Our commitment to the canyon.
With its dramatic glacier-cut walls, snow-covered slopes in the winter and breathtaking wildflowers in the summer, Little Cottonwood Canyon is one of the most unique landscapes you can experience in Northern Utah. At Snowbird, we are dedicated to protecting this magnificent mountain environment for generations to come.
Canyon Cleanup
Since 1981, hundreds of residents and employees have come together annually for Little Cottonwood Cleanup Day. This special event not only strengthens the community but removes trash from our environment and watershed—giving back to the land that gives so much to us.
Breathe Easy
Snowbird initiated the R.I.D.E. Program (Reducing Individual Driving for the Environment) in 2016 to incentivize guests and employees to choose alternative transportation to the resort instead of driving on their own vehicles. Through the efforts of the R.I.D.E. program, more than 250,000 pounds of carbon dioxide have been kept out of the atmosphere in 2023 alone, which is equivalent to 43,000 gallons of gas.
The Air is Cleaner Up Here
Snowbird became an “Idle Free” resort in the fall of 2016, with added signage around the resort asking our guests and staff to “Turn Your Key, Be Idle Free." Snowbird continues its partnership with the Utah Atmospheric Trace Gas & Air Quality Lab to monitor air quality at the top of Hidden Peak as a background comparison site to valley monitoring locations. Thanks to this partnership, this data is readily available online.
Since 1993, Snowbird and TreeUtah have been improving air and water quality together, one tree at a time. Snowbird works tirelessly to improve the quality of the water and the vegetation not only around the resort, but throughout Little Cottonwood and American Fork Canyons. Snowbird continues to conduct resort-wide revegetation programs by planting approximately 2,000 native species seedlings every summer.
Buy a Pass, Plant a Tree. Play Forever.
Snowbird and Nokian Tyres –Snowbird's longstanding official tire partner–understand today’s environmental challenges and are committed to inspiring environmental action and reducing our carbon footprint. As part of this commitment, Snowbird and Nokian Tyres planted a tree for every qualifying season pass. Planting trees is one of the best nature-based solutions to restoring forests, sequestering carbon and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Snowbird works with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization whose mission is to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Through the partnership with Nokian Tyres, over 50,000 trees have been planted on behalf of all POWDR resort passholders.
In the Know
It is imperative we understand more about the land we live and play on. Snowbird regularly hosts opportunities for the general public, local organizations and schools to learn more about the environment and how we can work together to become better stewards of it.
Throughout the winter, Snowbird hosts Play Forever Presentations with experts in environmental studies that are open and free to the public. Topics have included "The Health of the Great Salt Lake" in partnership with the Nature Conservancy and "Forest Health at Snowbird" in partnership with the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache Forest Service Ranger District.
Snowbird hosts Graduate Students and a variety of environmental studies to add to the educational understanding and further research of the mountain landscape. Recently, scientists from the Utah State University Department of Watershed Sciences and the Utah Department of Natural Resources Utah Geological Survey have been mapping Snowbird’s rock glacier, located above the Knucklehead Traverse between Pipeline and the top of Gad 2 and studying it's changes, movement and structural integrity over time.
Slow The Flow
Did you know that about 75% of water in the western U.S. comes from snowmelt? As a protected drinking water source, Snowbird must help promote water conservation by making decisions that save water while engaging and educating guests to do the same. We are proud to partner with the Slow the Flow program to help teach the community that what runs off of Snowbird today may end up in your tap tomorrow.
We continue to improve on our water conservation efforts around the resort, recently adding an option for guests at The Cliff Lodge to limit their linen exchange, using less water and electricity by not washing these items daily.
This initiative has been important since Snowbird was founded. Instead of using less expensive, but environmentally risky septic tanks, Snowbird built a seven-mile sewer system down Little Cottonwood Canyon in the 1970s. This allowed the resort to connect to a wastewater treatment facility in Salt Lake City.
Mary Ellen Gulch
When Snowbird acquired land in Mary Ellen Gulch, we knew there was work to be done. As we have done in the past, we partnered with Trout Unlimited in the summer of 2018 to do a watershed restoration project on some historic abandoned mines in American Fork Canyon. By working with Tread Lightly! and the Forest Service, we strive to protect human and environmental health, while finding ways to meet the various desires of different user groups. The work to restore this area continues today.
Fresh Taste Without Waste - Mountain Tap Water
We installed water bottle fill stations throughout the resort, decreasing the use of plastic water bottles and showcasing Little Cottonwood Canyon’s delicious mountain tap water.
Employ-Bees
In the summer of 2019, Snowbird stationed honeybee hives in Mineral Basin in an effort to better support pollinators in the Wasatch. Aside from being proud members of the “Beehive State,” Snowbird found an opportunity to use the land we operate on to cultivate more opportunities for pollinators, which are essential to creating and maintaining healthy ecosystems. We’ve since expanded our hives to include other areas of the resort. So next time you spend the day at Snowbird enjoying the wildflowers, or a sweet dessert in one of our restaurants, know that the honeybees spent their day buzzing around Snowbird too.
Play Forever Donations
The Snowbird Play Forever Fund was created to provide funding in support of our community successfully navigating challenging times and continuing to thrive for generations to come.