Colorado Wild was invited to testify to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Public Land and Forests regarding Senator Mark Udall's S.607 on October 29, 2009. The bill would authorize the construction of facilities for year round recreational activities at ski areas on National Forest land.
While Colorado Wild is supportive of concentrating appropriate recreational use at ski areas, we remain concerned that the bill lacks sufficient specificity about what kinds of recreational facilities could be constructed, and therefore could result in the construction of water parks, amusement parks, and so on.
We support amending the Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 to address its outdated elements, and to facilitate appropriate year-round recreation at ski areas. We believe that National Forest ski areas should continue to provide opportunities for the healthy, natural resource-dependent recreation that is increasingly unavailable on private lands or in non-forested settings such as urban areas.
As introduced, however, S 607 could authorize virtually any type of recreation activity within ski area permit boundaries, and result in a dramatic shift away from the outdoors-oriented, natural resource-dependent recreation that National Forests currently provide. In other words, S.607 leaves the door open to inappropriate, urbanized recreation like roller coasters and water parks that are unrelated to and degrade the user experience of natural National Forests.
We are continuing to work with the Subcommittee, Senator Udall, and others to try to craft improvement to the bill to address these concerns. Stay tuned for more on this important issue as it moves forward.
