The Alta Environmental Center (AEC) was created in 2008 to guide the ski area's sustainability efforts and steward the natural environment in which we operate. Whenever modifications are made to the land at Alta Ski Area—whether it be laying new infrastructure, installing new equipment or any recreational action that disrupts the land—equal restoration efforts are put back into our slopes.
Since 1991, Alta has recorded the number of plants and trees that have been planted within the ski area:
- 42,924 trees planted since 1991
- 121,243 plants planted since 1991
History of Conservation
In the late 1800s, Alta was a bustling mining town where many sought riches—though few succeeded. Lumber from the surrounding forest supported infrastructure for the growing community and mining industry. However, excessive logging quickly led to environmental degradation, resulting in violent avalanches and landslides that frequently ravaged the town. Despite being rebuilt repeatedly, Alta became a ghost town by the 1930s due to economic collapse and resource depletion.
The Town of Alta, 1885—aftermath of a devastating avalanche from the barren slopes above
The earliest documented reforestation efforts at Alta were carried out by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. The CCC was a work relief program formed under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation to combat high unemployment during the Great Depression. In an effort to create jobs and expand recreational opportunities to support Utah’s struggling economy, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) hired Norwegian-American ski jumper and CCC foreman, Alf Engen, in 1935 to evaluate the area’s potential as a winter ski destination. That winter, he skied from Big Cottonwood Canyon into Alta via Catherine’s Pass—returning the following summer and ultimately deeming the area ideal for skiing. But it was missing just one thing—trees!
Jump Hill transformed through a century of reforestation—1885 (left) to 1995 (right) | Photos: Alan Engen Ski History Collection
With a desperate need to repair the watershed and surrounding land damaged by extensive logging—alongside Engen’s recommendation—the CCC began planting hundreds of trees, paving the way for the opening of Alta Ski Area. Today, the AEC proudly continues these reforestation and revegetation traditions by planting hundreds of trees and thousands of native plants across Alta’s slopes each year.
Reforestation | 42,924 TREES PLANTED
To continue our reforestation efforts, we call upon fellow environmental experts, local organizations and our community. Each year, the AEC and USFS collect thousands of cones from around the ski area—ensuring the next generation is genetically adapted to survive and thrive in Alta's high elevation and extreme weather patterns. Cones are sent to a USFS grower in Idaho, where they spend one to three years developing a strong root system before returning home to Alta. These saplings are then ready to be hand-planted in carefully selected locations identified by the AEC based on ecological need and operational considerations.
Engelmann spruce sapling planting on Alta's annual Tree Planting Day | Photo: John Shafer
By planting saplings each year, we are increasing the age diversity of tree species across the mountain and supporting natural regeneration, which helps build a more resilient forest for years to come.
Left: Alta was denuded of trees after generations of mining | Photo: Alta Historical Society (circa 1919) Right: Tree planting efforts continue at Alta Ski Area | Photo: Rocko Menzyk (July 2019)
Every fall, we enlist the help of our community to plant approximately one thousand tree saplings during our annual Alta Tree Planting Day. With the support of our friends, families and friendly strangers, this day becomes more than restoration work—it’s an opportunity to connect through a shared effort to make Alta greener for generations to come.
This long-term commitment aims to restore the landscape, strengthen the watershed and protect the alpine environment for future generations. This work is far from finished—but with your help, we’re making lasting progress, one tree at a time.
Revegetation | 121,243 pLANTs planted
Throughout the summer, the AEC adds more color to the slopes by planting thousands of wildflowers in restoration zones. By planting into disturbed soils, we speed up vegetation regrowth, helping maintain soil stability while providing essential support to the habitats of the area’s pollinators and wildlife.
To ensure the ski area protects and improves the land on which it operates, a strict restoration protocol is followed. Any disturbance to the soil—such as the construction of a new lift, installation of a snowmaking line or regrading of a slope—triggers the AEC’s land disturbance protocol. Affected areas are designated as restoration zones, which the AEC carefully evaluates, restores and maintains. The standard is to plant 1,000 native plants per acre of disturbed land for three consecutive years.
Volunteer planting a seedling during Community Volunteer Day | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
The process begins with a plant inventory and identification of the community types present on site. Any tree saplings within the project zone are harvested and relocated. Collaboration with operations crews helps minimize the impact of heavy machinery whenever possible. Once project work is complete, a native seed mix is hand-cast and protected with a natural geotextile fabric to prevent erosion while providing shade and temperature control for the seeds.
The AEC then follows up by collecting native seeds near the project area each fall, during the optimal germination window as wildflowers go to seed. These seeds are cleaned, sorted and sent to a local horticulturist, where they are grown until returning to Alta the following summer. Using locally adapted plants is a key part of our revegetation and restoration work, ensuring genetic consistency with surrounding populations and improving survival rates and long-term success.
Throughout the summer, AEC staff tend the nursery as each seedling it hand planted into its designated disturbance zone. Harvested seed is returned to the ground based on the needs of the following season’s revegetation plans.
The dedication behind this work is no small effort—we are deeply grateful to our volunteers and partner organizations, who play a crucial role in helping us carry out our summer land conservation efforts.
Wetland restoration
For ski areas, wetlands aren’t just ecological features—they function as natural infrastructure. When healthy, they help protect roads, parking lots and trails, reduce erosion and maintenance issues and support downstream water quality.
