Giving back to the mountain—our year-round office.
The Alta Environmental Center (AEC) was created in 2008 to guide the ski area's sustainability efforts and look after the natural environment in which we operate. During the off-season, the AEC keeps busy with revegetation and restoration projects across the mountain—working diligently to preserve what makes Alta, Alta.
As stewards of the land, we are committed to matching any modifications made to the ski area with equal restoration efforts. Each summer, employees from multiple departments at Alta Ski Area join the AEC on the slopes for Employee Planting Days. It's a great opportunity to get our hands dirty while giving back to the mountain that brings us all together.
Native plant seedlings in the Wildcat Nursery
2024 Employee Planting Days
Following 628 inches of seasonal snowfall, the Alta Environmental Center again had to wait a little longer than usual to begin its summer revegetation and reforestation efforts. Again, they set an ambitious goal of planting over 12,000 native plant seedlings around the mountain.
On a mid-July day, a crew of six AEC team members set a new daily record by planting over 1,600 plants. A new bar had been set and the first Summer Employee Planting Day of 2024 had a new goal: to see if a team of 25 summer employees could break the newly minted record.
AEC team member Anna Lee carries seedlings on the first Employee Planting Day of 2024
On July 18th, 2024, Alta employees managed to plant 2,095 native plant seedlings on Nina's. With some additional help from a stretch of dry weather and above-average spring and summer temperatures, the AEC was able to put all 12,000 plants in the ground by the end of July.
Replanting Nina's, one seedling at a time
The second Employee Planting Day of 2024 was held on August 15th. The AEC team took a crew of Alta employees to the Sleepy Hollow run near the Supreme lift to pull invasive weeds and plant snowberry shrubs. These efforts will help revegetate the new area of Sleepy Hollow following a slope-regrading project during the summer of 2023.
Building Maintenance employee Sean Kivlin plants a shrub on Sleepy Hollow
The third and final Employee Planting Day was held on September 19th—a chilly morning on the heels of the season's first snowfall. Alta summer employees and the AEC crew transplanted harvest trees from the Albion Nursey to an area near the base of Sugarloaf and Supreme lifts. Harvested from groomed runs and other high-traffic areas of the mountain, 105 harvested saplings found a new home in the Albion Basin.
Transplanting harvested trees near Sugarloaf following the first snow of the season | Photo: Anna Lee
- July 18th: 2,095 native plant seedlings planted on Nina's
- August 15th: 202 shrubs and shrublings planted on Sleepy Hollow
- September 19th: 105 harvested trees replanted near Sugarloaf
2023 Employee Planting Days
Despite a record-breaking 903 inches of snowfall followed by one of the wettest summers in the past decade, the AEC remained steadfast in its efforts to revegetate the slopes of Alta. The AEC started the summer of 2023 with the goal of planting 12,740 native plant seedlings—a goal that eventually grew to over 14,000 plants when Dryland Horticulture offered Alta some surplus seedlings.
Video: Tyler Struss
Fortunately, the AEC wasn’t doing all of the digging and heavy lifting alone. Between Community Volunteer Days and planting events with our partner organizations, Alta skiers and community members volunteered their time to plant seedlings around the mountain.
Video: Tyler Struss
The AEC also enlisted the help of Alta Ski Area summer employees through two Employee Planting Days.
- June 29th: 1,140 native plant seedlings planted
- August 10th: 296 native plant seedlings planted
These two Employee Planting Days are a small part of a larger effort to plant 3,000 native seedlings on Nina’s every year for three years. The revegetation efforts are already paying off, as Nina’s is already seeing noticeable growth. Once the snow starts falling, these plants will lie dormant until the late spring when we’ll again take a break from the office to check in on this summer’s planting efforts and put some more native plants in the ground.
In late August 2023, the AEC accomplished its goal of planting all 14,000 native plant seedlings on the slopes—an average of 1,600 plants per week. Next time you’re skiing on the slopes of Collins Gulch say a few words of encouragement to the sleeping native plant seedlings under all the snow.
2022 Employee Planting Days
A new restoration project on Nina's was added to the AEC's to-do list. This slope, which was regraded in the summer of 2021 would require thousands of plants over the next three years. In the summer of 2022, the AEC enlisted the help of Alta Ski Area employees to plant native seedlings on Nina's for its first year of restoration.
- July 13th: 588 native plant seedlings planted
- August 31st: 756 native plant seedlings planted
Nikki Baldassari & Julia Cloward digging holes on Nina's | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
Alta Ski Patroller Andrew McCloskey puts another seedling in the ground | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
During the summer of 2022, Alta Ski Area's employees helped the AEC put 1,344 native plant seedlings in the ground over two beautiful mountain mornings.
A few of the Native Plants
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Coneflower
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Coyote Mint
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Yarrow
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White Sage
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Fireweed
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Wasatch Penstemon
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Pearly Everlasting
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One-head Mounding Sunflower
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Grey Aster
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Lanceleaf Figwort
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Whorled Buckwheat
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Nettleleaf Horsemint
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