it easy to add your voice to the discussion about the Roadless Rule. Comments due Monday, September 21st. And Then What series made possible by Diaries+ Members You can join today.

Add the employees at the Agriculture Department's Rural Development Agency to the growing list of successful feds who have won grievances before an arbitrator after losing their remote work and telework rights. Arbitrator Margaret Donaghy ruled Wednesday in favor of RDA employees represented by the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees. The union filed a grievance when USDA ended teleworking and remote work agreements without bargaining in April 2025. Donaghy ordered USDA to restore the telework and remote work arrangements and make the employees whole by paying any travel expenses, compensation or credit for additional hours worked. Suzanne Summerlin, the attorney representing the employees, says this is the fifth arbitration award won by employees in recent months with similar awards issued at the Forest Service, HUD, the IRS, and SSA.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Thursday, August 20th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus Vietnamese court sentences pastor to 7 years in prison A court in Vietnam sentenced a Protestant pastor to over seven years in prison this month. Fifty-nine-old-pastor Y Nuen Ayun had been leading unregistered religious activities since 2003. The communist government often uses fabricated charges to silence Christians.  International Christian Concern noted, “Despite these realities, the church in Vietnam continues to faithfully and boldly advance God's kingdom under oppression.” 1 Peter 4:14 says, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He is glorified.” Send a polite, 3-sentence note to the Vietnamese Ambassador to America, Nguyen Quoc Dzung, urging him to ask his government to release 59-year-old-pastor Y Nuen Ayun. Address it to the Vietnam Embassy, 1233 20th Street Northwest #400, Washington, D.C., 20036. You can find the correct spelling of their names and the address of the embassy in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. Animated “David” movie opens in United Kingdom & Ireland tomorrow The animated biblical film “David” is headed to theaters in the United Kingdom and Ireland tomorrow.  A campaign from the U.K.-based KOVA International is encouraging churches to engage their congregations and communities through the film. The movie has been one of Angel Studios'* most successful releases. *Note: Angel Studios is owned by the Mormons also known as the “Church” of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Worldview cautions our listeners to remember that Mormons teach a false gospel and an unbiblical worldview. So, please be discerning in the viewing of any Angel Studios productions. Canadian military chaplains prohibited from mentioning God in public Military chaplains in Canada can no longer mention God at public events. The country's government issued the new policy last month. Canada already prohibited chaplains from praying at public events. The Canadian Armed Forces claims to be maintaining religious and spiritual neutrality in the exercise of its public duties. But in Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Trump pauses 50% tariffs on Canadian goods U.S. President Donald Trump paused 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods yesterday. The tariffs were set to go into effect today. The president said that the two countries had reached a deal, subject to the finalization of the documents.  Trump picked a pro-lifer to head the FDA President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration yesterday. She previously served as a White House health policy adviser. Dr. Overton is an opponent of abortion. She has written about the dangerous rise of chemical abortion which was allowed by the FDA in previous years. Christian Forest Service officer no longer required to work on Sundays A U.S. Forest Service officer will no longer be required to work on Sundays. Adam Diemert is a Forest Service law enforcement officer in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He is also a devout Presbyterian who attends church twice every Sunday. Adam submitted multiple religious accommodation requests to not work on Sundays. Sadly, the Forest Service denied those requests. But thanks to the legal help of First Liberty Institute, Adam finally received the accommodation last week.  Socialist Democrats score another primary victory Socialist Democrats picked up another primary victory on Tuesday. Socialist Angie Nixon defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, in Florida's Democrat primary race for the U.S. Senate.  Listen to the opening line of her victory speech. NIXON: “Florida, we did it!” (cheers and applause) She outlined her socialist agenda at the top. NIXON: “Medicare for all! (cheers) Universal childcare! (cheers) Real affordable housing!” (cheers) Nixon won easily with 56 percent of the vote. Vindman lost despite raising more than sixteen times as much money as Nixon.  Amazon delivery drones come to 500 cities Amazon delivery drones are coming to nearly 500 cities and towns this year. The company announced yesterday, “Prime Air offers millions of items by drone at everyday low prices, in as fast as 30 minutes.” The service currently operates in just 11 U.S. locations.  President Trump meets heroic lifeguard who saved 10-year-old And finally, President Donald Trump recently met with a heroic lifeguard as well as the 10-year-old boy he rescued. Sixteen-year-old Ryder Williams saved Nathaniel Rai from a rip current at a beach in Santa Cruz, California last month. A video of the rescue went viral, getting the president's attention. When asked by a reporter what went through his mind, the lifeguard said this. WILLIAMS: “In those dangerous moments that we have, we always try to fall back on our training. We are trained so well, by many, to handle that situation as best we can. So, I really am just thinking about how to get the boy out of the water as fast as I can.” He was also asked about his plans for the future. WILLIAMS: “I want to be a firefighter in the future. Hopefully, go through paramedic school.” Williams and Rai got to visit the White House on Monday. President Trump commended Williams and emphasized the providential moment. (Look at the 10:03-mark) Listen.  TRUMP: “He's a real hero. It's an amazing thing. God was watching you, right?” RAI: “Yeah.” TRUMP: “Great!” Proverbs 22:29 asks, “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Thursday, August 20th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

