Left: Sun Valley is part of a multi-agency healthy forest initiative that is managing and restoring forest depleted by pest infestations to reduce wildfire risk. Center: The program’s tree thinning ac- tivity has generated 4,000 cords of wood, distributed to Indigenous communities for home heating. Right: Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe is or- ganizing local diesel users to explore ways to make renewable diesel available and affordable.
4,000 cords of firewood from the resto- ration have been distributed to Indig- enous communities for home heating through the “Wood for Life” program. Deliberate Whitebark Pine conservation efforts have earned Sun Valley a White- bark Pine Friendly Ski Area certifica- tion, and the restoration coalition has embraced a unique funding structure rooted in community and collaboration. Private donations from local non- profits, foundations, and individuals helped fund early phases of the project and were then leveraged to secure addi- tional federal dollars. Guests can also add a $5 donation to support forest health projects in the Sawtooth National Forest when purchasing lift tickets, passes, and rentals online; the first round of fund- ing from that initiative will be allocated through NFF in 2026, says Siszell. Community support has been inte- gral in other ways, too. For example, vol- unteers and students have assisted with placing pheromone patches to protect species such as Whitebark Pine from insect infestation. “The local community has been instrumental,” Siszell says, “to ensuring our environment is well main- tained, protected, and healthy.” Sun Valley and the NFF also host annual field tours for residents, local business owners, elected officials, and media. Foresters, resort staff, contrac- tors, and agency partners walk attend- ees through treatment areas and answer questions about the work underway. Siszell says this “real interaction with project sites” and has helped maintain interest and support as the project con- tinues.
Most other visitors interact with the project by skiing and riding the near- ly 380 acres of new gladed terrain that resulted from thinning treatments, and interpretive signage helps educate peo- ple about the restoration work, as does a video series on Sun Valley’s website. “This dynamic has created widespread support for the project in the Wood River Valley,” says Siszell. The health of Bald Mountain has direct implications for public safety and the long-term viability of recreation in the area. And while the drivers are dif- ferent from those at play with Great Salt Lake, the structure of the work is similar: a resort acting as one partner in a broad- er effort, backed by community engage- ment and sustained collaboration. “Community engagement and support will continue to be an essential element in the success of this work,” says Siszell. MT. ROSE: THE SLOW WORK OF SYSTEMS CHANGE Sun Valley’s work is tangible, focused on healthier tree stands, reduced fuels, and renewed glades. But even projects not rooted in the landscape point back to a larger reality for ski areas: climate work increasingly requires coordination, per- sistence, and creative solutions. An effort at Mt. Rose–Ski Tahoe, Nev., for example, is centered not on ecosystems, but on the systems and markets that impact resort operations. Driving change at Tahoe. Mt. Rose sustainability manager Anna Nason is working to transition the resort’s heavy machinery to renewable diesel, a drop-in fuel that can reduce lifecycle greenhouse
gas emissions by up to 80 percent per gallon. The problem is cost. In Nevada, renewable diesel is at least a dollar more per gallon than petroleum diesel, a gap that makes it nearly impossible for the resort to adopt at scale. Still, Nason has persisted. She has been meeting with local businesses, conservation groups, and operators to explore whether collective purchasing could make renewable diesel more via- ble. In the long term, she sees potential for public policy or incentive structures that could help shift the market. Broader stakes. The broader stakes keep Nason motivated despite the chal- lenges and slow pace of progress. “The potential for impact beyond our indus- try is what keeps me committed to this effort after some earlier conversations have ended in ‘not yet,’” she says. Her work represents another facet of the industry’s climate response: address- ing the structural barriers that stand between operators and lower-carbon operations. It’s unglamorous work, but it speaks to the same impulse that drives Snowbird’s educational programming and Sun Valley’s collaborative partner- ships: the desire to create resilience that extends beyond the ski area boundary. A WIDENING SCOPE Ski areas are still doing critical, founda- tional work around decarbonizing, elec- trifying, and waste reduction. But these three stories show something about how industry climate efforts can also respond to the things communities need most: breathable air, healthy forests, and col- laborative and persistent action.
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator