Whether or not you believe the Federal government is a waste of time and money, there’s a big difference between the leverage that corporations can exert on local and even state government vs. the national level. An example is the SHRED act being reintroduced to Congress, by a bipartisan set of elected officials from states with a signfiicant ski industry, including Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

Simply put, the act proposes that a greater percentage of Forest Service land fees paid by ski areas be retained for local use. Note that senators and governers that have not voiced support include those from California and Washington, two states that each have robust presence in the outdoors and ski industry.

Here’s a couple of links for more info:

Colorado’s national forests could reap millions in additional funds if SHRED Act passes Congress

SHRED Act would keep ski fees local, support Tahoe resorts

There are some critical observations to make here: 1) Just who benefits by the fees being kept ‘local’, and how would the use of those monies be determined? 2) What entities really stand to benefit from retaining those fees in their local area? 3) Why single out one activity and not give all Federal land use fees the same treatment? 4) We hear anecdotally that the Federal government charges very low fees for things like grazing and ranching. How much money can we be talking about?

Let’s take a look at this article in In Depth NH:

Ski Industry Could See WMNF Revenue Stay on the Forest with Federal SHRED Act

The following resorts and activity centers are named. I’ve added the owners in parentheses:

• Attitash (Vail Resorts)
• Loon (Boyne Resorts)
• ‘Wildcat (Vail Resorts)
• Waterville Valley (privately held by the Sununu family and area investors)
• Bretton Woods Nordic Center (Omni Hotels and Resorts)
• Jackson Ski Touring (Non-profit foundation)
• Bear Notch (privately held by the Garland family)
• Great Glen trails (undetermined)

In the article the dollar amount of land use fee for New Hampshire is paltry, less than $1 million. The major ski resorts probably spend more on cleaning supplies in one season than the amount they pay to use the land. But should the act pass, state and local representatives, mayors and business owners will get to pick up a few dollars for their use that comes with not a whit of extra cost for the resorts that use (and sometimes abuse) the people, roads, and regulatory responsibilities of their localities.

All I can say is: you have to be very careful about who your do decide to do business with. And if you’re going to sell yourself, don’t do it for cheap.