The U.S. Forest Service plans to rescind the roadless rule. The anti-logging side of the debate is hogging the airwaves with feel-good stories and exaggerations of the "doom and gloom" it will bring. In this episode, we explain the other side of the story.

An undercover operation by federal agents at a Minneapolis church may have violated a court order that barred immigration enforcement agents from being there. Plus, a look at the wave of Minnesota cities and counties that are ending their use of Flock cameras. A new investigation from MPR News and APM Reports takes a look at the man linked to a number of group homes in Minnesota, who is also a high-ranking government official in another country.Plus, it's been six weeks since wildfires broke out in northeast Minnesota. More ahead on how the U.S. Forest Service is trying to preserve the ecosystem while fighting the fires.And, the Vikings have a new starting quarterback. How he did in the first preseason game.Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Atmosphere of the Microcosm” by Paul Metzger and our Song of the Day was “Last Tuesday” by Chris Koza.

Send us Fan MailDr. Jim Barnett came to Louisiana in the early 1960s to research how to reforest the South with longleaf pine that had been over harvested in the early 20th century. Since his retirement in 2005, he also has written several historical books about forestry and the people in the industry. Jim talks about how he came to be scientist emeritus with the U.S. Forest Service and his involvement in the industry as well as the Southern Forest Heritage Museum. You can email him at jpbarnett@suddenlink.net.Minding the Forest is a podcast of the Louisiana Forestry Association and his hosted by LFA Media Specialist Jeff Zeringue. Comments can be sent to jzeringue@laforestry.com.If you want to find out more about the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), go to forests.org.Check out our website at laforestry.com.Click this link to join the LFA.

Sponsored by Factor. Head to https://www.factormeals.com/diys50off and use code diys50off to get 50 percent off and 1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year, while supplies last until 10/31/2026.Sponsored by Mint Mobile. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to https://www.mintmobile.com/diys.Sponsored by IndaCloud If you're 21 or older, get 30% OFF your first order @IndaCloud with code DIYS at https://inda.shop/DIYS! #indacloudpodTahir Moore and Patrick Cloud get into the strange new rules of going viral: hecklers trying to become part of the show, comedians manufacturing audience moments, podcasts staging drama, and the uncomfortable question of whether simply making good content is still enough.They even put the theory to the test with their own intentionally staged podcast confrontation.Elsewhere, the guys react to a jet ski crash at Lake Lanier, a man surviving a jump from the Brooklyn Bridge, two Forest Service employees being taken hostage, a rare shrimp-virus story, Switzerland's surprisingly strict guinea pig rules, and the never-ending battle between frightening headlines and common sense.Tahir also looks back on sleeping in a running car during an early comedy audition trip, appearing on MTV's Yo Momma, and the roasting culture surrounding the early All Def days.Subscribe for more Dam Internet, You Scary! with Tahir Moore and Patrick Cloud.00:00 Phoenix Heat and Sleeping in a Car for Comedy02:24 MTV Yo Momma and the Reality of Reality TV04:12 How Roasting Changed the All Def Culture05:48 Kids, Parenting and Seventh Grade Chaos10:02 Looking Back at the DIYS Backlog12:06 Factor15:02 The Lake Lanier Jet Ski Crash20:24 A Brooklyn Bridge Jump With a Trash Bag22:48 A Heckler Gets Removed From Tahir's Show24:30 Are Viral Crowd Clips Creating More Hecklers?28:38 Scripted Drama and Manufactured Viral Moments30:08 Tahir and Patrick Stage Their Own Fake Podcast Drama32:30 Mint Mobile35:46 Forest Service Employees Taken Hostage40:27 The Shrimp Virus Story41:59 Tahir Refuses to Give Up Taco Bell44:07 In The Cloud47:11 Switzerland's Guinea Pig Rule50:26 Can Domesticated Animals Become Depressed?52:32 Pet Laws and a Government-Control Detour54:34 Politics, Protest and America's Relationship With Conflict57:16 Why Negativity Beats Positive Content Online59:07 Tahir and Patrick's Upcoming Projects01:00:33 Outro#DamInternetYouScary #DIYS #TahirMoore #PatrickCloud #Podcast #LivePodcast #ComedyPodcast

While Sen. Tim Sheehy pushed to end Forest Service inspections of firefighting aircraft, an inspector found a potentially dangerous crack in a plane operated by the company Sheehy founded.

