Amador County – Federal legislation signed Monday by President Barack Obama could impact jobs across the country, including at 25 ski resorts in California operated on U.S. Forest Service ski areas.

Those locally include El Dorado National Forest and the Kirkwood Mountain Resort, in Amador County, according to information released by John Heil, public affairs officer with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. Heil said the new legislation allows federal forest ski areas to be permitted for year-round operation. It could affect 25 ski areas on 11 national forests in California, Heil said, and is seen as potential to create 600 jobs nation wide, including annual jobs and part time job increases.

Michael Dalzell, Vice president of sales and marketing at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, said short term there may be some impact on jobs at Kirkwood, but he didn’t expect long-term creation of annual jobs until later.

He said Kirkwood is already operating activities in the summer and off season, including “Zip Tahoe,” mountain biking and alpine hiking. “We do have plans to expand our bike park.”

Dalzell said “I think new legislation is going to be another tool to ensure that the Forest Service will be on board” with off season expansion. He said it will not make a huge impact but it will give us an opportunity to expand activities.

One big business impact it could have is Kirkwood’s plan to have downhill mountain biking. It will probably not start until summer 2012, but “it’s definitely a huge business opportunity for us because of the terrain at Kirkwood.” He said Kirkwood “could have the opportunity to become one of the premiere downhill mountain biking destinations in the region.”

Bill Tanner, owner of Jackson Family Sports bicycle shop said summer and off-season programs are already held at local ski areas. He said resorts do all they can to generate revenue. Tanner did not think the change would affect him too much because his shop, at 275 Highway 88 in Jackson, is so far from Kirkwood, but “we do get some business from people buying tubes and energy food on the way up there. And overall, the more places we have to ride, the better for the industry.”

He said there aren’t many places in Amador County for mountain biking, because there is so much private property. “If you know the ranchers, there is some great riding.” All the great riding is above Buckhorn, on SPI roads, with shared use with mountain biking and off-road motor vehicles.

He said he has ridden at PiPi Valley, but it is pretty well dominated by the motorcycle dirt-bike riders.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.