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ALTA — On a late summer riff on a bluebird day, more than 100 volunteers spent their Saturday morning planting evergreen seedlings to help build biodiversity at Alta Ski Area, a site once stripped nearly bare of trees by mining operations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Jennifer Clancy, executive director of Friends of Alta, said volunteers and representatives from about a half-dozen organizations met for an early breakfast Saturday morning, then rode to the top of Alta's Collins Lift to plant baby Douglas fir trees in designated areas of Collins Gulch and Albion Basin.
The tree planting volunteers ranged in age from their 20s to 60s and came from communities all over the valley, she said, united in purpose.
"Most of the people I spoke with today were season pass holders or regular visitors to the area," Clancy said Saturday. "All of them had personal connections to Alta and found this a great opportunity to give back to a place they love and cherish."
TreeUtah Executive Director Amy May said the group was able to get 1,300 seedlings into the ground at the planting, which has been an annual effort for the past six years. Both the size of the volunteer crowd and the number of trees they were able to plant made for an outstanding morning, she said.
"We love to see these big community events where we involve people from the community with helping restore habit and improve the age diversity of trees in the Canyon," May said. "It’s also a great way for residents to learn about the issues and challenges."
May said the Alta event is one of the biggest that TreeUtah partners on each year, and the work is helping the organization reach its annual goal of planting 10,000 new trees. The tree planting events also help participants connect with the outdoor world, she said.
"I think engaging people in these types of restoration efforts gets them personally invested in the environment as a whole," May said. "Planting trees is an effort that comes back to each of us, breathing air that is a little bit cleaner, keeping our water a little cleaner, and improving our ecosystem."
Saturday's event was overseen by the Alta Environmental Center in partnership with TreeUtah, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, Friends of Alta and the Young Automotive Group.
Additional community tree planting events are on the calendars of both TreeUtah and Friends of Alta. For more information, visit websites treeutah.org and friendsofalta.org.
To learn more about the work of the Alta Environmental Center, go to www.alta.com/alta-environmental-center. Email: araymond@deseretnews.com Twitter: DNTechHive
