Keystone Ski Resort mistakenly builds in protected tundra

The U.S. Forest Service has stopped construction of a ski resort expansion in Keystone after contractors mistakenly demolished protected alpine tundra for a temporary road.

Officials raised their concern after seeing crews carving the new path into the protected land, beyond the area that the Forest Service and resort had initially agreed upon, The Colorado Sun reported Friday.

"We were surprised and disappointed to see this for sure," said Scott Fitzwilliams, the supervisor of the White River National Forest for the U.S. Forest Service, adding that the mistake "is not a catastrophic ecological event."

The federal agency issued a cease and desist letter earlier this month, suspending development of Keystone resort's 555-acre expansion until the environmental impacts of the unauthorized road are measured. That could delay the opening of the the resort's 16-trail expansion this winter, one of the largest capital investment plans in the resort industry.

"We deeply regret the impact this unauthorized construction activity has had on the environment that our team works carefully to protect every day," Keystone manager Chris Sorensen wrote in a statement posted online July 27. "We take environmental protection and compliance extremely seriously and are committed to making this right."

The company has since hired a restoration firm to help mitigate and repair the damage.

The set back in Keystone, owned by Vail Resorts, wasn't the companies only knock in the past months. In Utah's Park City, the planning commission shut down plans to expand lift capacity at Park City Mountain Resort after locals argued there weren't plans for additional parking. In Vail, the company had go-ahead to build affordable housing but plans were squashed when the town council condemned the property because it was critical for bighorn sheep population.