WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, is a cosponsor of legislation to establish a fair and predictable yearly lease system for cabin owners on National Forest land who have been saddled with massive fee increases. The Cabin Fee Act would institute a tiered system of fees, and also reduce the cost of overseeing the cabin system by eliminating the time-consuming and costly appraisal process mandated by a law passed in 2000.

“This legislation will enable Montanans to pass along the family cabin to future generations without needing to sell the family farm to do it,” said Rehberg, who cosponsored a similar measure in the last Congress. “When the appraisal process proved to be arbitrary, and led to massive fee increases, it became clear that a tiered fee structure would be necessary to fix the problem. Because of this flawed system current cabin owners could be forced to give up their leases, some of which have been in the family for two, three, or even four generations.”

The Recreation Resident Program was established in 1915 and set aside a small number of residential lots for Americans to build recreational cabins on federal land. The individuals own the structures and pay a yearly fee for the use of the land. A 2000 law directed the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to use an appraisal process for determining cabin fees. Unfortunately, the Forest Service ignored many of the negating factors that play a critical role in determining appraisal value, such as limited ownership rights held by cabin owners, restrictions on year-round use of the site, or lack of privacy due to public access. This caused the USFS to over-evaluate the properties and led to unreasonable fee assessments.

Rehberg’s measure would establish a nine-tier fee system, based on the lot’s current value, with yearly fees from $500 to $4,500, adjusted annually for inflation. A simple transfer fee of $1,000 would be assessed when cabins are sold or ownership transferred within a family. For luxury properties between $250,000 and $500,000, an additional 5% fee will be assessed, and additional 10% fee assessed on amounts that exceed $500,000.

There are currently over 14,000 family owned recreational cabins across the United States, most of which are located in the West.

“Montana cabin owners have been faced with exorbitant fee increases in the past few years making cabins unaffordable for many families,” said Jane Van Dyk, Montana C2 Cabin Coalition Coordinator.  “Passage of the CFA will insure fairer and more reasonable fees that accurately reflect the true value of our cabins.  We look forward to working with Denny to get this bipartisan and much-needed bill enacted into law.”