The annual Environmental Report Card from the Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition recently arrived and Park City’s three resorts did well.
Park City Mountain Resort was ranked in the Top 10 in the country with the No. 6 spot. Deer Valley and The Canyons both received a full letter grade higher than last year’s report.
Out of the state’s 11 resorts, all three were ranked in the top five.
The group, based out of Durango, Colo., gives the letter grades to encourage resorts to implement environmentally-friendly practices.
Ski runs, and resulting real-estate development, have major impacts on fragile alpine environments, he explained.
“More ski areas are going online with their environmental records,” said Paul Joyce with the coalition. “They’re starting to make it known starting to make a commitment.”
Skiers, more often than not, identify themselves as environmentally-friendly people, he said. They want to be good stewards of the places they’re hanging out. Resorts want to be seen as “green.”
Nationally, the dozens of resorts graded increased their score by an average of six percent. That positive change in behavior is partly due to reactions to the economy, partly due to initiatives the resorts have taken to be more “green.”
For example, a resort adding additional runs and lifts will drastically damage its score. But because ski companies are operating on tighter budgets now, fewer expansions are getting built.
But also, resorts are identifying that practices such as recycling and retrofitting fixtures saves money as well as helps the environment, he explained.
In the case of Park City, time can be credited with the better scores. Every year after new construction is done that result in lost points, the resort is automatically given back 20 percent of those points. That prevents the companies from being permanently penalized, and it rewards the absence of new construction.
Many of the projects at Deer Valley and The Canyons that resulted in B or C grades are a few years past so those points are now returning, he explained.
But Joyce said that less-than stellar grades don’t mean wonderful things aren’t happening.
For example, The Canyons has hosted major development in recent years, but it also has been proactive promoting things like public transit and carpooling. It’s been purchasing “green” power and using biodiesel fuel. It has been supportive of local and regional initiatives to fight climate change and preserve the environment.
In fact, The Canyons scored slightly better in the areas of supporting “green” policies than its two competitors. Joyce said the resort promoted the preservation of open space locally, garnering it extra points.
Brent Giles, director of operations at PCMR and director of environmental affairs for the parent company Powdr Corp., said he isn’t sure why his resort didn’t do better in those categories. He said the company filled out a detailed survey some years ago, and the group then follows up briefly every year, but it may not be aware of the anti-climate change initiatives the resort promotes.
Overall, he said his company’s high grade is a reflection of the positive things it does every year. For example, the corporation’s offices received an Energy Star Award last year. In fact, it scored 45 percent higher than any other building in the same category, he said.
They’re pleased with the high ranking from the coalition, but believe they qualify for even more points, he said.
Bob Wheaton, Deer Valley Resort president and general manager, said his resort was bumped from “B” to “A” status because they did well at educating the coalition on the achievements of the resort’s “Green Team.”
“It’s a group of staff members and they do a great job assembling all the resources at the resort,” he explained.
Last year Wheaton said he thought the low grade was unfair. This year is a better reflection of what’s going on at the resort, he said.
The Green Team focused on individual efforts and documented everything that’s been done.
“In a lot of ways that made the difference in the grading,” he said. “It was a lot of effort to put that information together and assemble all that a lot of people were involved.”
One thing he expects to reflect positively next year is the extension of their policies and programs to many of the lodges at Deer Valley. Since the resort started its own lodging entity to replace the now bankrupt Deer Valley Lodging, it can bring its energy-saving and recycling efforts to those parts of the mountain.
Dana Edwards, mountain operations manager for The Canyons Resort, said they look at the scoring as one of several measurement tools for their environmental programs.
“Our employees and our consumers certainly care how responsible our resort is and that alone motivates us to be better stewards,” she said via email.
She said the resort continued with all its existing programs but expanded in a couple of areas as well.
“We increased our on-mountain and village recycling significantly. We worked to focus on our busiest areas first and will work to recycle across the entire 3,700 acres,” she said.
She said development is important to The Canyons but they work to do it responsibly while being good stewards.
“Our guests expect continued development (at) the resort and (it) helps sustain the work base of the community,” she added.
She said the improved score did not come as a surprise to the staff who has been working hard to implement positive policies. For example, resort recently declared itself “Idle Free.”
“Although we will not be citing anybody for violating the policy, we do give our employees the empowerment to hold each other accountable,” she said.
Reducing carbon emissions is another major goal and is “only the beginning (of) a very long laundry list of initiatives to promote environmental sustainability,” she said.