Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

By Jason Blevins, The Denver Post

The ski industry plans to sue the U.S. Forest Service to stop a new water-rights clause in ski-area permits that resorts argue is a federal taking of tens of millions of dollars in private water rights.

"This was inevitable," said Michael Berry, president of the 121-resort National Ski Areas Association, speaking of the lawsuit. "We have worked very hard to avoid it, but there hasn't been a willingness on the part of the (Forest Service)."

The NSAA is spearheading industry opposition to a clause in ski-area permitting that assigns water rights at a resort on federal land to the federal government.

The industry and a consortium of legislators, including U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Colorado Democrats, and Rep. Scott Tipton, a Colorado Republican, have urged the Forest Service to suspend implementation of the controversial new clause. The agency this week declined to issue a moratorium.

Long-term viability of ski areas

The Forest Service, which has already issued three new ski-area permits with the new water clause, contends the clause protects the long-term viability of ski areas by keeping water resources tied to the land, not the operator. The new clause changes a 2004 agreement reached between the agency and the industry that allowed for co-ownership of water rights inside a ski area's permit area. It does not effect water rights obtained off National Forest Service​ land.

"If they establish water rights on the national forest, those rights need to remain with the federal government to protect the public's right to the land," said Jim Pena, acting chief deputy for the Forest Service.

Read more about the controversy of water rights.