Whistler & Blackcomb Mountain Resort

Thinking beyond the mountain┬áWhistler & Blackcomb Mountain Resort got an environmental wake-up call in the early 1990s and is now on a journey toward becoming truly sustainable. Keith Regan learns how partnerships are a key part of that long-term strategy. When the Olympic Winter Games descend on British Columbia in early 2010, a global spotlight will be on the region and on Whistler & Blackcomb Mountain ResortÔÇöone of the top skiing and snowboarding destinations in North America and the site of many of the gamesÔÇÖ skiing and sledding events. That light will shine on the resortÔÇÖs natural beauty, and the resort also hopes it will shine on its journey to become more careful and globally aware stewards of that environment, says Arthur Dejong, mountain planning and environmental resource manager at the resort. The journeyÔÇÖs ultimate goal is to have the resort producing zero net impact in terms of waste, energy demand and other factors, a goal Dejong believes is far more than just a pipe dream. ÔÇ£Some of our impacts canÔÇÖt be changedÔÇöwhatÔÇÖs done is done,ÔÇØ Dejong says. ÔÇ£And what we say isnÔÇÖt significant. ItÔÇÖs all about our actions. All we can do is push and struggle and fight and find innovative and creative ways to partner to make that happen.ÔÇØDejong says the resortÔÇÖs sustainability journey began with a hard lesson learned in 1993 when a fuel oil spill on Blackcomb Mountain brought the wrong kind of environmental attention. ÔÇ£We learned to tell the truth and own up to it. We learned to admit our weaknesses and to be bluntly transparent. We donÔÇÖt market environmentalism; we believe in telling our story as one of a long journey with failures and successes along the way.ÔÇØThe resort has long recognized that it needed to think beyond the mountain to make its quest a reality and to find willing partners as well. Those partners include Innergex Renewable Energy and Ledcor Power Group, which formed a joint venture to build the Fitzsimmons Micro Hydroelectric project on the resort property. ┬á┬á┬áThe 7.5-megawatt hydro project will be capable of producing 33.5 gigawatt-hours of electricity annuallyÔÇöequivalent to the annual demand used by the resortÔÇÖs restaurants, chair lifts, snowmaking equipment and other infrastructure. The power will be produced mainly in the spring and summer when the creek running through the resort flows the strongest and will be sold onto the power grid through an agreement with BC Hydro.Dejong says the project was seven years in the making, much of it spent getting buy-in from local constituents. While micro hydro projects are sometimes controversial, the project was given the blessing of the Whistler 2020 working group set up by the area government to drive sustainability. ÔÇ£It fits hand-in-glove,ÔÇØ he says, noting that the project is not in fish habitat, that minimum disruption of the ecosystem is required to make the project a reality, and that no new overhead power lines will be added. To make the project a reality, water will be diverted into a 1.25-meter pipe for 3.5 kilometers to the powerhouse; this water then feeds the resortÔÇÖs snowmaking operations. The awarding of the Olympic Games to the Vancouver area did slow the project somewhat when it was determined that the track for bobsledding would pass near the creek bed, forcing additional engineering work to take place. ÔÇ£Our core competency is being a mountain resort, so we reached out to the partners we thought gave us the best chance of having the project done right,ÔÇØ Dejong says. The project should be online by the end of 2009, a few months before the Olympic Games. ÔÇ£We know that our actions speak much louder than our words, so weÔÇÖre excited to have this project up and running when the spotlight shines on us next year,ÔÇØ he adds. The resort is hoping that a new openness to micro energy projects may create additional opportunities on the mountains, including hybriding existing snowmaking pipe to produce energy as well as feed the snowmaking system. It also has a number of other initiatives in place to help foster its long-term sustainability goals, which include conservation, protecting and enhancing the mountain ecosystem, waste reduction, education and social programs.The conservation goal got a boost last year when the resort partnered with several local non-government organizations to win approval for a permanent conservancy for some 24,000 acres of undisturbed woods, mountains and wetlands that are habitat for moose and grizzly bear. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs an example of where we partnered with groups that arenÔÇÖt necessarily big fans of ski resort development. But we looked past that and partnered to achieve a goal that we agreed on.ÔÇØThe social programs reflect the resortÔÇÖs belief that it will take fixing social ills to truly fix the planet, with the resort donating computers and other equipment and executive time to places such as central Romania, where Dejong himself has gone to consult on a pro bono basis. The resortÔÇÖs charitable foundation gives a half million dollars a year to local social programs as well. As it focuses on preserving the ecosystem, Dejong says the resort believes that protecting the environment can be profitable. It has already driven a half million dollars a year in direct tangible savings by reducing electricity consumption and the amount of waste produced by the resortÔÇÖs visitors. While hosting the Olympics has proven a challenge at times, the resort knows the 2010 Games represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be on a worldwide stage. ÔÇ£I tell people that dealing with the Olympics is like dancing with a gorilla. ItÔÇÖs just a huge organization,ÔÇØ Dejong says. ÔÇ£Clearly, hosting the Games is the greatest privilege this resort will ever have in terms of our exposure and in terms of our global connectedness. And we think itÔÇÖs a great time to tell the story of our journey to becoming more sustainable.ÔÇØ  ÔÇô Editorial research by Greg Petzold