A Colorado ski area is one step closer to growing with a recent decision by the U.S. Forest Service.

That’s the 43-page environmental assessment and “finding of no significant impact” related to Monarch Mountain’s proposed expansion into No Name Basin. That analysis and finding are standard and essential toward the Forest Service potentially approving such projects.

The agency is now hearing any public objections through April 8.

The ruling represented “a major milestone, and one that has taken years of hard work,” Scott Pressly, Monarch’s VP of mountain operations, wrote in his blog.

The Forest Service last fall agreed to explore the No Name Basin concept outlined in Monarch’s 2011 master plan. The official consideration more than a decade later meant “that our dream of introducing more terrain to our guests is no longer simply a dream,” Monarch COO Randy Stroud wrote in his newsletter at the time.

The dream is closer to reality with the Forest Service tentatively clearing Monarch’s proposal to add 377 lift-served acres on its backside, west over the Continental Divide.

That would include cleared runs and tree skiing over terrain described as “low intermediate, intermediate and advanced-intermediate with a vertical rise of approximately 960 feet.” The idea is for No Name Basin to initially be reached from Monarch’s front-side lifts.

But the Forest Service’s draft decision green-lights a fixed-grip, four-seat chairlift to be built, rising from No Name Basin’s base near 10,740 feet and up to about 11,700 feet. The decision also determined the feasibility of a 8,600-foot road to be constructed to the bottom of the chairlift, along with a warming hut and restroom building.

The project would mark a ski area expanding the boundaries of its special use permit under the Forest Service — a fairly rare development. In its draft decision, the agency emphasized its approval of Monarch’s 2011 master plan that included the No Name Basin concept, along with the ski area’s long run of guided catskiing to the terrain.

The draft decision found that “snowshoe habitat effectiveness is substantially diminished due to skier disturbance, which has decreased its effectiveness as lynx foraging habitat.” The decision stated the new development “may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect” the federally threatened Canada lynx.

That was language used to describe potential impacts on other species of concern, as well as forest and watershed health. The decision described the project’s “secondary benefits of improved forest health and hazardous fuel reduction by removing timber that has been affected by the spruce beetle epidemic.”

The proposal comes amid Monarch reporting record visitation in recent years and major investments in additional parking and other infrastructure. The decision noted No Name Basin bringing the ski area’s “comfortable carrying capacity” of 2,870 people a day to 3,490 people.

If approved this spring, Pressly in his blog said Monarch could look toward “initiating work” this summer and fall. He said it would be a goal to open the terrain for the 2025-’26 season.