c, sure it may attract a few more people but overall the area will not have to change all that much. The increased crowds will not cause a tremendous change in development, and any environmental impacts that occur will be on a scale that could be corrected if need be. Most of all the Loon Mountain area can still offer the quaint NH experience that I believe represents the NH ski industry.National Forrest Lands play a huge role in the NH ski industry. Much of the prime skiing terrain in the state lies on National Forrest Land, mainly the White Mountains. "When the Forrest Service approves ski slopes near private land, the value of the private land jumps. Looking at ski lifts that service mediocre slopes near vacation homes,environmentalists derisively call them "real estate lifts."(http://www.wildwilderness.org/wi/skiarea.htm) This needs to play into the minds of the Forrest Service when they designate land for ski industry use. They are not only opening up an area for recreation but they are causing property values to rise around the area and development to increase on those private properties. The Forrest Service may be keeping a close watch on their federal lands but the private lands are left to those that own them and if they want to sell their land to a developer to build 100 condo units there may not be much to stop them. With every development that is created in the state of NH to me the industry looses a little of its appeal. The new trend seems to be to focus on the real estate figures and the money these developments will bring in and hopefully sell some lift passes on the side. Although these developments due bring in some revenue to the state in more ways then just lift ticket sales, the Forrest Services first priority should be the environment and this includes the impacts they will have on public and private lands.Many groups now oppose ski area expansion and many different methods have been used in order to slow or hault ...
