Fergi ski area given to county

Published 9:50 pm Thursday, January 5, 2012

To shield county from liability, Lions will continue to carry ski area insurance and Eagle Cap Ski Club will run Ferguson Ridge as it has for three decades

The heart and soul of a community is its children. Ensuring opportunities for their education and recreation are values passed down from generation to generation.

Last week, nine Wallowa County families did their honor best for children and families of the future – they gave Ferguson Ridge Ski Area to Wallowa County.

Skiing has been a popular past-time in the county since at least the 1930s when skiers scouted terrain for a day of schussing and picnicking. Before rope tows, skiers had to earn their turns and climb the slopes they skied. Back then it was not a kid-friendly sport.

In 1939 a permanent location was selected and a rope tow constructed on Stanley Hill two miles south of Joseph. The tow was run by a Model A Ford engine. In 1948 the tow was moved to what is now Ski Run Road and there the local ski area remained until 1983.

In order to install a T-bar the members of the ski club who ran the area decided they needed to extend the runs on Ski Run Road or move it entirely. After much consideration, land owned by Boise Cascade near McCully Creek and adjacent to the national forest became Ferguson Ridge.

Dave Monschke of Joseph Forest Products traded forest land for the slope that has been a focus of winter fun for almost 30 years. The first season was a big success. Club member families traded work at the ski hill for days of skiing. Non-club members paid 50 cents.

Despite inflation, this is largely the system used today and all work, from operating the lifts to selling tickets at Ferguson Ridge, or Fergi, is still done strictly by volunteers.

In 1985 the land was auctioned by the sheriff on the Wallowa County Courthouse front steps. Ten members of the ski club banded together to buy it and formed the 10-280 Corp.

Twenty-one years later the corporation has found a way to keep Fergi a winter play land for years to come. Charlie Kissinger, a 10-280 member, said the corporation wanted to give Ferguson Ridge to the community.

“We wanted to figure out a way so that Fergi belonged to the people and would be there for the kids,” Kissinger said.

The members of the corporation then tried to give it to the Enterprise-Joseph Lions Club. Giving the land to a nonprofit seemed like the obvious solution.

The Lions Club became an integral part of the ski area when Fergi almost closed down due to rising liability insurance rates. Lions Clubs in other parts of the rural West had taken ski areas under their wing and offered very reasonable insurance rates, Kissinger said. Since then, Eagle Cap Ski Club members have joined the Lions Club and the two entities have helped each other survive.

However, the Lions Club is not set up to accept gifts in return for tax deductions, Kissinger said. Accountant Jeff Edison and Rebecca Knapp, an attorney, worked with 10-280 to find a solution.

“To take land out of a corporation there are huge tax consequences,” Knapp said.

Jim Russell, 10-280 member, put in a call to Mike Hayward, county board of commissioners chairman.

“Jim said 10-280 wanted to assure Fergi stay a ski area forever and gifting it to the Lions wasn’t going to work. The county was then asked to be an interim owner until the Lions Club can accept the land,” said Hayward.

To shield the county from liability, the Lions will continue to carry the insurance and the Eagle Cap Ski Club will run Fergi as it has for three decades.

“The county will be like an absentee owner,” Hayward said.

As of Dec. 29 the county owns all the shares of the 10-280 Corporation and will lease the land to the Lions Club, which will sub-lease it to the ski club to operate. After five years, the Lions will have the option to purchase the land from the county.

Privately owned, Fergi’s property tax is $1,000 a year and Hayward said that payment will stay in place. The Lions Club will lease Fergi for $100 a year and pay taxes that help support the Joseph School District, the Education Service District, the hospital, the Joseph Cemetery and the weed levy. A portion will also go to the county’s general fund.

Hayward applauded the commitment of 10-280 and the Lions Club to keep Ferguson Ridge open.

“We now have the good fortune to have a ski area for a long time. The thought of losing it was not acceptable,” Hayward said.

Kissinger said it’s a good deal for everybody.

“The county stepping in allows the deal to happen and keep Fergi the way it is,” Kissinger said.