At the same time Homewood Mountain Resort is being sued by environmental groups because of its proposed development it is a finalist for the National Ski Areas Association’s Golden Eagle award. The award is NSAA’s highest environmental honor and recognizes exemplary environmental performance in the ski resort industry.

Homewood is being recognized for its watershed management and the water-quality monitoring work performed resort-wide.

Homewood has been selected as one of three resorts in the Small Ski Area category — resorts with less than 200,000 skier visits annually. The other finalists are Beaver Valley Ski Club in Canada and Mt. Abram Resort in Maine.

The winner will be announced May 1.

“Homewood’s goal is to build the most environmentally progressive resort in the Lake Tahoe region and set a high bar for the ski industry as a whole. We are honored that the NSAA has acknowledged our efforts with this nomination,” Art Chapman, founder of JMA Ventures, said in a statement. JMA owns the West Shore resort.