Posted By:

Maggie aka "The Turninator"

Last Updated: 08/28/2026

Stewardship begins with recognizing that Sugar Bowl isn’t separate from this landscape. We’re part of it.

The forests, watersheds, wildlife, snowpack and community that define Donner Summit are the same things that define life at Sugar Bowl. Caring for this place means looking beyond today and making thoughtful decisions that preserve its character, resilience and adventurous spirit for generations to come.

Guided by our core pillars, forest, energy + emissions, waste, community and water management, our stewardship program turns that responsibility into action.

For starters, here are five ways we’re putting it to work this summer. You can check out the full span of our initiatives on our Stewardship page.

1. Completing forest health work on over 200 acres of forest

This summer, crews are treating 25 acres of forest throughout Sugar Bowl Village, thinning overgrown vegetation and removing deadwood to improve forest health and wildfire resilience.

The work strengthens defensible space around Village infrastructure and helps maintain safe access for emergency vehicles when it matters most.

It builds on significant work completed in 2025, when Sugar Bowl and our partners treated 191 acres of forest around Sugar Bowl Resort, the Village and Sugar Bowl Academy. With support from Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, CAL FIRE, Sugar Bowl Academy and Truckee Fire’s Measure T program, these projects are helping establish critical fuel breaks across Donner Summit.

2. Cleaning up the mountain after the snow melts

When the snow disappears, it inevitably reveals a few things that don’t belong here.

Each spring and summer, Sugar Bowl employees head out across the mountain for resort-wide cleanup days, collecting litter and debris left behind after winter.

It’s one of the simplest things we do, but an important one: if we’re lucky enough to work and play here, we have a responsibility to help take care of it.

3. Putting our food scraps to work

This summer, Sugar Bowl launched a pilot on-site composting program to begin diverting food waste from our restaurants and other organic materials generated across the resort.

As composting becomes integrated into our daily operations, our goal is to eventually compost all organic waste produced by the resort.

It’s another step toward a much bigger target: diverting 95% of our waste from the landfill by 2030.

4. Continuing our shift from single-use to reusable

Sometimes creating less waste is better than figuring out what to do with it later.

During the 2025–26 season, we replaced many single-use items at the Village Lodge and Judah Lodge with reusable cloth napkins, flatware and dishes.

We’re continuing that shift as we rethink how materials move through our restaurants and operations, with a focus on reducing, reusing, recycling, composting and finding new purposes for existing materials before they ever reach the landfill.

5. Making snow more efficiently

Snowmaking is an important tool for providing a reliable winter experience, and we’re continuing to look for ways to do it more efficiently.

This summer, we’re upgrading portions of our snowmaking system with new TechnoAlpin snowguns, improving snowmaking efficiency while reducing water demand.

That means making better use of the resources we have while continuing to prepare the mountain for winter.

And we’re doing a lot more.

These five projects are only part of a much larger effort.

Sugar Bowl’s stewardship work is organized around five pillars: forest, energy + emissions, waste, community and water management. Together, they guide how we think about everything from forest health and snowmaking to waste reduction and our role in the Donner Summit community.

Our goal isn’t simply to operate here. It’s to be a thoughtful steward of a place we all care deeply about.

Learn more about our stewardship efforts at sugarbowl.com/stewardship.