Vail Resorts Echo Day teams employees with watershed council to restore Eagle River in Edwards

Both Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek Resort, through the Vail Resorts Echo program, will partner with the Eagle River Watershed Council (ERWC) for the second annual Vail Resorts Echo Day on Sat, Oct 1, 2011. Through this project, Vail and Beaver Creek employees will assist ERWC in completing a 1.6-mile river restoration project in Edwards.

“Vail Resorts Echo's participation in this project really demonstrates that they give more than money back to this valley. They give of themselves,” said Scott Conklin, ERWC's community outreach coordinator. “It's exciting to get so much done with volunteers in one day.”

The Eagle River Watershed Council serves the entire Vail Valley by advocating for the health of the region's rivers and watershed.

“Our goal is not only to restore this section of river but also to educate the public on what it takes to have a healthy river,” said ERWC Executive Director Melissa Macdonald. “We have been working on this project for three years and want to be sure that the community has been able to become environmental stewards with mud on their boots and dirt under their fingernails."

Specifically, Vail Resorts staff and their families will plant 280 trees and 220 shrubs along the river's banks, as well as install beaver cages on existing trees in the area.

“The new trees and shrubs will provide shading and cooling to the river's aquatic life while restoring a denuded riparian corridor along the river's banks, home to many other forms of wildlife and birds,” said Conklin.

Launched in August 2010, VR Echo Day is an annual, company-wide volunteer day for Vail Resorts employees and their families. Focused on projects that are meaningful in the local resort communities where the company operates, VR Echo Day will host 10 events for employees and their family and friends.

This year's VR Echo Day will host events in Colorado's Eagle, Summit and Pitkin Counties, Tahoe's North and South Shores, along with Colorado's Front Range, where the corporation's headquarters is located. Smaller projects will take place in Jackson, WY; Miami, FL; Santa Fe, NM; St. Lucia and other VR Caribbean properties.

To learn more about Vail Resorts Echo, the company's corporate sustainability program, visit www.vailresortsecho.com.