Excerpts from the report: The objective of this bulletin is to provide guidelines to help locate avalanche sites and estimate the frequency and intensity of avalanche activity. Such guidelines will help prospective users or buyers of mountain property protect themselves from the occasional unknowing, overoptimistic, or fraudulent planner or developer that offers building sites in unsafe areas. They will also provide a basis for avalanche zoning as it becomes more common in this country. By far the most reliable way of locating avalanche areas is to study long-term, detailed records of past events—when they are available. Such records are available for many localities in Europe, but, unfortunately, compilation is just starting for selected areas in the United States.