260 



It is also worth noting that ski areas are not exclusive users 

 of the land they lease, nor do they extract a resource from the 

 land. Rather, skiing is a non-consumptive use which frequently 

 shares the land with hunters and fisherman, livestock grazers, off 

 road vehicles, hikers, cross-country skiers, mountain bikers, 

 utility rights of way, communications facilities and numerous other 

 uses. In addition, at many ski areas, lift operations together with 

 road and trail networks provide the public with far greater access 

 to, and the use and enjoyment of. National Forest lands than would 

 occur in their absence. 



Need For a New Fee System 



The National Ski Areas Association has taken the lead in 

 seeking introduction and enactment of H.R. 1527. We feel a change 

 in the way ski areas pay rent for the use of National Forest System 

 land is warranted because the existing Graduated Rate Fee System, 

 also known as GRFS, has become too complex and cumbersome. 



As the Subcommittee may be aware, GRFS was initiated by the 

 Forest Service in the early 1970s to capture a fair market value 

 leasing fee for the United States. In general, we believe it has 

 done that remarkably well, and the fee for national forest ski 

 areas is indeed significantly higher than most other private or 

 government ski area lease rates, as will be discussed later in the 

 testimony of Sno-Engineering Inc. . 



However, by its very nature, GRFS is complex, because: 1. it 

 relies on different break even points for various aspects of a ski 

 area's income; 2. it uses calculations of gross fixed assets which 

 have become increasingly subject to varying interpretation; 3. it 

 contains difficult definitions as to what lands or activities 

 should be subject to the fee; 4. it raises debates over 

 "gratuities" given to employees and/or the public, and other 

 complexities. 



The ski industry has spent several years, hundreds of hours, 

 and considerable money attempting to resolve these issues with the 

 Forest Service administratively. These efforts have not met with 

 success. Therefore, the ski industry believes it is time to change 

 the fee formula legislatively and boil it down to a simple 

 percentage of gross sales system. 



The calculation of rent for the use of National Forest land 

 should not require a forty page, plus, document. Nor should the 

 Forest Service be permitted to assess rent against private land 

 that it does not manage for the citizens of the United States. 

 Those are the two underlying tenets of H.R. 1527 - simplicity, and 

 the elimination of private land assessments. 



The General Accounting Office and the Forest Service have made 

 numerous estimates of the national average of rent paid by ski 