Money. It's a very taboo topic among those of us who love the outdoors. But for those who want to get outside as much as possible or work in the outdoor industry, we need to be extra smart about our personal finances. Our guest today, Meb Faber, is here to help. He's a life-long skier, an enthusiastic surfer, the co-founder & chief investment officer of Cambria Investment Management, a speaker & writer on investment strategies, and the host of the podcast, the Meb Faber Show.Note: We Want to Hear From You!We'd love for you to share with us the stories or topics you'd like us to cover next month on Reviewing the News; ask your most pressing mountain town advice questions, or offer your hot takes for us to rate. Email us at: info@blisterreview.com RELATED LINKS:Get Yourself Covered: BLISTER+Order our 26/27 Winter Buyer's GuideEnter Our Free Weekly Gear GiveawaysOur Other Mtn Town Economics Conversations:Ep. 409: Mountain Town Economics: Housing, Development, U.S. Forest Service, & Public Lands w/ Jonathan HouckEp. 390: Mountain Town Economics: Telluride Update w/ Jason BlevinsEp. 389: Telluride Closes, Ski Patrol Strikes, & the Future of Ski Resorts w/ Jason BlevinsCRAFTED Ep 47: How to Design a Well-Crafted, Affordable Home w/ Zack GiffinEp. 275: Mtn Town Economics: Zack Giffin on Skiing, Tiny Homes, & Big SolutionsEp. 270: Mtn Town Economics & Outdoor RecreationEp. 180: Mtn Town Economics, Pt 3: Developing Housing, Addressing Climate Change, & Mitigating Megafires w/ Scott Ehlert Ep. 179: Mtn Town Economics, Pt 2: Housing, Community, & Core Values w/ Troy RussEp. 177: Mtn Town Economics, Pt 1: Affordable Housing, Short-Term Rentals, & More w/ Jenny StuberTOPICS & TIMES:The Taboo Topic of Money (0:00)When Did You Fall in Love w/ Skiing? (6:38)Money Isn't Everything, but It Matters (9:28)How Meb Got into Finance & Investing (17:27)Starting Cambria (21:28)“It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature” (27:33)Financial Advice for People in their 20s (34:15)Where to Invest at a Young Age (40:39)The investing Pyramid (57:30)Advice for People in their 40s or 50s (1:03:54)Meb's New Book: Investing In America (1:09:49)Meb's Podcast: The Meb Faber Show (1:22:06)CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCASTS:The Blister VaultBlister CinematicCRAFTEDBikes & Big IdeasGEAR:30 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Photo: Invasive Green Crab. (Linda Shaw / NOAA Fisheries) Invasive European green crabs have swelled in population across southern Southeast Alaska since they were first detected in the region four years ago. In response, Ketchikan, Alaska's local tribe recently petitioned the state to open a green crab sport fishery to help manage the invasive's spread. The request was denied, citing a lack of evidence that the invasive species has contributed to environmental changes. KRBD's Hunter Morrison reports. The Ketchikan Indian Community submitted the emergency petition to the state's Board of Fisheries in March, asking to reclassify European green crabs from a Class A to a Class B banned invasive species. This change would allow anybody to transport dead European green crabs for harvest or consumption. Currently, the invasive can only be possessed or transported for scientific or educational purposes by those with a special Aquatic Resource Permit. Emily Halsell is a fisheries and wildlife biologist with Ketchikan's tribal government. “This isn’t an issue that’s going anywhere, and it seems to be largely ignored throughout much of the state.” The tribe has removed about 1,500 green crabs from Ketchikan beaches so far this year. In its petition to the state, the tribe cites the species' damaging impacts to the local ecosystem and economy. The adaptive critter can burrow and destroy eelgrass beds, which are nurseries for native species like Dungeness crabs and juvenile salmon. “So when these crabs come up and they tear up this critical marine habitat, there’s cascading population effects.” The species was first detected in Alaska in 2022 on Annette Island, south of Ketchikan. They have since reached about 70 miles north. And the number of green crabs detected has increased. Halsell says they can reproduce two or three times a year, and can lay up to 180,000 eggs each time. Halsell believes a change in how the crab is classified in Alaska, and opening a sport fishery for them, could help better manage their spread. Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang, who denied the petition, says the state is determining how to best manage the invasive. A letter from his office states a lack of evidence that the invasive has contributed to changes in eelgrass habitat or caused changes in fishery populations. “I'm not opposed to the concept. I just think it needs to be fleshed out a little bit more, and I think it needs to be, you know, what does a fishery look like? What are the gear types that would be allowed, and what would happen with incidental harvests?” Halsell believes green crab management efforts need to be addressed sooner than that. Summit area of Avi Kwa Ame in southern Nevada, which is adjacent to the proposed land sale. (Photo: Stan Shebs / Wikimedia) Public lands are especially important to Tribal communities across Nevada, and a new report finds protecting those lands is also a top priority for a large majority of voters statewide. Suzanne Potter has the story. Protection of public lands is a top issue for a large majority of Nevada voters, according to a new report from the Center for Western Priorities. Researchers aggregated multiple polls and found that most voters oppose the sale of public land and the rollback of environmental protections. The center's executive director, Aaron Weiss, points to the Colorado College Conservation in the West poll, which found that 82% of Nevada voters oppose the Trump administration's funding cuts to agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. “Western voters see public lands, waters, and wildlife as a motivating factor in how they vote and is worth everyone across the political spectrum keeping in mind as we head into this election season.” Last year, proposals from U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to sell off public lands were abandoned after they drew a big backlash. Environmental advocates say the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act of 1998 is a better model, because it established a process to identify land suitable for development while giving permanent protection to hundreds of thousands of acres of public land. Weiss says the feds have now thrown their support behind the data center boom. “We see them rushing to try to hand over public lands to build data centers over the objection of local and neighboring communities. The way that this process played out near Boulder City exemplifies that.” Recently, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum slashed the boundaries of two national monuments in Utah. Conservation groups are also concerned that the feds will target other national monuments next, including Gold Butte outside of Las Vegas. Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Monday, August 10, 2026 — August primary elections offer insights on Native candidates' prospects

