Readers of the Regional Round-up (page 24) will find that environmental matters are at the top of the list of concerns that member areas want NSAA to get its arms around. But, pervasive as the word is, and as much as its implications increasingly dictate the way the ski area industry does business—or is not allowed to do business!—it is startling to realize how little we, as an industry, understand what we are dealing with. We are babes playing in some dangerous woods. It is not SAM saying this; it is how we are viewed by others, friends and foes alike.
- We don’t understand—or if we do, don’t acknowledge—our dirty little environmental secrets.
- We don’t understand how others see us, especially our own environmentally polarized skiing customers (see article page 00).
- The vast majority of our areas have only the vaguest idea of how to work through the complexities of the laws, federal or state, governing compliance with environmental standards, to say nothing of how to work with the agencies involved.
- We cry “Foul!” and call for help when confronted by our no-growth foes, but fail to understand how knowledgeable, well-prepared, networked and sophisticated these opponents are. If we do come to understand this, we don’t know how to go about leveling the playing field.
- We rightly call for a public relations effort to tell the world about our environmental sensitivity and good deeds, but not understanding that a recycling program, a nature trail or an environmental award is not going to stand in the way of a no-growth opponent intent on exploiting our weaknesses and ignorance to hammer us.
- We fail to realize that, in our lack of cohesiveness as an industry, we are being picked apart by our opponents, and that an expedient surrender on an important issue by one area can come back to bite others in this industry.
- We fail to understand that many of the specific challenges thrown at us—be they related to wetlands, endangered species or stream flow—can be successfully addressed, mitigated or otherwise made to go away; but that there will always be more, because no-growth is the real goal of our real opponents, and their weapons of choice are the myriad statutes and regulations whose buttons they pushed at will.
We think a clear-headed blueprint should be drawn up for our industry that bluntly lays out a course of action. Ultimately, as we see it, we need highly competent teams of people in every region of the country, savvy in these matters, who would work with regional jurisdictions and help areas in those regions. ASF is already charged with the responsibility of looking after our industry’s environmental affairs at the federal level, but with a network of skilled regional cadres in place, our industry-wide efforts could start to be effectively implemented.
The time for creating unfunded environmental task forces has passed; it’s time for action and for the enabling funds. We cannot think of money that would be better spent. This is not a program for fighting “them”; it is a program for managing our future growth in spite of “them.”
A SAM editorial
