From Summit To Soil — How Co...

by Amanda Faison
skier, ski mom, lover of slopeside cuisine

In July, when Dustin Lyman, President of Copper Mountain, addressed a room full of sustainability managers from regional ski resorts, environmental scientists, Colorado media, and other interested parties at the fourth-annual Ski Conservation Summit, he kicked off his remarks with an anecdote. He and his family had recently returned from a summer trip to Oklahoma and at the end of their stay, they went to take their recycling out, only to find there was no such place in the near (or far) vicinity. The family was guilt-ridden about throwing their carefully sorted items into the garbage.

For Lyman, this unfortunate event underscored an opportunity. "We need to spread the word on responsible conservation," he told the audience. "At Copper Mountain, we preach it, and when people come and visit us, they take something home." And that is the exact point of the annual summit: to openly share information.

Thinking Big, Starting Small

This gathering of the minds was specifically aimed at those in the Colorado ski industry who are not only concerned about climate change but who are actively trying to do something about it. The summit, which is free to attend, provides a platform to share ideas, hear from scientists, and discuss how to advance land conservation and sustainability efforts. "Consider the holistic view. It's the cumulative impact," says Jeff Graser, Senior Sustainability Manager at Copper. "The challenges we're facing are massive; we need to attack them at scale. All these little things eventually become scale and everyone adopts it."

The summit also offered the opportunity for Copper to share details on its carbon sequestration study and seed collecting program, both of which are underway. These nature-based solutions are designed to use plants to draw down carbon and restore the health of the land. As Dr. Jennie DeMarco, an ecosystem scientist and assistant professor of biology at Southwestern University, explains it, "Soil stores a huge amount of carbon. Most of it is stored in the top one meter, which is often disturbed by human activity." This is especially true at ski areas where the disturbed soil on established ski runs isn't storing carbon as efficiently as untouched soil. Copper is not only studying this but also has large scale plans to implement its findings.

Seeding the Future

A quick hike to the site brought participants to one of the mountain's five soil study sites. In place since 2022, Copper has four main goals for the data gathered: establish a baseline measurement of carbon storage on slopes; evaluate effectiveness of using different soil amendments and native seeds; scale up; explore the potential of using the data to inform a carbon offset or credit.

The second part of this program is native seed collecting and planting. "This is about restoring our natural environment," says Olivia DeWitt, Copper's On-Mountain Sustainability Lead, while explaining that a group of volunteers and Copper employees collect seeds from native species July to December. "It takes 100 hours of seed collecting for one hour of planting. In an hour, you can plant a million-plus seeds," she says. Time is also spent removing invasive species, such as wild chamomile.

Taking Conservation Home

Here's a great example of how information-sharing makes its way to guests in a meaningful way: In the summer, Copper teams up with the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District to host group seed-collecting hikes. These outings are a hit with kids and families-not only are they a fun outdoor adventure, but they also introduce visitors to the importance of protecting fragile ecosystems, often without them even realizing it. It's a natural extension of Copper's hands-on sustainability efforts like composting and recycling, which are modeled throughout the resort. It's this kind of learning-through-doing that Lyman was referring to when he talked about guests taking small but impactful lessons home with them. The big takeaway? When people care about something, they're more likely to protect it.