This week on the Casual Cattle Conversations Podcast, Shaye interviews Jay and Cheyenne Smith, cattle producers on Idaho's eastern edge near the Montana border, about adopting Vence virtual fencing and coordinating with neighboring permittees to make it cost-effective. After the 2022 Moose Fire and grazing restrictions, they partnered with the University of Idaho and worked with BLM and the Forest Service to implement virtual fencing on rugged public-land range; five permittees now use shared base stations while owning separate collars.   They discuss early hesitations about data being used against producers, onboarding lessons about placing fences to match natural cattle trails, and management gains including fewer emergency rides, more schedulable work, improved utilization control, and more efficient gathers. Virtual fencing enabled their shift from winter to fall calving by keeping cattle positioned to come home, reducing labor needs, and providing movement data useful for investigating events like wolf predation or other disturbances.   Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG   Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/    00:00 Virtual Fence Neighbors 01:08 Meet the Smiths 01:34 Ranch and Grazing Setup 04:05 Fire Sparks Adoption 07:02 Getting Neighbors Onboard 09:32 Workload and Riding Changes 11:43 Sharing Towers and Data 14:14 Training and Fence Design 18:01 Better Utilization and Plans 19:15 Fall Calving Made Possible 22:33 Costs and Quality of Life 25:23 Wolves and Movement Clues 27:35 Next Generation Buy In  

Step back into the Bigfoot Society archives with two unforgettable interviews that first aired on October 2 and October 3, 2024 as Episodes 545 and 546.Veteran researcher, actor, and investigator Jesus Payan shares decades of Bigfoot research spanning New Mexico, Oklahoma, and the American Southwest. From reports passed along by Forest Service employees and law enforcement to military sightings near White Sands Missile Range, strange encounters on Native lands, and firsthand experiences deep in the mountains, this conversation explores some of the most compelling stories from a lifetime spent pursuing the unknown.Then, Oklahoma witness Mary takes us into the forests surrounding Grand Lake of the Cherokees, where generations of her family quietly accepted Sasquatch as part of everyday life. She recounts childhood sightings, mysterious knocks and whoops, oversized footprints, strange nests, intimidating encounters near homes, and decades of activity stretching across Delaware County, Mayes County, the Illinois River, and beyond.These archive conversations capture the eyewitness accounts that helped shape Bigfoot Society into what it is today. Whether you're hearing them for the first time or revisiting these classic interviews, you'll discover why these stories continue to resonate with listeners years later.Resources:Breaking Discoveries Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakingDicoveriesContact Jesus: breakingbadsgonzo420@gmail.com

