Plans for Ski Resort Cause a Flurry Among Residents of Pristine Valley : Environment: In northern Washington state, the fight pits developers with promises of riches against those who choose to be there because they like it the way it is.

Plans for a giant ski resort in this pristine corner of America near the Canadian border have divided local residents as decidedly as the Methow River bisects the magnificent valley.

The conflict is not new in America. It involves 1,200 jobs and economic growth for a depressed rural county on the one hand, and a radically altered life style for the Methow Valley on the other.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision this summer helped pave the way for construction of the $280-million Early Winters ski resort.

There are still formidable environmental obstacles before construction can begin, but the Supreme Court decision is the biggest hurdle that the developers, Methow Recreation Inc., have crossed. That has brought the 3,600-acre resort much closer to reality.

Washington lacks a major ski resort destination such as Sun Valley or Aspen, and state officials have supported the project as a way to keep ski dollars at home.

“There isn’t a ski hill where you can stay with your family for a week,” says Cal Merriman, owner of the 20-room Mazama Country Inn in the shadow of 6,088-foot Sandy Butte.

Like other area business owners, Merriman expects the resort business to spill over to his operation. But he is also aware of the changes it would bring.

A resort with accommodations for 7,000 would be a small city and would require services such as grocery stores, sewer systems and streets, he says. “The social structure of the valley would change.”

Linda Mills, an employee of Winthrop Mountain Sports, believes that the resort would give young people like herself more incentive to stay.

“A lot of kids who graduate leave the valley,” she says. “People don’t make much money.”

Okanogan County officials and many Methow Valley business people are enthusiastic about increased tax and retail revenues, since the resort would be one of the biggest employers in the sparsely populated county of 30,000.

But there is little doubt that a resort the size of Early Winters would significantly change the region.

Home to just 3,600 full-time residents, the valley’s depressed economy depends on tourism, logging and the U.S. Forest Service. Work is seasonal, wages are low, and there is widespread unemployment in the winter.

Many business owners along Winthrop’s Old West-style main street support the resort. Just 15 miles west of Winthrop, which has 400 year-round residents, the resort would likely be a major boost to an area that currently thrives only during the summer travel season through nearby North Cascades National Park.

But the area is also home to an independent collection of residents who came to escape urban pressures and are eking out a living. To them, the remoteness and lack of opportunity are a challenge.

“One reason people move to the Methow is it’s really hard to get by here,” says Isabelle Spohn of Twisp, a member of the Methow Valley Citizens Council, an environmental group that challenged the resort in court.

“A lot of us could make lots more money in the city,” says Spohn, who commutes 100 miles a day to teach special education in Brewster. “We decided to make less money and live in a place we like.”

In the planning for two decades, Early Winters would transform Sandy Butte in the Okanogan National Forest into a downhill ski area, averaging 3,500 skiers a day, and at the bottom a golf course and resort village with overnight accommodations for 7,000.

The Methow Valley Citizens Council, a grass-roots organization, sued in 1985.

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it, saying the Forest Service had to come up with detailed measures to protect the valley’s air quality, mule deer herd and other environmental aspects.

But the Supreme Court ruled on May 1 that additional environmental impact studies were not required for the resort.

Despite the Supreme Court victory, the developers still need to obtain state permits and complete supplemental environmental impact statements on issues not covered by the high court.

Developers have said they hope to begin construction next year.