Forest Health Project Glades 100 Skiable Acres
BY Mark Dee
A joint effort to improve the health of forests on Baldy continues this summer with work
underway to thin roughly 100 wooded acres on the River Run side of Sun Valley’s flagship ski area.
In July, crews continued the ongoing Bald Mountain Stewardship Project with glading around Olympic and the Roundhouse gondola. Recent work on the three-year-old collaboration targets “sanitation and salvage of dying and diseased trees” on the ski area’s eastern flank, an area “thick with willow and diseased young Douglas fir,” according to the U.S. Forest Service.
“This year’s project area has been heavily infested with dwarf mistletoe and Douglas-fir bark beetle,” a Forest Service spokesperson told the Wood River Weekly in a statement. “We are cleaning up the area and leaving what healthy trees we can.”
The Forest Service plans to replant the hillside with a mix of conifer seedlings in 2026, including native species that don’t currently exist in the area, like Ponderosa pine.
This summer’s work is the latest in the large-scale collaboration to improve forest health and reduce wildfire fuel on the prominent peak. The National Forest Foundation, a conservation nonprofit, Sun Valley Company and a range of private contributors are funding the project, which is carried out in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management; all told, $2.5 million has been invested in the initiative so far, according to Sun Valley Company. That has translated to treatment for more than 400 acres, according to Sun Valley, with 30,000 new trees planted on the mountain.
Beyond its ecological goals, the Bald Mountain Stewardship Project has opened 150 acres of gladed skiing so far, primarily on the Warm Springs and Frenchman’s faces of Baldy. The new work will add another 100 acres of clean tree skiing on the other side of the mountain, the resort said this week.
“This effort will not only enhance forest resilience but also create new gladed skiing opportunities for winter 2025-26, ultimately preserving and enriching the recreational experience,” the resort said in a statement on the project.
Want to learn more? Representatives of the National Forest Foundation and U.S. Forest Service will be at the River Run base during the Sun Valley Summer Series on Wednesday, August 20. The event runs from 5-8 p.m.
