USDA-Forest Service Recreation Residence Program
The Big Bear Southwest Shore Colony cabins, which are located in the Big Bear Tract of the San Bernardino National Forest, are part of the 14,000+ cabins located on National Forests nationwide that authorized as part of the USDA-Forest Service Recreation Residence Program. This programs was established by Congress in 1915 to facilitate family recreation experiences on our National Forests.
The cabins themselves are privately owned by individuals, while the land on which they sit is still owned by the American public under Forest Service management. Cabin owners receive a Special Use Permit to occupy forest land for up to a 20-year period. The Special Use Permit governs the rules and restrictions under which the permit holders can use the land and maintain their cabins. Related laws, the most current of which is the Cabin Fee Act of 2015, specify the annual fees charged for a Special Use Permit.
There are several persistent but untrue myths about these cabins. Many people refer to recreation residences as “Government Lease Cabins” – they do not operate under a lease, but a Special Use Permit. Another is that recreation residences were issued a “Ninety-nine Year Lease.” We have never found evidence that a cabin was ever issued a permit for this length of time. Instead, this term was used to refer to the open-ended one-year permits that existed prior to 1915. Today, cabins are issued a permit for up to twenty years at a time with the option to renew at the end of that period.
Cabin Fee Act - Annual Permit Fees
The Cabin Fee Act (CFA) was enacted in response to years of frustration by both the Forest Service and the Recreation Residence owners caused by the vagaries and subjectivity of the fee-setting process under the Cabin Users Fee Fairness Act (CUFFA). CUFFA required an appraisal of the lot values every 10 years, as if the lots were unimproved. There were very few comparable sales to guide the appraisal calculations, so appraisers were required to make many assumptions in order to convert a supposed “comparable sale” into a truly comparable value for the Forest Service lots. The variations in lot value from one ten-year appraisal period to the next were often large and almost always unpredictable, resulting in annual permit fees that were similarly erratic. Owners occurred large expense to obtain second appraisals. Forest Service personnel and owners spent time and money negotiating the final appraisal values. Frequently, the final annual permit fee amounts were not settled until 3-5 year into the next appraisal cycle.
The Cabin Fee Act of 2015 resolved the issue of fees by instituting a system of 11 fee tiers ranging from $650 to $5,650, in $500 increments. In 2016, each cabin was assigned to one of the 11 tiers, based upon the most recent approved appraisal for that cabin’s lot value.
Beyond 2016, all future fee increases under the CFA are limited to an annual inflationary increase using the national IPD-GDP index. There will be no future appraisals, no steep fee increases, and no fee adjustments of any kind beyond the annual inflationary adjustment. Over the last 25 years, IPD-GDP index has increased +/- 2% per year. For 2017, the fee inflationary increase was slightly under 1.4% over the 2016 base fee. Stability and predictability of future fees are the largest benefits of the CFA.
(See also "The Cabin Fee Act (CFA) Frequently Asked Questions." issued by the Forest Service on December 11, 2015.)
Cabin Fee Act - Transfer Fees
In addition to specifying Annual Permit Fees, the CFA also specifies that a $1,200 fee will be paid when a new permit is issued due to a change of cabin ownership. The intent is for the transfer fee to apply to a cabin sale between unrelated parties, a sale between related parties, or the transfer of a cabin through gift or inheritance.
When the CFA was enacted at the end of 2014, a number of Transfer Fee provisions were left for the Forest Service to clarify through regulations. For example, the $1,200 fee, like our Annual Permit Fee, is now indexed annually using the IPD (Implicit Price Deflator). However, even now, six years later, the FS has not yet finalized the formal instructions for the Transfer Fee. Some details are still unclear.
(See also "The Cabin Fee Act (CFA) Frequently Asked Questions." pages 4 - 6)