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Quoted from appended feature article from Ski Magazine:
[At the moment, Forest Service officials appear to be leaning toward a policy change that would allow more visible displays of sponsors, whose logos, names or ads could appear on items they underwrite.]
What's happening with respect to commercial advertising on the National Forests today is an almost carbon copy of what happened just recently with the controversial Beeline Pass debacle.
You might recall that when Copper Mountain Ski Resort proposed issuing a ultra-premium-priced lift ticket (called the "Beeline Advantage") that would allow the bearer to cut in front of all non-advantaged skiers, local USFS decision makers said: ABSOLUTELY NO WAY - regulations do not allow this.
You might also recall that it was Dave Holland, Director of Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Resources Management for the USFS who overruled those local managers and authorized the issuance of these elitist, undemocratic, passes. Today Dave Holland is at it again, further bending/ breaking forest rules to advance the cause of Industrial-Recreation. What's up with this man and with the entire Washington Office recreation staff?
Scott
PS... I've appended a passage from the January National Forest Recreation Association Newsletter which, I believe, helps answer the question I've posed above. NFRA's newsletter is definitely worth reading from cover to cover (8 pages). While you as a member of the general public can not attend any of the closed-door meetings taking place between the upper echelons of the USFS and their private-sector "partners" you can, at least, get a sense of what they're discussing by reading these industry newsletters.
--- begin quoted ---
Selling Out?
by Paul Tolme
Entrepreneur Matt Jay pulls down the safety bar on a Snowmass, Colo.,
chairlift to display MapLinks, the controversial product he hopes to
install on chairlifts nationwide. The four-foot-long panel, bolted to
the safety bar, features a map of Snowmass' sprawling trail system. Jay
instantly launches into his sales pitch: MapLinks reduces use of paper
maps-the main source of litter on ski slopes-and encourages skiers to
lower safety bars. Most of all, the lift-mounted maps make it easier
for skiers and boarders to plan their next runs. "Asking skiers to take
off their gloves, fish maps out of their pockets, unfold them, figure
out where they are going, then refold them before getting off the lift
is a total pain," Jay says.
But there's a catch: Each MapLinks panel includes an advertisement. The
ads for Amstel, Tylenol, Altoids and other companies pay for-or
sponsor-the maps, which Jay provides free to resorts. Skiers love the
maps; it's the on-lift ads that are stirring debate in an industry
trying to burnish its image as a wholesome, back-to-nature sport. "We
have to be concerned about over-commercialization," says Vail Chief
Operating Officer, Bill Jensen, who rejected MapLinks for his resort
because of the ads. "People come skiing to get away from the pressures
of urban life."
Prompted by questions about MapLinks, the U.S. Forest Service has
decided to review-and likely update-its rules governing ads on national
forest lands, which hold a majority of the nation's ski slopes. Some
industry officials want the Forest Service to allow more corporate
sponsorships to underwrite resort improvements. For skiers and
boarders, sponsorships mean resorts could provide more amenities
without raising ticket prices. The downside is that more logos or
messages could appear elsewhere on the mountain.
The debate kicked into gear in September when the Forest Service ended
a pilot project that allowed MapLinks to be installed last season on
Aspen's high-speed quads. Aspen skiers surveyed by the Forest Service
overwhelmingly supported the lift-mounted maps, with just 12 percent
saying the ads detracted from their experience. Even so, the Forest
Service determined the ads violated an outdoor-advertising ban on
public lands.
The Forest Service's advertising ban, instituted decades ago, was
imposed to prevent billboards from marring scenic landscapes. However,
federal officials have made exceptions. Resorts, for instance, can hang
ads inside gondola cars because those ads are not technically
"outdoors." Temporary events such as World Cup races, the Winter X
Games and even local NASTAR races are also exempted. Banners that line
podiums and racecourses pay for these events.
With such ads already on the slopes, Jay felt the Forest Service had
singled him out. So the 28-year-old college dropout, whose life savings
are invested in his company, fought to save his business. He drove to
Washington to press his case with Forest Service officials and lobbied
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., as well as Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,
who is on the committee that oversees the Forest Service budget. Jay
argued that the safety-bar ads, like those inside gondolas, are visible
only to riders and thus do not increase visual pollution. Jay wanted to
put two ads on each chairlift, but he agreed to cut that to a single
advertisement and reserve one side for environmental or safety messages.
The Forest Service relented, agreeing to allow MapLinks at Aspen again
this season while it reviews its regulations. Whatever the outcome,
"the policy needs to be made contemporary," says David Holland,
national recreation director for the Forest Service. At the moment,
Forest Service officials appear to be leaning toward a policy change
that would allow more visible displays of sponsors, whose logos, names
or ads could appear on items they underwrite.
