H.R. 1084 — Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Ski Hill Resources for Economic Development Act.”

This section establishes the Ski Area Fee Retention Account in the Treasury and directs that ski area permit rental charges collected under 16 U.S.C. 497c be deposited into the account, made available to the Secretary of Agriculture without further appropriation, and remain available for 4 fiscal years beginning with the first fiscal year after deposit. It allocates 80 percent of each covered unit’s retained receipts for use at that same unit, with 75 percent of that local share for ski area program administration and related activities and 25 percent for visitor services, facility and trail maintenance, habitat restoration, law enforcement, parking expansion, avalanche information, search and rescue, and certain lease administration; the remaining 20 percent may be used at any National Forest System unit for those same purposes. The section also authorizes the Secretary to reduce the local share to not less than 60 percent if the amount otherwise available exceeds the covered unit’s reasonable needs, prohibits use of the account for wildfire suppression or land acquisition, preserves Granger-Thye Act authorities and existing cost recovery, and provides that retained fees supplement, rather than replace, appropriated funding.