Mount Snow, in partnership with the Green Mountain National Forest Service yesterday returned a once occupied working winter ski trail back to nature. Mount Snow employees were out yesterday morning through the afternoon planting 1,000 Balsam Fir trees on the Upper Overbrook trail on the Main Face of the mountain in efforts to re-vegetate the area.

"We have a great working relationship with Mount Snow," says Bruce Flewelling, Mountain Resort Specialist with the U.S. Forest Service. "We have a partnership that provides recreational opportunities to the public in a mountain setting, while at the same time protecting the mountain environment."

As one of only three Vermont ski areas on U.S. Forest Service land, Mount Snow operates the ski resort under a Special Use Permit issued by the Forest Service. "We have a total management program we've developed along with the Forest Service for conservation and protection of the land," says Scott Reeves, VP of Operations. "It includes erosion control measures, re-vegetation plans and even addresses the color schemes of buildings on Forest Service land so that they fit into the landscape."

Mount Snow is one of many ski areas that has endorsed Sustainable Slopes, an environmental charter developed by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA). Sustainable Slopes, a 24-page document, contains principles for water resources, energy conservation, waste management and reduction, fish and wildlife, wetlands, air quality, visual quality, transportation, education and outreach, forest and vegetative management as well as the planning, design and construction of ski trails. Many organizations have signed on as partners to Sustainable Slopes, including the Forest Service. For more information on the Sustainable Slopes program see the NSAA web site at www.nsaa.org.

Headquartered in Newry, Maine, the American Skiing Company is the largest operator of alpine ski, snowboard and golf resorts in the United States. Its resorts include Steamboat in Colorado; Killington, Mount Snow in Vermont; Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA in Maine; Attitash Bear Peak in New Hampshire and The Canyons in Utah. More information is available on the company's website at peaks.com.