The City of Aspen, and its Parks and Recreation Department, has long been a leader in environmental initiatives, not because we view environmental stewardship as a choice but because we view it as a vital part of protecting our quality of life.

Our purchasing policy endeavors to make purchases of recycled materials and other supplies that preserve, to the maximum extent possible, the environment and minimize energy consumption for their production or use. But perhaps our most ambitious stewardship policy is the Canary Action Plan, which was adopted by Aspen City Council in 2007 and contains goals for community-wide greenhouse gas reductions.  These goals include an 80% reduction by 2050 from our 2004 baseline. The community has reduced its emissions by about 10%. Internally, the City has also adopted goals for its facilities and has achieved a 21% reduction. The Parks and Recreation Department has met its own goals each year, particularly by retrofitting the 83,000 square foot recreation center to reduce energy consumption, keeping about 825 tons of greenhouse gas out of the air every year.

Additionally, the City of Aspen’s electric utility has a goal to provide 100% of its electricity by renewable sources in 2015. Currently the utility gets 77% of its power from renewable resources. The Aspen Recreation Center is switching to the City’s utility, greening the buildings operations even more. The carbon savings after the switch will be 1,291 tons, or a 69% carbon reduction based on 2009 electricity usage at the facility.

Our Parks and Recreation Department has been involved in many successful outreach efforts on environmental education to the community.  The ZGreen program is a program designed to reduce the environmental impacts of Aspen’s citizens, businesses and events. It includes voluntary certification for local businesses and citizens as well as mandatory requirements for all events in Aspen that require a permit. You can find our employees handing out CFL’s and giving green tips at the farmers’ market, working with schools to raise awareness, and even teaching youngsters the importance of environmental stewardship at the Winter X Games. 

The Aspen Parks and Recreation Department manages approximately 1,300 acres of open space and 35 parks within and around the City. The recently-completed Jennie Adair Stormwater Wetland project filters approximately one-third of the downtown core stormwater runoff before it reaches the Roaring Fork River.

We compost or chip all branches, grass clipping and leaves to be used for mulch. We also maintain roughly 8,000 trees and have a stringent tree protection ordinance to preserve our community forest. Water-saving technology is utilized in all parks, and our Audubon sanctioned golf course’s irrigation system saves more than 30 million gallons of water per year. We have installed solar trail lights and parking meters, as well as solar trash compactors on bins in City parks. Free transit services to more than a million residents and tourists a year keep vehicles off the road, as well as a 22-mile bike and pedestrian system.