In 2019, Alta expanded a base-area parking lot, permanently impacting a small amount of wetland habitat. As required by the US Army Corps and Salt Lake City Public Utilities, Alta completed a wetland mitigation plan with a 3-to-1 net gain in wetland habitat. Rather than creating isolated replacement sites, Alta chose to improve existing wetlands and restore their processes. The following case studies describe the restoration process of three major wetland sites: Bend, Berm and Cecret.
Bend Lot
The Bend Lot is a popular parking area for summer visitors, located at the end of the Summer Road—formerly the base of the old Supreme lift. When the infrastructure was removed in 1981, it left a degraded ditch that provided little ecological or operational value. Hydrologically, a small stream flows into the ditch, briefly pools and then passes through a culvert into Little Cottonwood Creek. In winter, this area functions as a low-grade groomed run in the Supreme area that requires a significant amount of man-made snow to fill.
The goal of this project was to raise the ditch elevation by lining the basin with native topsoil, peat moss and organic material to create soil capable of holding water. Much of the organic material came from the Berm Excavation site mentioned next. Shallow channels were added to slow and meander incoming flow—allowing water to infiltrate the soil, support wetland plants and move gradually through the culvert. Native plant transplants and willow cuttings that were sourced from nearby wetlands were used to jump-start revegetation. Cost and extent of disturbance were both reduced by reusing on-site materials.
The result is a functional wetland that improves water quality, flood control, wildlife habitat and early-season skiing. The area now requires less man-made snow and improves aesthetics at a major public access point.
Berm Excavation
The Berm Excavation project is located in the Albion Fen, a ten-thousand-year-old wetland in the Supreme area. A three-foot-tall berm—believed to be an 1800s mine tailing remnant—ran through the wet meadow, disrupting hydrology and wetland vegetation. To restore the hydrologic connectivity of the meadow, our strategy was to remove the berm to allow the system to recover and expand.
Because wetland soils are highly sensitive, equipment access was carefully planned. The perimeter of the berm was marked with Recco chips the summer before and excavation occurred immediately after ski season. Snowstat was used to guide machinery over the snow to locate the buried Recco chips and minimize soil disturbance while excavating the berm down to ground elevation. The excavated material was reused at the Bend Lot and final grading was completed later by hand. Wetland plants and grasses were transplanted from the surrounding wet meadow and mulching in the fall helped retain moisture.
Removal of the berm restored hydrologic connectivity and strengthened the fen’s long-term resilience, allowing natural processes to function more effectively. Careful timing of operations and reuse of materials minimized impact and cost through coordinated project implementation.
Cecret Lift Road
The Cecret Lift Road is a former service route to the retired Cecret lift terminal. Maintenance vehicles previously crossed directly over a stream to access the terminal, resulting in channel degradation and erosion. During peak flow, water spilled out of the channel and eroded the steep access road. Addressing this site required eliminating the source of degradation—vehicle crossings—and reinforcing the streambank.
To fix this problem, the water flow was temporarily rerouted while the channel was reshaped during the driest point of the season. A gentle curve was added and the banks were reinforced with rock and native wetland plants before water was reintroduced. The channel slope naturally flattens here, providing an opportunity to further slow water for better soil saturation.
The result provided recovery of riparian vegetation, improved downstream water quality and the elimination of an ongoing road maintenance issue.
The Results
Wetland restoration on these three sites ended in the summer of 2024. In total, mitigation work successfully restored 11,240 ft², offsetting the loss of 2,238 ft² from the 2017 Albion lot expansion and Supreme lift installation. Between 2021–2024:
- Approximately 3,500 native wetland plants were planted
- 100+ five-gallon wetland vegetation plugs were transplanted from surrounding areas
- Numerous willow propagations were introduced
To ensure these sensitive ecological sites continue to thrive, they will be closely monitored and surveyed in the coming years.
invasive weed management
One of the primary threats to the health and ecological balance of the Alta environment is the spread of invasive, non-native, noxious plant species. These species thrive in highly disturbed areas and along roadsides—often outcompeting surrounding native vegetation due to their ability to establish quickly and grow rapidly. When invasive plants take over native vegetation, it can affect soil stability and water filtration and threaten the balance of an ecosystem that depends on these plants for survival.
In an effort to combat the presence and spread of invasive species, the AEC spends a lot of time each summer working on the ski area’s invasive species protocols. Currently, we are responsible for 107 acres of management zones—these include highly susceptible areas, internally identified areas of concern and all restoration zones after completing their three years of revegetation work. Each zone is carefully surveyed, with detailed documentation of which species are present and in what quantities. After a zone has been thoroughly recorded, our crew goes in and hand-pulls each and every weed from the marked area. Because Alta sits at the headwaters of a watershed, we avoid using chemicals or machine removal in order to minimize water and land disturbance.
Volunteer pulling Yellow Sweet-Clover (left) and Yellow Toadflax (right) on Community Volunteer Day | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
This is a big mission that can’t be tackled alone. Each summer, the AEC partners with the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation and Friends of Alta to support invasive plant management both within the ski area and throughout the Town of Alta. If you’re interested in rolling up your sleeves and pulling some weeds, join us for our monthly summer Community Volunteer Days.
Volunteers and CCF crew members pulling weeds during Community Volunteer Day | Photo: Adam Fehr
This time you're at Alta, take a close look at the ground—you’ll notice native vegetation thriving with very little threat. We call that a success!