Mt. Ogden Communication Site
The highest point on the ridge above Snowbasin is the Mt. Ogden summit, 9570 feet above sea level. Until recently, this summit was the site of a 40-foot communication tower and a shed housing related equipment, installed decades ago by helicopter and horseback. The communication equipment is used by local law enforcement.
For some years, though, local officials had been itching to upgrade and expand the communication site. Apparently the power supply wasn't always reliable, and the tower's footings were deemed insecure.
Enter the Olympics. With $200 million of federal money for "security," Ogden had no trouble obtaining a $3 million grant to upgrade the communication site. Furthermore, with the NEPA exemption in the Snowbasin Land Exchange Act (broadly interpreted), the upgraded facility could be built on Forest Service land without formal justification or environmental review. The Forest Service was more than willing to accomodate.
Only after construction began did the scale of the "upgrade" become apparent. A new road was bladed to the Mt. Ogden summit (see photo), and a large chunk of the summit was removed to make room for a 1200 square-foot structure to house the electronics and serve as a helicopter landing pad. The old tower was replaced by three new ones, 60, 80, and 100 feet tall. Construction crews obliterated a substantial fraction of the mountain's Burke's draba plants, a very rare species whose main population grows on the ridge from Mt. Ogden to Allen Peak.
Was an expansion of this magnitude really necessary for the Olympics? It seems doubtful, but we may never know for sure. Neither the city nor the Forest Service ever produced a formal document to justify the scope of this project. Normally such a development would require an environmental assessment containing a full analysis of the need for the project and the different alternatives that would meet the need. But the Forest Service hates writing environmental assessments, and the Snowbasin NEPA exemption gave them an excuse not to write one. Although officials claim to have considered other alternatives for the communication site upgrade, the only records of their analysis are informal notes outlining the agendas of closed-door meetings. The most telling entry in these notes reads: "Focus on long-term/future communication needs -- use 2002 Olympics as the catalyst to make it happen."
Photos: The top photo was taken from Ogden through a telephoto lens. Shot during the 2002 Olympics, this photo shows that the towers are much larger than necessary to house the attached communication hardware. The second photo, taken in September 2001, shows the new road bladed up the south ridge of Mt. Ogden, as well as related construction at the saddle below the ridge. At the summit is the old 40-foot communication tower. The third photo shows the upgraded communication site from up close (a hovering helicopter). Third photo credit: Robert Johnson/Standard-Examiner (reproduced with permission). The bottom photo shows how visible the towers become after a winter snowstorm.
See also this Standard-Examiner article on the Mt. Ogden towers and this Grondahl cartoon.
