At Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing we understand that we are fortunate to operate in one of the most beautiful regions of the world. We also know that we have a responsibilities to care for the environment that we live and work in so that others may enjoy it for many years to come. We work with the local community, all levels of government and the heli ski industry to make sure that we always meet or exceed industry environmental regulations.
Because our policies have already established MWHS as a sustainability leader, we collaborated with Helicat Canada and industry partners to develop the Stewardship of Mountain Ecosystems - Best Practices for Sustainability Manual which guides heli ski operators in British Columbia in sustainable business operations.
All Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing guides, pilots and staff receive wildlife training. Under the direction of our Wildlife Consultant, we record sightings and movements of animals and this information is then compiled and provided to the Government Ministries to assist in their Provincial wildlife management planning.
In our terrain we commonly see mountain caribou, mountain goat, wolves, moose, wolverines and eagles. Black bears and grizzlies commonly travel through our region in the spring and fall.
MWHS actively participates in land use planning with forest companies, recreationists, First Nations, and all the levels of government . In support of ongoing environmental research, we are creating a Environmental Stewardship scholarship at Thompson Rivers University.
All of our fuel containers have been switched to Enviro-tanks, which have internal fuel spill containment capability. These tanks and all of our refueling locations are checked regularly for leakage and tampering. We make every effort to recycle all of our landing stakes and we researching biodegradable flagging for each stake.
In 1992 we built a spawning channel for Eleanor Lake to create a self-sustaining population of Rainbow Trout in the lake. Eleanor Lake is spring fed, so there is no inflow or outflow and the spawning channel helps keep the ecosystem of the lake healthy by keeping a supply of cyclical water.
We are fortunate to share our unique terrain with the mountain caribou - a species that requires special protection in British Columbia.
We have been working closely with the guidelines set out by SARCO (Species At-Risk Coordination Office) to monitor the mountain caribou in our area - and have implemented an "Alert and Closure" protocol that ensures that we are not in conflict with the animals. Each morning our grouping list includes the runs we need to avoid because the mountain caribou are in the area.
At the Resort we have implemented conservation policies wherever possible. We are challenged by our remote location to implement all of the recycling and conservation policies that we have identified - but we are working to create innovative solutions to these challenges every day.
Some of our more successful initiatives include our guest towel-saver program, composting program for all landscaping wastes, and the use of environmentally friendly building materials. Reducing energy consumption is supported in all our employee housing units and we subsidize vanpool program for employees commuting from outlying areas. The majority of Resort buildings and almost half of the chalets are heated and cooled by environmentally-friendly geothermal heating systems. All outdoor decorative lighting has been switched to energy-efficient LED bulbs. All indoor lights are being switched to incandescent bulbs as required. We are working with a Canadian company to determine how we can replace all disposables with biodegradable products. Although Blue River currently does not have a recycling program, we collect our recyclables from around the resort and then transfer them to a larger community when we travel to town. The empty juice boxes from heli-lunches are donated to the local school as part of their fund raising activities.
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