62 



The Urban Land Institute index on rents for commercial oper- 

 ations demonstrates that 1.8 percent of gross revenue for land 

 rents is at the high end for land rents for commercial projects such 

 as regional shopping centers. 



There are a lot of advantages to this new system, and obviously 

 I am out of time, but I would like to submit the rest of my testi- 

 mony to the Chairman, and if 



Mr. Hansen. If you feel you need additional time on any perti- 

 nent points, go ahead. 



Mr. MosGROVE. There are a lot of pertinent points here, Mr. 

 Chairman. 



Mr. Hansen. Practice restraint. 



Mr. MoSGROVE. But suffice it to say, we will submit this entire 

 testimony to the Chairman. We think that we are paying fair mar- 

 ket rents based upon other comparable industries. We realize how 

 difficult that fair market value terminology is and how diffiicult it 

 is to determine that. 



We think that this new formula will limit the assessment of the 

 fees to activities which are physically located on the National For- 

 est Service lands. It will simplify the system that we currently 

 have. It will save all of us time, money, and aggravation in the de- 

 termination of what our Forest Service fee should be. We think it 

 will save the government money, it will save the operators money, 

 and it will be a simplistic system that gives a good return to the 

 U.S. Government for the use of their lands. 



In addition to my testimony, Mr. Chairman, I would like to intro- 

 duce a letter from Arthur Anderson from the managing partner in 

 the Denver office who corroborates a lot of these issues as well. 

 Thank you for your time, and I will be happy to answer any ques- 

 tions. 



[At press time, the abovementioned letter had not been received 

 from Mr. Mosgrove. The prepared statement of Mr. Mosgrove can 

 be found at the end of the hearing.] 



Mr. Hansen. Thank you very much for your testimony. Mr. Beck, 

 do you want to grab that mike over there? 



STATEMENT OF TIMOTHY BECK, PRESIDENT, 

 SNO.ENGINEERING 



Mr. Beck. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, my 

 name is Tim Beck, and I am the President of Sno.engineering 

 headquartered in Littleton, New Hampshire. We also have offices 

 in Colorado, British Columbia, Tokyo, and Bellevue, Washington. 

 Since our inception in 1958, we have worked on over 1,000 projects 

 involving all phases of ski area development including feasibility, 

 mountain and land planning, environmental permitting, appraisals, 

 construction and operation consulting. 



I appear before you today to address the issues relating to 

 whether the ski area fee formula contained in H.R. 1527 and/or the 

 existing Graduated Rate Fee System achieves a fair market value 

 return to the United States. 



This question is complicated by the fact that ski areas are a rel- 

 atively unique use of public lands. Unlike many other uses such as 

 mining, oil, and gas development, timber harvest, and livestock 

 grazing, the ski industry does not extract a renewable or 



