BUTTE, Mont. – The Montana Ski Area Association has sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service asking for more leeway in removing dead and dying trees ski officials say pose a danger to skiers and structures.
The letter recently sent to Regional Forester Leslie Weldon in Missoula also asks that the Forest Service step up efforts to cut down dying trees.
“We lease the place from the Forest Service and we think it’s their problem,” said George Willett, owner of Showdown Ski Area, southeast of Great Falls. “They should handle it.”
The letter sent by the ski industry follows a similar letter sent to Weldon in January by Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
Schweitzer said ski areas should have more latitude in dealing with the rapid increase in beetle-killed trees that could injure skiers or result in wildfires that damage infrastructure.
“They would like the authority to do some cutback logging to reduce some dead and dying timber,” he told The Montana Standard earlier this week. “There has to be a way to work with these ski areas to do the right thing.”
In the letter to the Forest Service, he wrote there’s a potential for falling trees to strike lift lines and that trees that blow over cause overnight hazards on ski runs.
Forest Service spokeswoman Rose Davis said ski areas operate under a permit from the Forest Service, and the trees are owned by the public.
“As the taxpayer owns that tree, if somebody’s going to cut it then they need to pay the taxpayer,” she said. “If there’s just a few here and there, they can be dropped as hazard trees, but if there are a lot of trees, there could be value to those trees for a mill, and they have to be accessed.”
Davis said the Forest Service wants to work with ski areas to make sure the slopes are safe.
“We want to work together with them on a solution so that they can continue to operate and we can do the right thing by the taxpayer, the land and the laws and regulations under which we operate,” she said.