Dayton, WY – An effort is underway by a non-profit group to reopen Wyoming’s Antelope Butte ski area, located along U.S.  Highway 14 between the towns of Dayton and Shell.

Sheridan, Wyo. resident Mark Weitz joined others to form the Antelope Butte Foundation (ABF) in an attempt to halt the dismantling of the ski area, located within Big Horn National Forest, while it crafts a business plan to present to the state. It has been closed since 2004 and efforts by several developers to reopen the resort since then have all failed to gain traction.

In a letter to the group dated February 24, 2011, Forest Supervisor Bass advised the ABF that they would proceed with a salvage sale of the ski area’s assets in six to nine months’ time.

“I would certainly entertain a feasible proposal for the ski area,” Bass wrote, “but I do not believe that it is in the greater public interest to allow the improvements to remain on the Forest indefinitely.”

ABF is nonetheless moving forward and on Wednesday became a Wyoming Public Benefit Nonprofit Corporation while the group works to obtain federal 501(c)(3) status.

Members of ABF acknowledge that access to grants and other fundraising tools will be necessary for the ski area’s survival. Sheridan County Commissioners, however, have formally declined to lend the county’s financial support to ABF’s plans to reopen the ski area in time for the 2012-13 winter season.

In order to do so, though, substantial work awaits the group. Lifts need rehabilitation, the ski runs need to be cleared of smaller trees that have grown in over the years and the dormant base lodge requires renovation.

When it last operated, the 250-acre ski area near the Montana border, northwest of Casper, spanned 1,000 vertical feet with two double chairlifts and one tow. Annual snowfall at the 9,400-foot is reported at 200 inches.

The ABF’s attempt to Antelope Butte marks the second ski area in the state attempting to head in a non-profit direction, as a similar effort is currently underway at Snow King ski area in Jackson. The transfer of that resort to the non-profit Friends of Snow King, however, has stalled since negotiations with the current owners reached an impasse this summer.