Alta’s Environmental Bodyguard - The Alta Environmental Center
Alta is a portion of land wildly revered and deeply loved for its natural beauty, spectacular mountains, and world-class powder days.
It is this same beauty that brings visitors from near and wide to recreate and enjoy the abundant snow. Beneath Alta’s 173” base of snow, an entire ecosystem with diverse plant communities and habitats exists that needs year-round preservation. While the land is aptly protected, the very people that add to the magic of Alta also have an undeniable impact on the environment. Fortunately, a strong program is in place for the stewardship of the land - The Alta Environmental Center.
Founded in 2008 on the belief that preserving the natural beauty of the mountains is paramount, the Alta Environmental Center (AEC) has been a driving force behind sustainable practices in the Alta community for 16 years.
What does the Alta Environmental Center Do?
At the core of the Alta Environmental Center's mission lies a commitment to protecting the delicate ecosystem that surrounds this mountain paradise. Through innovative initiatives and collaborative efforts, the center strives to minimize the environmental footprint of both residents and visitors alike, ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy the pristine wilderness of Alta.
The Alta Environmental Center is run by two incredible leaders: Jen Melton (Director) and Ellie Harrigan (Outreach Coordinator).
For Jen Melton, the current Director of the Alta Environment Center, being a steward of the environment has always been second nature. From a young age, she was known to write letters to her family inquiring about the lengths of their showers, urging them not to waste water. Protecting the environment was simply something that resonated with Melton. After the days of being her family’s Director of Sustainability, Jen went on to study Product & Graphic Design at the University of Oregon, working for an environmental magazine during that time. After college, she took on a role at a design studio and worked part-time as a lifty at Alta’s southerly neighbor, Snowbird. After realizing that her field of study was not the career she wanted to pursue, she dropped her design job and added another Little Cottonwood Canyon role to her resume, working part-time at the Alta Environmental Center for the then-director, Maura Olivos. Over time her role at the AEC blossomed into a full-time role, and she went back to school to receive a Graduate Certificate from Utah State University in Geographic Information Systems (which she uses often to map for Alta). In her role as Director of the Alta Environment Center, Melton leads internal sustainability efforts for Alta Ski Area, fosters environmental education programs, leads restoration initiatives, and manages third-party collaborations (among many other tasks).
The Alta Environmental Center is a year-round operation, with an essential drive to engage the community in the mission of protecting and improving the well-being of Alta’s environment, ski industry, and community through community outreach, partnerships, and building relationships with non-profits, community members, and businesses in Salt Lake. With environmental, community, and economic sustainability as pillars of their work, the AEC compiles their efforts in a yearly sustainability report (you can read the 2023 Sustainability Report here). Their hands-on land conservation is a labor of love for the land that we all enjoy so deeply, that will have a lasting impact on the longevity of Alta.
Partners in Stewardship
An essential function of the Alta Environmental Center is partnering with other organizations to achieve a common good. Their current partners include the U.S. Forest Service, Town of Alta, Salt Lake Public Utilities, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, Alta Community Enrichment, Friends of Alta, Tracy Aviary, TreeUtah, University of Utah, and more. These partnerships build symbiotic relationships that work together to promote sustainability at Alta and put conservation projects into action.
Perhaps one of the closest working partnerships of the Alta Environmental Center is its relationship with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). While portions of Alta are privately owned, the majority of the resort is operated on Forest Service land through a special-use permit issued by the Salt Lake Ranger District in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The AEC works closely with USFS to protect and improve our valuable public lands. When improvements are required at the resort, such as regarding runs or diverting lifts, the AEC makes improvements in conjunction with the advice of the USFS.
Another important partner of the Alta Environmental Center. is the Wasatch Resource Recovery Center. One of the cornerstones of the center's work is its focus on waste reduction and recycling. Nearly 30% of our landfills are comprised of food waste, over the last 3-4 years Alta alone has produced about 50 tons. But this food waste is by no means going to waste.
