ESAC goes rogue
Local avalanche center declares independence.
On the heels of historic drought conditions in the West, the Friends of the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center (ESAC) have decided to go rogue; breaking its eight-year tie with the Forest Service and its consistent flow of funding. According to a press release, the now independent center will able to explore new avenues of funding and possibly expand the program. The new ESAC will be building the community component back into the organization and engaging with the backcountry winter sport community, just like in the good ol’ days.
The new ESAC is going to have to find money to replace the Forest Service contribution that went to staffing the center’s avalanche forecaster, about $17,000 annually. The new center will hold its annual fundraiser on December 5.
But the money is not the be-all and end-all, and breaking away from the Forest Service during drought years is not a gamble, according to Nate Greenberg, President of the Board of the Friends of ESAC. The center has raised about $10,000 so far this year, from donors that include the local Sunset Foundation. Nate said he expects another $10,000 to come from the December 5 fundraiser. Greenberg explained there is some money in reserves to help get them through dry years. ESAC’s 990 forms, the financial disclosure forms for non-profit organizations, were not available for viewing at press time.
Greenberg said the decision to break from the Forest Service was mutual, while Jon Regglebrugge, Inyo National Forest District Ranger, said the Friends decided to terminate the agreement.
He said the presence of the center is dependent on the community to buy in and take some ownership. Greenberg said in the early days of the center, it relied heavily on the community to contribute money and information about backcountry conditions. Free from the restrictive bonds of the Forest Service, ESAC will be able to work more closely with the public, “and provide a product the community has been asking for,” Greenberg said. Greenberg did not elaborate on what exactly the community has been asking for.
The updated ESAC website allows the general public an opportunity to interact with the center and contribute information, as well as gain knowledge through the discussion forums. There are forums where people can post their snowpack or avalanche observations or discuss conditions in 14 different areas from Sonora Pass to Big Pine and “Southern Areas.”
To clarify, ESAC was the Forest Service avalanche forecast center. According to Greenberg, when the center was opened by the non-profit organization it called itself the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center. When ESAC transitioned to working with the Forest Service, the non-profit renamed itself the Friends of ESAC. There was only one paid employee at ESAC, the forecaster. The board is the Friends that put the forecaster’s observations and danger ratings on the website. Regglebrugge said the position was paid for with a mix of Forest Service and Friend’s money. The amount the Forest service paid varied from year-to-year but it averaged about half of the forecaster’s salary. The Forest Service contribution was a flat $17,000 a year.
Regglebrugge said that the funding for ESAC was not in peril.
ESAC has flown want ads for two new forecasters, but the deadline to apply has passed. The new forecasters’ job description will be “in the spirit” of the description of the job duties for the Forest Service meteorological specialist, according to Greenberg. The fundamental difference being the new forecasters will be able to assist with operations of the center, and the job duties listed for the meteorological specialist are five pages long, while the ESAC position pertaining to avalanche forecasting and observation is two bullet points.
The job duties of ESAC’s Forest Service meteorological specialist, or “avalanche forecaster,” did not include fundraising.
The job description for ESAC’s Lead Avalanche Forecaster position includes, “Collect and post field observations required to derive avalanche advisories” and issue three snowpack summaries per week, along with managing the center’s day-to-day operations, updating and managing its “Social Media presence,” provide at least three “vanilla” avalanche awareness seminars during the season, assist with marketing and fundraising, publish a year-end report for ESAC and the American Avalanche Association, and be the smiling face of the organization. These duties are for both a full-time seasonal position and a part-time seasonal position.
ESAC will also make its “products” available for free on its website as it always has. The product, as Greenberg called it, will be snowpack surveys that require some knowledge to interpret, not the easy to read but perhaps misleading avalanche danger ratings. The summaries force people to get some training.
“ESAC has never been for the novice user,” he said.
There may be discrepancies in the two job descriptions, but ESAC is no longer tied to the exhaustive and boiler plate duties assigned by the Forest Service. Greenberg added that to call avalanche forecasting “a science, is not totally accurate.” There are many complex variables that go into the forecasting and snowpack summaries that are interpreted through years of experience.
It is unknown whether the center had found any new recruits as of press time, and as of press time, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area had opened.
When asked if he thought ESAC breaking away from the Forest Service was the best idea, Regglebrugge said he wasn’t sure. An avalanche center can’t be silent, waiting for the big storm before making a presence.
The weather, or lack of it, is a hurdle. Reggelbrugge said it can be challenging in terms of fundraising in drought years, as people lose interest. And, the bottom line is, he said, an avalanche center has to be consistent, despite the snowfall, or supporters will lose interest. The Forest Service provided funding for the forecaster position even during drought years.
Regglebrugge, added, “If you’re going to run a program, you need to plan to run it every year.”
He said everybody wants to see a successful program and wishes the Friends well and hope it will work out for the benefit of the public. The Forest Service will see how the new boat floats and it or the Friends might look at something different.
No permit required
ESAC says it will be operating in the backcountry in such a way that permits will not be required. Regglebrugge explained that ESAC will not have any permanent installations in the backcountry, and will “make observations, however they do that” and will provide the information, for free on its website and social media. If the center wants to charge a fee to take a tour with a forecaster, a money making idea brought up in the past, a special use permit would be required, Regglebrugge said. If the center was to operate in a way that required a permit, the Forest Service would likely issue one.
Some of the members of the board of the Friends of ESAC are local guides with permits to operate commercially in the wilderness. Regglebrugge said that “to the best of my knowledge” the way ESAC and the guides will be operating, no additional permits will be required.
Without permits, the Forest Service no longer accepts liability or oversight of what ESAC will do or what it provides on its website. Historically, Regglebrugge explained, when the Forest Service issued advisories, it accepted a certain level of liability and the agency is self-insured. There is no statute for the Forest Service to provide avalanche forecasting and there are many areas that do not have avalanche centers.
With no oversight from the Forest Service, ESAC will have to be trusted to employ the most experienced and knowledgeable forecasters. “Presumably, they [ESAC] will hire someone credible”, Regglebrugge said.
As far as liability goes, the root word of wilderness is “wild;” enter at your own risk. Regglebrugge said any reasonable person venturing into the backcountry is aware that they are exposing themselves to some degree of danger.
He used guidebooks as an example of a source of information that uses public lands to make a profit, but writing one doesn’t require a permit. It’s not permitted so there’s no oversight, or liability. A person may want to climb a mountain using a route described in the guidebook, but the terrain on the summit bid is not as it is described in the guidebook. So the user, yes the general public, has to make some of their own choices and use their own judgement maybe in conjunction with the guidebooks, or not at all.
The same goes for avalanche forecasts, he described. There is information out there, but it’s up to public to make some smart judgements and take a little responsibility of their own.
For more information on ESAC go to esavalanche.org.
