Quoted from appended article:
[The California Department of Parks and Recreation will no longer run the parking lot as a SnoPark. The Forest Service has rescinded the SnoPark's permit and is looking for a concessionaire to manage the area year round.]
This trend is occurring all across lands managed by the US Forest Service. Location after location is being transferred to private concessionaires with the issue of "liability" being used as the excuse for commercialization and privatization. Locations unwanted by the private sector are being closed and decommissioned. Use of the "liability" fear-factor isn't limited to snoparks; river access, climbing access and most other forms of access are also being targeted.
There is method in this madness. It is part of a strategy being advanced by recreation industry in their quest to privatize, commercialize, control and dominate outdoor recreation.
Does that sound far-fetched?
Here are the first words of the ARC's Mission Statement:
[ The American Recreation Coalition is a nonprofit, Washington-based federation founded in 1979. The association provides a unified voice for recreation interests to ensure their full and active participation in government policy-making on issues such as public land management, energy, and liability.]
I've reported upon this trend for nearly a decade and watched the losses mount. Now would be an excellent time for the recreating community to become active participants in the fight to keep public lands public and accessible.
Scott
PS... I've appended a second article (from 2003) to provide a second example.
--- begin quoted ---
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20060717/NEWS/107170009
USFS seeks Echo tenant: No more SnoPark at old ski resort
Amanda Fehd,
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July 17, 2006
Changes are afoot at Echo Summit, where a former ski resort is heavily
used as a sledding hill during winter and a lodge remains empty and
without potable water.
The California Department of Parks and Recreation will no longer run the parking lot as a SnoPark.
The Forest Service has rescinded the SnoPark's permit and is looking for a concessionaire to manage the area year round.
Whoever signs up to manage the area will have to take out liability
insurance on the sledding hill, a responsibility neither the Forest
Service nor State Parks has been willing to take on.
"The state is reluctant to assume liability on Forest Service
property," said Dave Quijada with the parks department's off-highway
vehicle division, which manages the SnoPark program. "We did assume
liability on the parking lot because that's the area that we actually
lease from them."
An e-mail petition from SnoLands Network indicates there is concern the parking lot will not remain public.
Eldorado National Forest district ranger Kathy Hardy said their
intention is to keep the parking area open, if not expand upon it. The
Forest Service will send out a prospectus soon looking for parties
interested in managing the area for public use.
The California Conservation Corps moved out of the old lodge at the
site two years ago. Hardy said that move is what instigated the changes
now underway.
"We'd like to have someone up there to manage the hill for sledding,
figuring out when it's safe to have people sledding up there, and to
make that more of an enjoyable experience for families," she said.
Summer activities could include showers, lodging and meals for through hikers.
-- END --
www.vaildaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=VD&Date=20030303&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=303030102&Ref=AR
March 3, 2003
No more sledding at Meadow Mountain
Cliff Thompson
If there's one thing Smokey the Bear likes less than forest fires, it's litigation for personal injuries.
That injury lawsuit potential has caused Smokey, the icon of the U.S.
Forest Service, to put his foot down and close a free sledding hill at
Meadow Mountain, north of Minturn. The popular hill attracts several
hundred sledders on weekends, and they have their share of collisions
and even injuries.
The agency is calling it a temporary closure, but it's unlikely to open
it to sledding next season unless a private vendor, armored with
expensive liability insurance, can operate it next winter.
For the past two years the Forest Service has fenced off portions of
the hill to limit the speed sledders achieve on their descents, and has
had staff on hand on weekends to supervise activities.
"We can't manage it safely. We don't have the budget or the personnel
to manage it," says Holy Cross District Ranger Cal Wettstein.
Wettstein says he expects to close the area to sledding sometime this week.
Similar sledding hills in Grand County and Mineral County, near Wolf
Creek Pass, have been hit with lawsuits for injuries and death,
Wettstein says.
Meadow Mountain, a former ski area, was purchased by Vail Associates in 1970 and deeded to the Forest Service in 1979.
The closure isn't popular with members of the Minturn Town Council,
however. Council members point out that closing the area to sledding
breaches a 22-year-old verbal agreement with the Forest Service.
"We want to keep it open," says Minturn Mayor Earl Bidez. "The main issue is liability."
The idea of finding a private operator for the area has been broached before.
In 1989, Vail founder Pete Seibert proposed operating a warming hut for
the area that would cater to sledders, cross-country skiers and
snowmobilers, but funding was not secured. More recently, a proposal
was floated to build a surface lift to bring sledders up the hill.
Minturn town councilman Darrel Wegert says he wants to see the area remain open, but acknowledges the problems.
"You're going to have accidents," Wegert says. "There's no way around
it when you have a 200-pound man taking off and he doesn't notice a
4-year-old until it's too late. People aren't using their heads."
If a private operator is not found, Wettstein says, Meadow Mountain
will remain closed to sledding. Other activities, such as snowshoeing,
cross-country skiing and snowmobiling, will not be affected by the
closure.
Cliff Thompson can be reached at 949-0555 ext 450 or
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