# Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act - Plain Language Summary

## What This Bill Does

This bill creates a special "Ski Area Fee Retention Account" that allows the U.S. Forest Service to keep and spend money collected from ski area permits directly, rather than sending it to the general Treasury. Currently, ski area permit fees go into the general government fund. Under this new system, ski areas would keep the revenue they generate locally to fund improvements and operations.

## How the Money Would Be Distributed

The bill establishes a specific formula for how collected fees would be spent:
- **80% stays local**: Money collected at a specific ski area would be spent there, with 75% going toward ski area administration and improvements, and 25% toward visitor services and recreation activities
- **20% goes agency-wide**: The remaining funds could be used across the entire National Forest System for similar purposes
- **Flexibility clause**: If a ski area collects more money than it needs, the Forest Service can redirect the excess to other national forests

## Who Benefits and Key Impacts

**Beneficiaries include:**
- Ski area operators and communities that depend on ski tourism
- Local national forests that could reinvest fees into trail maintenance, visitor facilities, and wildfire prevention
- Forest Service staff who could use funds for training and permit processing

**Eligible uses** for the retained fees include ski area administration, staff training, visitor services, signage, wildfire prevention near ski areas, and recreation-related costs. The funds would be available for 4 fiscal years after collection, encouraging timely spending on improvements.

Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act

Neguse, Joe

Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development ActThis bill&nbsp;allows&nbsp;National Forest System (NFS) units&nbsp;to keep the majority of ski area permit rental fees that were generated within their boundaries and outlines how revenues from those fees may be used.&nbsp;Such fees are collected by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from ski area operators on NFS land.Within the NFS unit where the fees were generated,&nbsp;USDA must expend (1) 60%-48% of the collected fees for activities such as administration of the ski area permit program, visitor information, or reducing the likelihood of wildfire in or adjacent to a recreation site; and (2) 20% of the collected fees for activities such as repair of a Forest Service-owned facility, habitat restoration, or search and rescue activities.The remainder of the collected fees must be expended by USDA at any NFS unit for any of the activities specified in this bill.