Concerns About Ski Area Investments

* “Investor Group Acquires Two Small Ski Areas in Angeles National Forest” [Dec. 11] raises some immediate concerns: 1), the ultimate degradation of forested slopes for open ski areas in a National Forest where trees are already scarce and far more valuable as watershed and visual enjoyment for the majority of forest users, and 2), the validity of the initial land patents, taken in an era when land patent applications and approvals were very often highly suspect.

JAMES R. PRATLEY

U.S. Forest Service (Ret.)

Rancho Bernardo, Calif.

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