Ski areas can have a hard time finding employees because the work is seasonal. In ski resort towns, that problem can be compounded by the fact that housing is limited and sometimes expensive. That’s why Red Lodge Mountain partnered with the Custer Gallatin National Forest in Red Lodge to lease housing. The Forest Service had a bunkhouse it built for its summer seasonal workers that sits idle in the winter. It was a perfect fit to fill the empty building, and make a few bucks, by renting the rooms to ski hill workers in the winter. To read more about the deal, and the people making use of it, check out my story in the Billings Gazette at https://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/forest-service-rents-bunkhouse-to-red-lodge-mountain-workers/article_6f9d611a-085b-5035-bf98-4c843fe47484.html.
(written by Brett French – Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette/Montana Untamed)