An environmental group has taken responsibility for a series of fires in Vail Mountain, transforming the blazes into what may be the costliest act of eco-terrorism in the nation's history.
The Earth Liberation Front, linked to arson incidents across the Northwest, said it torched the buildings and chairlifts to protest an expansion plan by the nation's busiest ski resort.The group said it set the fires - estimated to have caused $12 million in damage - "on behalf of the lynx." And it vowed to "be back" if Vail encroached on roadless land again.
"We are currently investigating the content, credibility and origin of this message," Eagle County sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Andree said Wednesday.
Paul Witt, Vail Associates spokesman, said, "We are aware of the claim and are leaving it to authorities to investigate."
Seven separate fires, reported around 4 a.m. Monday, destroyed three buildings and damaged four chairlifts at the chic resort in the heart of the Colorado mountains, 100 miles west of Denver. The fires were set at night, above 11,000 feet in rugged terrain that was muddy and snow-covered.
Investigators so far have called the fires only suspicious and possibly arson. But Gov. Roy Romer and others immediately linked the fires to the resort's controversial expansion plan.
Last week, Vail cleared a key hurdle in its bid to become even larger when a federal judge dismissed a suit by environmentalists who said the 885-acre expansion could harm the planned reintroduction of lynx. Six days ago, crews began clearing trees and erecting fences.
Then came the fires, which were denounced by environmentalists involved in the fight against Vail. On Wednesday, the Earth Liberation Front sent an e-mail message to several media organizations:
"On behalf of the lynx, five buildings and four ski lifts at Vail were reduced to ashes on the night of Sunday, October 18th," it read. "Vail Inc. is already the largest ski operation in North America and now wants to expand even further."
The expansion "will ruin the last, best lynx habitat in the state. Putting profits ahead of Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated. . . . We will be back if this greedy corporation continues to trespass into wild and unroaded areas," the group's message said.
Since December, ELF has taken at least partial responsibility for fires at USDA buildings in Olympia, Wash.; a fire at an Oregon corral used for wild horses and burros captured by the Bureau of Land Management; and the "freeing" of 310 animals from a Wisconsin fur farm.