Star Tribune
Superior National Forest decision nixes Lutsen Mountains’ expansion plans
Superior National Forest officials said Friday that they won’t issue a permit for Lutsen Mountains to expand into 495 acres of U.S. Forest Service land along the North Shore of Lake Superior, citing potential environmental effects and treaty concerns raised by several Native American tribes.
Forest officials also pointed to the need to protect local tree species, the area’s hydrology and existing recreation opportunities like cross-country skiing and hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail.
Based on those considerations, “the expansion is not appropriate at this time,” said Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall.
Lutsen Mountains proposed building new ski runs, chair lifts, parking, buildings and other facilities on U.S. Forest Service land where several tribes retain hunting, fishing and other rights under an 1854 treaty.
In a joint news release from the three bands, tribal officials commended the Forest Service’s decision, adding that Lutsen’s project would “irreversibly impact” the area.
“For too long, the bands’ treaty-reserved rights to hunt, fish, and gather within the 1854 ceded territory have taken a back seat to private interests,” said Cathy Chavers, chair of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.
Lutsen Mountains will revise its proposal and come back with something that accounts for the concerns of the tribes and the Forest Service, said Jim Vick, Lutsen’s spokesman and general manager.
The permitting process started two years ago. The draft decision must still go through an objection period, Hall said, but a change to the decision typically doesn’t occur unless substantial new information is brought forward.
A final decision will be made in 90 days, Hall said. That includes 45 days to submit objections and 45 days for Superior National Forest to try to resolve them.
“Lutsen Mountains respects the Forest Service decision process,” said Charlotte Skinner, chief of staff for Midwest Ski Resorts, which owns Lutsen Mountains, in a statement. “We are committed to being an active and constructive member of our community and will work collaboratively with sovereign tribal nations, local elected leaders and others to improve our area.”
The decision doesn’t “impact the resort’s existing operations or ongoing improvements on the resort’s private land,” the release said.
With 95 ski runs, Lutsen Mountains, which overlooks Lake Superior, is one of the largest ski areas in the Midwest.
Charles Skinner and his family, owners of Midwest Family Ski Resorts, had planned a $56 million expansion on public land on which three tribes — the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage bands of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa — retain treaty rights.
The tribes signed an agreement in May with the Forest Service to protect their treaty rights within the Superior National Forest. It outlines a working relationship between the tribes and the Forest Service and sets priorities for the future, said Joy VanDrie, Superior National Forest spokeswoman.
Due to that agreement, Lutsen Mountains asked the Forest Service to hold off on making a decision on the expansion project about a month ago, Vick said, and the Forest Service agreed.
Vick said Lutsen actually withdrew the application for expansion at that point. The Forest Service said it didn’t consider that a formal withdrawal and made Friday’s decision to follow the correct federal process.
Lutsen’s proposal called for seven new chairlifts, 324 new acres of ski terrain, two new base facilities, a chalet atop Moose Mountain, two new snowmaking reservoirs, more than 1,200 new parking spots, new access roads and maintenance facilities.
When the Forest Service asked for feedback on the plans, nearly 500 people commented, many saying said they opposed the expansion for environmental and cultural reasons.
Hall said the Forest Service considered three choices: Taking no action, allowing Lutsen’s expansion proposal to proceed by issuing a permit, and an alternative plan devised by the Forest Service that would downsize the expansion to include five new chairlifts and 293 acres of added ski terrain, and removing proposed expert runs on the north side of Moose Mountain.
Ultimately, officials picked the “no action” option, Hall said, relying on public comments, an analysis of effects and discussions with the tribes.
Paula Maccabee, advocacy director and attorney for WaterLegacy, called the decision “a huge victory for tribes and the exercise of treaty-reserved rights” in a statement.
WaterLegacy is an environmental group that submitted comments opposing the expansion.
“This [a government agency choosing the “no action” alternative] doesn’t happen every day and it’s a really important decision,” she said in an interview.
It will also help preserve high-quality forests, wildlife and water quality, and adheres to the Superior National Forest Plan laid out by the Forest Service, she said.
