The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
CBMR makes Honor Roll
It’s not quite a “worst-to-first” turnaround, but close, as Crested Butte Mountain Resort recently propelled itself to sixth best in the state as far as the resort’s environmental impacts are concerned.
In past years, the ski area was penalized, especially after its Mountain Improvements Plan was started in 2005 and released in 2008, which included development plans at Prospect, the North Village and Snodgrass.
The Ski Area Citizens’ Coalition (SACC) released its 2010-11 Environmental Report Card this week, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort scored a grade “B” overall. That’s a marked improvement over past years, and the high grade is due in part to the lack of new development on undisturbed lands, and maintaining the ski area within its existing footprint, as well as more efficient snowmaking and other energy efficiencies.
SACC uses four categories for its points-based grading system—Habitat Protection, Protecting Watersheds, Addressing Global Climate Change, and Environmental Policies and Practices. This is the eleventh year the organization has issued report cards, and it gathers information from the Forest Service, by surveying the ski areas and analyzing their websites, and contacting local groups.
CBMR scored a “B” in Habitat Protection and “As” in the other three categories. According to Paul Joyce, research director at SACC, when CBMR released its last improvement plan, which included the North Village and Snodgrass development, the SACC deducted a lot of points and gave the ski area a poor grade. Each year, 20 percent of the points deducted are replenished. Joyce also cited CBMR’s snowmaking improvements and other mountain operations efficiencies.
John Sale, CBMR’s planning director, is pleased with the latest report card. “To come from an ‘F’ five years ago to a ‘B’… we’re making good progress. Last year we were a ‘C+’; our goal this year was to get into the ‘B’ range. We’re extremely happy.” Sale also clarified that when CBMR was given an “F” it was largely due to the fact that the ski area didn’t submit its application or provide SACC with information.
Joyce said the economy is playing a role in the improved ski area ratings across the state and the West as a whole. According to the SACC report, “The 82 ski resorts scattered throughout the West saw an average improvement of 2 percent in their overall scores. Rating improvement trends resulted from resort’s continued investment in water and energy efficiency projects and other cost effective resort improvements while forgoing new terrain expansions into sensitive lands.
“Ski areas are not developing as much new terrain in sensitive areas,” Joyce said. “Is this due to an environmental commitment? Or when the economy turns will the treads on the bulldozers turn also?”
For John Sale, improving the resort’s environmental performance and reducing its overall impact is part of a long-term plan. “The biggest thing we are focused on is participating in this Colorado Industrial Energy Challenge,” Sale explained. “Aspen and Crested Butte were the only two ski areas to be charter members at first; some other areas are coming on board now.”
In order to take part in the challenge, companies agree to set a five-year goal of reducing energy use, reporting total energy consumption for the base year, and in following years demonstrating progress. By joining the program, a company can receive free technical assistance to achieve its energy reduction goals.
Sale said, “We’re going to have some consultants coming to help us evaluate some of our snowmaking and other mountain operations systems. They’ve been working with Aspen the last three or four years. We have a long-term goal of reducing our overall energy consumption for mountain operations 8 percent by 2015. We worked with ORE [the Office for Resource Efficiency] the last six months to complete our energy inventory. That was the first step—calculate our energy use. We have a much better understanding of how much and where we’re spending energy.”
The resort achieved a 26 percent reduction in snowmaking energy consumption last year, according to Sale; all the bulbs in the renovated Treasury Center are LED and thus more energy efficient. Electric shuttles and bikes are also lessening the ski area’s carbon footprint.
As for the future, “Next is a game plan—what will have immediate returns, what are some long-term goals,” Sale explained. The ski area will continue educating its employees and guests about saving energy, and reduce energy consumption by mountain operations, as it strives to reach its goal of 8 percent reduction by 2015.
