271 



/^ 



Area/State 



Wisp, MD 



Silver Creek, WV 



Tory, WV 



Freyburg, ME (Shawnee Mt.) 



Conway, NH (Mt. Cranmore) 



Winhall, VT 



Sugarloaf Ski Area, ME 



Major New England Area 



Dartmouth Skiway/Lyme, NH 



Deer Valley, UT 



Deer Valley, UT 



Snow Basin, UT 



The point is that mountain real estate of the type leased for skiing has a very low 

 value. This should not be surprising, because ski terrain is largely located in 

 remote, steep, high elevation terrain where few other valuable land uses are possible. 



If an average value of $200-$ 1,300 per acre is used for mountain real estate, the 

 annual carrying costs for a 10%, 30 year mortgage rate on the 190,000 acres of 

 National Forest land currently under permit would be as follows: 



Average land value 

 $ 200/acre 

 $ 500/acre 

 $ 1,300/acre 



carrying cost for 190.000 acres 



$3,970,000 



$9,920,000 



$25,800,000 



Only at around $900 to $1,000 per acre, or almost 1.5 to 1.6 times the value of the 

 Valbois appraisal, would the carrying cost for 190,000 acres be equivalent to the 

 $18 to $20 million currently paid in fees under GRFS or the proposed new formula. 



We anlayzed this approach because the vast majority of ski areas in the United 

 States that are not on National Forest land own their own land. The carrying costs 

 of such ownership are significantly less than the fee that would have to be paid if 

 the land were owned by the Forest Service and leased pursuant to GRFS or H.R. 

 1527. Put another way, a proposed resort like Valbois would be far better off 

 financially to purchase its land from the Forest Service at the outset, if it could, than 

 to pay rent under GRFS or the formula contained in H.R. 1527. We fully realize 

 that such purchase of the land is not possible, nor do we advocate it, but it is a valid 

 test for measuring fair market value. 



