|
SACC Steering Committee Members:
Colorado Wild,
Sierra Nevada Alliance,
Friends of the Inyo,
and Under The Sleeping Buffalo (UTSB) Research (Canada).
Endorsing Organizations:
Save Our Canyons
(UT), The Greater
Yellowstone Coalition, The
Wilderness Society, The Lands
Council, Seventh Generation Fund
for Indian Development, Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Wild Wilderness,Wildlands CPR, Soda Mountain
Wilderness Council, RESTORE: The North Woods,
Conservation Northwest, Siskiyou Regional Education Project,
Wilderness Workshop, Idaho
Conservation League, Colorado Mountain
Club, California Wilderness
Coalition, American Lands
Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, Native Forest Council, and the Western Wildlife
Conservancy.
|
|
Ski Area Environmental Scorecard
2008/2009
updated 12/15/2008
EVERY SKIER MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The Ski Area Environmental Scorecard is the only non-industry, independent mechanism that gives skiers and boarders a way to assess the environmental performance of their favorite resorts. By choosing environmentally friendly ski areas, you can encourage all resorts to improve their policies.
The 2008/2009 Scorecard includes the latest information on resorts that are:
- Impacting Roadless Areas
- Logging Old Growth Forests
- Purchasing clean, renewable wind energy
- Using cleaner burning, biodegradable biodiesel.
- Performing energy efficiency upgrades
- and much more
New for 2008
We’ve added six new ski areas to the Scorecard for 2008/2009 bringing the total to 83 mountains throughout the West. New resorts include: Arizona’s Arizona Snowbowl; Idaho’s Tamarack Resort & Schweitzer Mountain Resort; Montana’s Moonlight Basin; Nevada’s Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort; and Washington’s Mt. Spokane.
Also new this season is the “Compare Ski Areas by Ownership” feature, allowing skiers to research the overall environmental performance of the industry’s biggest players.
Canada Needs the Scorecard Too
Canadian Ski Resorts have been added to the Scorecard thanks to the newest member of the Coalition- Under The Sleeping Buffalo (UTSB) Research- based in Banff, Canada. The 2008/2009 Canadian Scores were published December 15, 2008. Please visit UTSB for Canadian Resort Scores.
Ski Area Scorecard Highlighted in Academic Studies
George Washington University Professor Jorge Rivera and University of Denver Professor Peter de Leon published a study of ski industry environmental impacts and the National Ski Area Association’s Sustainable Slopes program in the Policy Studies Journal (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2004).
Entitled “Is Greener Whiter? Voluntary Environmental Performance of Western Ski Areas”, the study validated many issues that the conservation community has had of the ski industry’s voluntary environmental program, and confirmed that the Ski Area Environmental Scorecard is an accurate and useful third-party tool to gauge ski resorts’ environmental policies and management. A follow up study published in 2006 titled "Is Greener Whiter Yet? The Sustainable Slopes Program
after Five Years" found similar results.
About the Ski Area Citizens' Coalition
The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition works to ensure that ski area management decisions, either by the Forest Service, the ski companies, or local goverments, are responsive to the needs of real environmental protection, local communities, and the skiing public.
Most volunteers and staff of SACC are skiers themselves, and recognize skiing as a valid use of public lands. We also recognize that not all ski areas are the same when it comes to environmental protection.
The Ski Area Citizens' Coalition welcomes Under The Sleeping Buffalo (UTSB) Research based in Banff, Canada as the newest member of the Scorecard Steering Committee. UTSB's research focuses on the conservation of natural heritage in Canada's National Parks and on environmentally sustainable solutions for mountain communities.
|
