Sugarbush Ski Resort of Vermont and Loon Mountain Ski Resort of New Hampshire both proposed to increase snowmaking capacity. This meant both areas needed access to additional water resources. The expansion projects fell under the jurisdiction of the USDA’s Forest Service because both areas are located on national forest lands. Concerns over proposed water withdrawals from the Mad River in Vermont by Sugarbush and the East Branch in New Hampshire by Loon were voiced by towns people, environmental groups, and water recreationists. These debates were a vehicle for the debate of broader environmental issues.

Sugarbush resort cited a decline in its market share due to inadequate snowmaking as the main reason for the snowmaking expansion proposal. The area lost an average annual revenue of 5.1 million dollars in the early 1990s. Effects upon the Brook and Brown trout fisheries in the Mad River and the Clay Brook, the two rivers Sugarbush would utilized, became the main environmental issue. The Forest Service instituted Minimum flow standards, Sugarbush could not withdraw water below the February Mean Flow, and allowed for the creation of three water storage ponds. This satisfied, for the most part, the concern over fishery habitat.

Loon Mountain proposed to expand its ski terrain as well as its snowmaking system. Loon cited above average skier demand as the reason to request the expansion. The Forest Service approved a scaled down version of Loon’s original expansion proposal. This included additional snowmaking waters. Environmental concerns centered around the Atlantic Salmon, Brook Trout, and Brown Trout fisheries of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River as well as water quality impacts. The Forest Service established a minimum flow policy for the rivers in question as well as a moratorium on Loon’s construction until the town of Lincoln’s sewage lagoons, which leaked a large amount of contaminated water into the East Branch water shed, were fixed.

These proposals, and expansion proposals utilizing natural resources, have both environmental and economic implications. The economic stimulation from the ski areas had to be balanced with the environmental consequences of development. The Forest Service was able to do this through mitigation measures they established. These debates brought water resource issues to the forefront and the compromises gained were considered a win by environmentalists.