Today's poem is Dialogue with the Oldest Tree in the U.S., whose Location is a Closely-Guarded Forest Service Secret by Nina Sudhakar.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I like to think that I'm still growing as a person. That every year I become older, I truly grow older, developing some new part of myself. Conversations about aging so often dwell on preserving what you have when you're young, about postponing loss. But when I turn to my writing, my poems and prose, I see a body of work that does continue to grow. A body that comes from my physical body, from how my whole being senses and processes the world around me. It continues to grow, even when marked by hardship, by absences, and by loss.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Forest Service officials say recent rains aided firefighters who are making progress in containing wildfires in northeast Minnesota. And aging infrastructure and outdated I-T systems may have contributed to recent cyberattacks on Minnesota water systems. Those stories and more in today's evening update from MPR News. Hosted by Emily Reese. Music by Gary Meister.

Holly Fretwell, author of Fix America's Forests: Reforms to Restore National Forests and Tackle the Wildfire Crisis, examines the escalating wildfire crisis in the United States, arguing that current forest conditions are the result of over a century of mismanagement and man-made policies. Fretwell highlights the "10 a.m. rule," a historical policy of suppressing all fires, which disrupted natural fire cycles and led to dangerously over-dense forests filled with "fuel" like woody debris and small-diameter timber. Consequently, modern fires burn hotter, faster, and more destructively than in the past. The author describes a cultural shift within the Forest Service, which has evolved from a management-focused agency into a "fire company" dominated by firefighting personnel at the expense of foresters and engineers. The book identifies significant regulatory hurdles to restoration, specifically the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Air Act. These laws often lead to "analysis paralysis" and litigation, stalling critical restoration projects for decades even when they aim to protect vital resources like water reservoirs. To address these issues, Fretwell proposes public-private partnerships and innovative funding models, such as forest resilience bonds, to finance restoration work up-front. She also advocates for longer-term stewardship contracts (up to 20 years or more) to provide the certainty needed for private investment in milling infrastructure for small-diameter wood. Ultimately, the goal is to restore forests to a more open, resilient state through active management, prescribed burns, and harvesting, thereby reducing the risk to communities in the growing wildland-urban interface. (1)1952 KING'S CANYON WILDFIRE, CALIFORNIA

Get 30% off your new RV mattress at https://rvmattress.com/rvmiles with code RVMILES at checkout.  Abby fills in for Jason and covers major RV and camping headlines: two U.S. Forest Service employees were held at gunpoint for nearly 15 hours in California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest; catastrophic flooding again hit the Texas Hill Country; a new Elkhart County manufacturer launches with The RV Hunter and That RV Tech advising; Remote Vans names Storyteller Overland co-founder Andrew Cooley as president; and Starlink rolls out a more efficient V5 dish while also changing Roam rules, including a 30-day limit abroad and treating the U.S. and Canada as one region. 00:00 Abby Takes Over 00:37 Forest Service Hostages 02:15 Texas Hill Country Flooding 03:17 RV Mattress Sponsor 04:02 Boundless Recreation Debut 05:47 Remote Vans New President 07:29 Starlink V5 Dish 08:40 Starlink Roam Changes 10:01 Wrap Up And Support

Spain defeats Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win the World Cup. Andrew and Tristan Tate are arrested in Miami as British prosecutors expand the case against them to 59 rape, trafficking and other charges involving seven alleged victims. Two U.S. Forest Service employees are safely released after allegedly being kidnapped, zip-tied and held at gunpoint for nearly 15 hours in a remote Northern California forest. Several American service members are killed in Iraq and Jordan as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran raises the military death toll. Paul Pelosi is charged with misdemeanor hit-and-run after allegedly crashing into a parked car and leaving the scene in Napa Valley.   Supersure Insurance: Upgrade your business insurance to a year-round SuperAgency at https://Supersure.com/Megyn   Cozy Earth: Visit https://www.CozyEarth.com & Use code MEGYN for up to 20% off Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Ilhan Omar update. As expected, Mpls City Council votes down 75 day trial for police drone use. Aimee Bock's right hand man brought back from Somalia to stand trial for his role in the food fraud. Johnny Heidt with guitar news. Reusse with his weekly sports report. Heard On The show:Wildfires latest: Forest Service provides new update with over 70,000 acres already burnedMinneapolis City Council rejects drones-as-first-responder pilot, citing ties to Israel, ICELive updates: DHS secretary warns states after Trump election speechSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.