Star Tribune
Celebrity chef Justin Sutherland gets two years of probation for threatening girlfriend
According to the criminal complaint:
Police were twice called on June 28 to an apartment in the 800 block of Front Avenue. During the first call, a woman told officers that everything was fine despite previously reporting that Sutherland had choked her and tried kicking her out of the apartment.
During the second call about 90 minutes later, the woman told police that Sutherland had briefly squeezed her neck with both hands, said “I want you dead,” pointed a gun at her and hit her in the chest with it, and at one point said he would shoot her if she came back after running off. Officers then arrested Sutherland.
Staff writers Paul Walsh and Alex Chhith contributed to this story.
Operators of the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) have agreed to consolidate housing units, create a new programming schedule and retrain correctional officers in an effort to satisfy state regulators, who rebuked the downtown facility last month for violating resident rights.
Changes come in the wake of a scathing inspection report that accused the center of placing minors in seclusion without good reason to compensate for ongoing staff shortages. An annual audit by the Department of Corrections found that teens were frequently locked in their rooms for long stretches, due to a lack of personnel rather than bad behavior.
In response, county officials vowed to bolster staffing and retrain all officers tasked with performing wellness checks. Last week, the facility closed its “orientation mod,” typically reserved for new admissions, and combined male age groups to reduce the number of living units and provide heightened supervision.
The moves, including a new schedule, are expected to help prevent the undue cancellation of recreation, parent visits and other privileges to children in their custody.
“[Previous] staffing levels did not allow for all units to run programming simultaneously while having sufficient staff available to respond to incidents and emergencies in the building,” JDC Superintendent Dana Swayze wrote in a seven-page letter to state inspectors. “Programming is only cancelled on an as-needed basis based on the JDC’s ability to safely accommodate [it].”
In a Dec. 4 email to the County Board, Mary Ellen Heng, acting director of Hennepin’s Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation, assured elected officials that they had begun taking corrective actions but asserted that some of the report’s findings lacked context.
Heng pointed to a violation where teens were allegedly confined without cause, even when multiple correctional officers were sitting in a nearby office. She explained that, during the dates of the inspection earlier this fall, several officers observed in the office were still in training — and therefore not permitted to interact with the youths alone.
She also contended that while programming has been modified by staffing limitations, “this additional room time is not reflective of punishment, disciplinary techniques, or restrictive procedures.”
Tired of surging gun violence across St. Paul, community leaders and police are asking residents to help create a safer city.
The call for community support came Thursday night when officials from the St. Paul NAACP, St. Paul Police Department, Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the African American Leadership Council gathered at Arlington Hills Lutheran Church to talk about ways to decrease gun violence in the city.
St. Paul has recorded 30 homicides so far this year according to a Star Tribune database, two fewer than last year. But four of this year’s homicides happened in the same week, frustrating law enforcement and alarming residents.
St. Paul NAACP President Richard Pittman Sr. said that solutions to gun violence are “right here, in the room.” But without the community’s help, Pittman said their efforts could fall short.
“Over the last several weeks and months, we have experienced an uptick in violent crimes in our communities. [That’s] turned on a light bulb that it’s time [to] not have the police feeling like all the pressure is on them,” Pittman said. “Nobody wants to the responsibility of having to shoot someone down in the street. Nobody wants the responsibility of hurting somebody’s family. We all want the best outcome.”
Attendee Carrie Johnson worried generational trauma is derailing youth’s behavior, adding that she’s seen boys in middle school punch girls in the face. Migdalia Baez said mothers living along Rice Street feel they have nowhere to turn for help in redirecting their children. Some worry that their child would be incarcerated if they ask for help.
Larry McPherson, a violence interrupter for 21 Days of Peace St. Paul, said some issues stem from youth with no guidance. McPherson and others patrol hot spots for crime across the city, including near the Midway neighborhood’s Kimball Court apartments where fentanyl drove a spike in robberies and drug violations.
“We’ve got a lot of mental health [struggles]. We’ve got a lot of doggone drug addiction that’s going on in our neighborhoods. We all got the best interests at hand for all people in our community, but we’re just not working fast enough,” McPherson said. “Until we get feet on the ground, people coming out of their own community and standing up for this real cause to take back the community, we’re going to have the same outcome.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings