Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2007 • Developer says rumors of the demise of Dyer Mountain Resort are untrue

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2007, edition of the Lassen County Times.

A rumor circling that the proposed Dyer Mountain Resort project has been scrapped is not true, said Nick Ceaglio, director of community relations for Dyer Mountain Associates.

Feather Publishing received an e-mail and telephone call stating a reliable source had noted the temporary housing for workers, four or five trailers, put up near the proposed site, had been removed. In response, Ceaglio said there never was any permanent or temporary housing at the proposed resort site.

“We cannot do any real improvements to the property until we have an approved EIR. Also we need to be permitted for any structures,” said Ceaglio.

Activity in the area is not always connected to Dyer Mountain Associates, he said.

Several companies have transmission towers in the area and periodically do work that requires they bring equipment on site. For example, the Dish Network recently poured a concrete foundation for a building they are constructing on land owned by Sierra Pacific and the cement trucks gained access to the site through Dyer Mountain property.

In addition, Sierra Pacific has been making road improvements on land adjacent to Dyer Mountain Resort property in preparation for a spring timber harvest.

Ceaglio said an engineering company has been hired by Dyer Mountain Associates to survey the property and pulls a utility work trailer that contains equipment. The only other activity on the mountain was a crew from Chico State that camped while doing some archeological digging with a representative from the Susanville Indian Rancheria and Greenville Rancheria.

While waiting for the EIR to be completed Dyer Mountain Associates also has drilled nine shallow monitoring wells all permitted by Lassen County. The wells are to establish a water quality baseline as required by the state of California Regional Water Quality Control Board. They are also monitoring surface water to obtain baseline figures. A year of reporting is required by the state.

Although there was talk of a timber harvest this summer Dyer Mountain Associates has not done any harvesting yet, said Ceaglio. Trees have been marked, he said.

When Dyer Mountain Associates is at a point to begin construction, the company will have a development agreement that covers the mitigation for the first phase, said Ceaglio. Then all the details will be worked out with the Lassen County Planning Commission. He said each phase of development will require a new EIR that takes into account the impact of the previous phase on the environment.

Ceaglio said as the project moves forward there will be a lot of comments made that will need to be verified.