YELLOWSTONE NP LODGES ACHIEVES BEST CERTIFICATION By Tim O’Donoghue, Riverwind Foundation
Xanterra Travel Collection’s Yellowstone National Park Lodges has achieved the Business Emerald Sustainability Tier (BEST) level of sustainability performance. The standards in the BEST program are comparable to the world’s most rigorous and comprehensive environmental, community, and economic sustainability criteria. Yellowstone National Park Lodges is the first to achieve third-party sustainability certification at the Enterprise level by the Riverwind Foundation, the originator of the BEST program. They join the Elk Refuge Inn, Flat Creek Ranch, Jackson Lake Lodge, Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, Jackson Hole Airport, and Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris as BEST Certified.
Yellowstone National Park Lodges have replaced plastic water bottles with aluminum cans with a screw-top cap, filled with water from Montana Silver Springs.
“We are thrilled to have achieved this certification not only to acknowledge the significant commitment that we put into our sustainability efforts, but to help support the growth of this rigorous local certification program. We hope to see the continued expansion of this program throughout Teton County to help preserve and protect the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for future generations,” says Director of Sustainability, Dylan Hoffman. Yellowstone National Park Lodges exemplify a business culture that prioritizes environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility throughout its planning, staff training and guest orientation, and operations. “In particular, Yellowstone National Park Lodges has institutionalized sustainability through its extensive instruction and guidance documents, systems for monitoring and measuring its sustainability performance, and significant sustainability plans and successes,” says Tim O’Donoghue, Executive Director of the Riverwind Foundation and coordinator of the Jackson Hole & Yellowstone Sustainable Destination Program.
THE UNIQUE YNP CANS ARE EASY TO RECYCLE, CAN BE A COLLECTOR’S ITEM, AND ALLOWS YOU TO REFILL THEM AT ANY OF THE WATER-BOTTLE FILLING STATIONS AROUND THE PARK. 11