The Alta Environmental Center has built a robust food waste program that runs through all of Alta Ski Area’s food and beverage programs in partnership with Wasatch Resource Recovery. Here is how it works: food scraps are collected at all of the eating establishments in Alta, the food waste is transported to the Wasatch Resource Recovery Center and placed in a big digester (essentially a human stomach). Then, the food is warmed up to a certain temperature and the microbiome of the digestor starts to break down in the heat. The breakdown then releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, which is captured and purified into bio-methane then used to heat homes. Wasatch Resource Recovery produces enough natural gas to give heat to a community the size of Bountiful for a year. The bi-product is a nutrient-rich fertilizer that is sold to farmers and agricultural centers in Utah.
Anthony Shui, a passionate Alta Skier and team member at Watson Shelter spent time showing us around the Collins Grill and shedding light on his involvement in the food waste program. “My job ranges from what you’d expect - prepping, cooking, serving to other tasks like shoveling, making way from groomers, busing tables, etc.”, Anthony shared, as he cleared a plate of half eaten french fries and walked it towards the compost bin.
“A part of my role is taking care of our compost bins. I ensure that any food waste in the kitchen is placed in the designated orange bins and monitor the two compost bins located on the Collins Grill floor and two in the cafe area for customers. At the end of each day, our team collects the green compostable bags from each bin, ties them up, and takes them to a larger compost bin. When the large bin fills up, the food waste is taken down from Watson Shelter in a snowcat and shipped to the Wasatch Resource Recovery Center.”
The food waste program organized by the Alta Environmental Center is a primary example of the partnerships that lie at the core of the center’s efforts. By implementing comprehensive recycling programs and advocating for responsible waste management practices, the center has significantly reduced the amount of waste sent to landfills, thereby preserving valuable natural resources and reducing pollution.
Community Involvement & Programs
The Alta Environmental Center aims to build a community of people who care about the place they are recreating in. They achieve this through an incredible roster of programs, events, and education opportunities that are open to all who hold a piece of Alta in their heart.
Hosted in both the winter and the summer, these programs include:
Winter: Birding on Skis, Trees and Skis, Snowshoe with a Naturalist, Alta Earth Day, Ski with a Ranger, and Journey Through Historical Snowscapes.
Summer: Kid’s Day, Wasatch Wildflower Festival, Alta Birding Hikes, Alta Tree Planting Day, Alta & Tree Utah Tree Harvest, Community Volunteer Days, Alta Mining History with UCSS, and Hawkwatch Bird of Prey Show.
The programs offered by the AEC are an opportunity to simply get outside and play.
“We live in a digital age with one another and connections are lost through what people think you meant over your phone or what it looks like through your camera,” says Jen Melton, when explaining what makes the AEC’s programs special. “ I want people to come out and get to know Alta, understand its nooks and crannies. When someone comes and plants a tree with us, they can come back to the spot and say, ‘I put that tree there’. It builds a connection with the land. The opportunities that we offer through our programming are simply to come out and play, it is not super serious, you don't have to be an expert to come work, volunteer or learn with us.”
With summer approaching, there has never been a better time to put your feet on the trail or get your hands in by exploring the opportunities provided by the Alta Environmental Center. Those who are interested in getting involved can view the AEC’s Summer Stewardship Calendar to find a program that interests them.
In essence, the Alta Environmental Center embodies the spirit of environmental stewardship, serving as a guiding light for sustainable living in the mountains. Through its tireless efforts and unwavering dedication, the center continues to inspire and empower individuals to become champions of the natural world, ensuring that the beauty and wonder of Alta's wilderness endure for generations to come.
Photo by Adam Fehr
Author : Milan Norling. Milan is a freelance producer, creative, marketer, & writer. Milan is an avid skier, lover of the outdoors and worked for ACE from 2021 - 2022.
IG: @milannorling