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Forest Service
CAPTURE THE FEES: NEW BILL MAY BOOST

APPROVAL OF PUBLIC LAND PROJECTS

BY GERALDINE LINK, NSAA DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC POLICY

Tipton (R-CO) and Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH), who happen
to be the co-chairs of the Congressional Ski and Snowboard
Caucus. The lead Senate sponsors of S.2501 are Sen. Cory
Gardner (R-CO), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Sen.
Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Retaining ski are permit fees on the local forest is neces-
sary because the Forest Service Recreation program is under-
funded and understaffed. As a result of declining agency
budgets, decades of growing wildfire costs, and the downsiz-
WASHINGTON, DC is a bit of a circus these days, but a really ing and fragmentation of jobs among special uses administra-
good thing happened there on March 6: the bipartisan Ski tors, the agency lacks the necessary resources to administer ski
Area Fee Retention Act (SAFRA) of 2108 was introduced area permits. Lack of capacity with respect to permit adminis-
simultaneously in the House of Representatives and the tration—particularly in the timely review and approval of new
Senate. This bill could dramatically improve Forest Service ski area projects—can have a negative impact on our future.
capacity to accept, review, and approve public land ski area Putting ski fee retention in context, it is one of three
capital improvement projects. major initiatives that can significantly boost the Forest
The lead House co-sponsors of HR 5171 are Rep. Scott Service’s capacity when it comes to developed recreation.
Fixing fire funding and “fire borrowing” is critical to restor-
ing funding for programs like recreation, and the great news
is that Congress finally passed an omnibus spending bill that
includes a fire funding fix! The agency’s NEPA streamlining
rulemaking, expected to be completed by end of this year, is
also important and could be very helpful in increasing USFS
60 years capacity in the future.
But even with a fire funding fix in place and a stream-
and counting. lined NEPA process, we still need ski fee retention. The fee bill

essentially earmarks money for ski areas and recreation—
hugely important as the current administration seems to be
more focused on timber than recreation in terms of budget
and staffing decisions. The bill helps ensure, no matter who is
in leadership at USDA or the USFS, that ski areas are a prior-
ity within the agency.
Here is a quick summary of the bill. It retains a portion
of the roughly $37 million in permit fees (five-year average)
that ski areas generate annually to improve ski area permit
administration, processing of ski area proposals, and address
any backlogs in permit administration or processing of those
This year, SE Group turns 60.
We’re humbled to have earned the trust of proposals. As much as $22 million to $24 million would be
so many wonderful clients to reach this milestone. retained annually based on five-year averages. The fees can
Thank you. also be used for interpretation, visitor services, and support of
USFS Avalanche Information/Education.
The agency would transfer funds from one ski forest to
another if the originating forest can’t reasonably spend all

8 | NSAA JOURNAL | CONVENTION 2018