The Forest Service would strive to ensure messages are tasteful and
would retain the right to reject certain ads, such as those for tobacco
products. Even so, the sponsorship debate is heated, says Jim Stark,
the agency's winter sports administrator for Aspen. "Our fear," he
says, is that the change might "open the floodgates for commercial
advertising."
The floodgates, however, are already leaking, as resorts on private
land hang more advertisements to generate revenue, while those on
public lands plaster their base lodges, usually on private property,
with pitches from Chevy Trucks, PowerBar and other companies. Vermont's
Stratton Mountain, on private land, features an Altoids gondola car.
Stratton has used the revenue to build new race shacks, among other
things. Beverage maker SoBe sponsors Steamboat's terrain park, on
private land. Even Vail, which has criticized Aspen's decision to allow
MapLinks, has a Rossignol demo center, and in past winters had a
terrain-park hut sponsored by Mountain Dew and Burton. This winter,
Vail erected a new demo center sponsored by Salomon. Vail COO Jensen
doesn't see a contradiction. He views sponsored huts and demo centers
as "competitive advantages" over rival resorts, but dismisses
MapLinks-style advertising as too intrusive. "If you ride a chairlift,
it's hard to ignore a beer ad."
In the future, more sponsorship messages will likely appear in terrain
parks because they are costly to build, maintain and staff.
(California's Mammoth Mountain spends $1 million annually keeping its
parks running.) Teens who frequent terrain parks "aren't looking for a
natural setting," says Ed Ryberg, who oversees ski resort advertising
for the Forest Service. Rather, they seek an urban feel that mimics a
city skateboard park on snow, and they consider sponsorship displays
part of the landscape. "If resorts need sponsorships to pay for these
parks, (the Forest Service) must consider that," Ryberg says.
For smaller ski areas that rely solely on ticket sales rather than
revenue from restaurants, hotels, shops and real estate sales,
increased sponsorships could have a profound impact. Colorado's
Loveland ski area, whose base area is leased from the Forest Service,
can't even accept free ski racks with ads. Current rules forbid
Montana's modest Showdown ski area from accepting free, sponsored trail
maps, complains General Manager George Willett, who says it's skiers
and boarders who suffer due to the Forest Service's anti-advertising
policy. "For a small ski area like us, if we can't accept sponsors to
pay for our terrain parks, we have to go without them," Willett says.
It's no coincidence the MapLinks ads debuted in Aspen. Its clientele is
among the wealthiest in the country-precisely the consumers most
advertisers want to reach. But the resort is also an environmental
leader. The ads are a tradeoff, says Auden Schendler, Aspen's
environmental director, who concedes that drawing the line between
acceptable and inappropriate advertising is a subjective process.
MapLinks, he says, has allowed Aspen to slash the number of paper maps
it prints. "I'm no beads-and-patchouli-wearing environmentalist,"
Schendler says. "These maps are a common-sense way to reduce waste.
Without the ads, these maps wouldn't be here. They're free, and we're a
business." It would cost Aspen about $20,000 per chairlift to install
maps without ads, says Mike Kaplan, vice president of mountain
operations.
Out on the slopes of Snowmass, Jay schusses to a stop in front of the
large, metal archway that marks the entrance to the Pipeline terrain
park. Jay thinks the Forest Service should zone areas of ski resorts
for sponsorships (chairlifts, terrain parks and other infrastructure),
while keeping other areas (upper slopes, bowls and glades) ad-free.
"They should be able to put ads all over that thing," he says, pointing
a ski pole at the metal archway. "Up there," he says, turning to the
double-black-diamond headwall that looms over the resort, "there
shouldn't be anything, not even trail signs."
www.nfra.org/newsletter/nfrarep_jan_04.pdf
Meeting With Director of Recreation, Dave Holland NFRA Board members
also met with the Director of Recreation, Dave Holland. Issues
discussed included permit renewals for resort permits; Service Contract
Act issues; wilderness management and access; the National Recreation
Reservation Service, and other topics. Lynda Breault initiated
discussion regarding the establishment of a "blue-ribbon committee"
comprised of previous NFRA Rangers of the Year in cooperation with the
national office of the Forest Service. The primary goals of the
committee would be the integration of successful techniques in
developing productive dialogue and cooperative partnerships with
permittees and developing implementation training workshops for
recreational Forest Service personnel.
NOTE.... In the February Newletter from NFRA you'll discover that Dave
Holland is at it once again.
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- Privatization 
