Zion - One of the World’s Most Climate Friendly Parks
Zion National Park is well known as a leader in the fight against climate change. Its unparalleled sustainability efforts have long been recognized worldwide and it serves as a model park that others are working toward emulating.
So, what has Zion been doing over the past 10 years to make a difference?
Propane Powered Transit
With regard to its sustainability efforts, Zion is probably best known for its role in creating a green transit system. The park has a fleet of propane-powered shuttle buses that run through the canyon where private cars are not allowed. With over 4 million visitors a year, this eliminates thousands of vehicles from driving in the park every day.
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Back in the 1990s, Zion added propane powered buses. Each one replaced 28 cars which equated to a reduction in green house carbon dioxide emissions of over 12 tons per day. It also had the added bonus of reducing noise and the stress of traffic jams and fights over parking spots that once plagued the park.
Since then, Zion has replaced out-going vehicles with even more fuel-efficient options and currently has a fleet of 10 hybrid vehicles, 2 electric campground carts and 2 plug-in electric cars. Plus, it has 10 electric vehicle charging stations.
Recycling Efforts
Zion has an extensive recycling program for both its visitors and the residents in neighboring Springdale.
Back in 2016, park visitors skyrocketed to a million more than the year before. With increasing numbers, came more trash. A study that year showed that an astronomical 52% of that waste could’ve been recycled but wasn’t. Unlike other countries with strict mandatory recycling policies, providing recycling receptacles in the United States is optional.
However, Zion took the initiative and responded to the crisis by adding recycling containers throughout the park for plastic, glass, aluminum and even paper and cardboard. They simply ask visitors not to dump products in the recycling bins without first making sure they are relatively food and liquid free, and not to mix in any non-recyclable trash.
Americans waste an estimated 50 billion plastic water bottles a year, many of which are never recycled and make there way to our landfills.
When visiting Zion, bring a reusable hydro flask for water and take advantage of the park’s numerous fill stations and help eliminate plastic consumption.
Water Filling Stations
Zion has water filling stations throughout the park in numerous locations that help reduce waste by deterring people from using plastic disposable water bottles while visiting. In fact, the lodge stopped selling single use water bottles back in 2009. Just bring your own reusable bottle and fill it up at locations throughout the main canyon of the park. It was the first national park to install them.
Photovoltaic Solar Panels
Zion has installed photovoltaic solar panel systems at park headquarters, the Zion Human History Museum and the Emergency Operations Center. It is estimated the panels provide approximately 12% of the park’s electrical needs. This has made the park Emergency Operations Center a net-zero building and will produce 30% of the electricity used by headquarters and the museum.
By using renewable energy, Zion is saving 172.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of 190 school buses.
Even more exciting, in September 2020, construction of a solar-panel station at a former nearby landfill site was approved. Not only does this lower greenhouse emissions, it reduces power outages in the summer months when maximum energy is used because this is when these solar panels will be at their peak energy-producing levels!
Zion Lodge
The original Zion Lodge built in 1924 was destroyed in a fire in 1966. The main lodge was rebuilt within 100 days and some of the original buildings still remain.
In 1995, a landslide blocked part of the Virgin River downstream and within 2 hours, the river had completely carved out 590 feet of the only road in or out trapping 450 guests and employees at the lodge. They had to construct a one lane temporary evacuation road to get everyone out a day later.
Zion Lodge is operated by Xanterra Travel Collection, one of the greenest park concessionaries around. The lodge has been composting food scraps for over a decade. They use cutting edge equipment to make composting more efficient and have reduced food waste an estimated 80-90%. They were the first kitchen in the nation to use grinder, centrifuge and dehydration technology and have diverted as much as 30,000 pounds of food from entering landfills annually over the last 3 years.
Xanterra also serves keg beer and wine eliminating the need for thousands of glass bottles and offers water refill stations.
All cabins at the lodge are retrofitted for energy efficiency and the lodge uses a solar water-heating system. Guests are given the option of foregoing daily housekeeping and they use only non-toxic cleaning agents.
Zion National park covers 146,597 acres of land full of steep red cliffs, forest trails along the Virgin River, waterfalls, hanging gardens and the infamous Narrows, a hike that takes you through a gorge with walls a thousand feet tall. The only trail is the water you find yourself wading in, sometimes waist deep, which is as narrow as 20-30 feet wide in certain sections.
Landscapes
The Visitors Center, Emergency Operations Center and Zion Lodge have all been landscaped using native plants which is a great environmentally friendly option. They’re the most sustainable because they can thrive naturally without human intervention, conserving resources like water as only minimal irrigation is necessary. When irrigation is required, the park uses filtered river water instead of water from other sources which take large quantities of electricity to treat. They use point source irrigation like drip emitters, bubblers, drip lines and root zone systems. Native plants also help prevent invasive species from taking over and maintain the natural biodiversity of the park.
Interestingly, many of these plants are actually grown from seeds collected within the park at the Zion Native Plant Nursery. The nursery not only helps grown genetically pure species for landscaping but also provides native plants for revegetating areas needing restoration because of overuse from human impact, fire and weeds encroaching and destroying park plants.
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