Sponsors (10)
The bill directs most ski-area permit fees to local National Forest units for faster use on visitor services, maintenance, habitat work, and wildfire planning, trading increased local control and quicker project funding for reduced flexibility, restricted use for suppression/land acquisition, and less congressional oversight with potential crowding out of other Forest Service priorities.
Rural communities and local forest managers at National Forest ski areas can retain and spend most permit fees locally to improve visitor services, maintain facilities, support parking and permit processing, and fund habitat restoration and law enforcement tied to recreation.
Local Forest Service units can use collected fee revenue without waiting for additional congressional appropriations, allowing faster funding for operations, fee collection, visitor information, and near-term projects.
Communities near ski areas gain funding for wildfire planning and risk-reduction activities (though not suppression), improving local preparedness and reducing some wildfire risk around recreational sites.
Taxpayers and other Forest Service priorities could lose funding as fee revenue redirected to the new account reduces the funds available for non-recreation programs and shifts budget emphasis.
Communities and land managers lose flexibility because fee revenue cannot be used for wildfire suppression or land acquisition, limiting the ability to address large suppression costs or to conserve critical lands directly.
Making fee revenue available without further appropriation reduces congressional oversight and control over how those funds are spent, limiting taxpayers' legislative review of expenditures.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows the Forest Service to retain ski-area permit fees in a Treasury account for four years and spend most of them locally on ski-area operations and visitor services.
Introduced February 6, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress February 6, 2025
Creates a dedicated Treasury account to receive ski-area permit rental charges and lets the Forest Service use those fees for up to four fiscal years after deposit without further appropriation. Most retained funds must be spent locally at the National Forest unit where they were collected to support ski-area operations, visitor services, safety, and related program administration, while a smaller share can be used agency-wide. The account cannot be used for wildfire suppression or to buy land, and retained fee money is explicitly meant to supplement — not replace — existing appropriations. The law becomes effective 60 days after enactment.