It's a 1,500-acre family-owned year-round resort with 36 holes of championship golf, 45 downhill slopes, more than 260 lodging units, several dining areas and 33,000 square feet of conference facilities that can accommodate 300. And each year,
Crystal
Mountain and Spa, 28 miles southwest of Traverse City, gets greener.
Citing Crystal's "passion for using progressive environmental technologies" in its 2010 Michigan Green Leaders awards, the
Detroit Free Press says the resort's CEO Jim MacInnes "transcends the boundaries of his property, or even his community. He creates ties between the business and environmental communities as he works toward providing a better quality of life."
That's on top of winning the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club's White Pine Award for Crystal's "extraordinary dedication to protection of the environment."
The sprawling resort's 18,500 square-foot Crystal Spa is the Midwest's only LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified facility, one of only six in the U.S. In-room and public recycling bins are everywhere. It's Michigan's first four-season resort to achieve the top Leader Level in the voluntary
Green Lodging Michigan program through Michigan's Energy Office and the Department of Environmental Quality.
Crystal Mountain is also the state's first resort and ski area to commit to renewable energy, purchasing wind-energy credits to power its high-speed Crystal Clipper chairlift, getting sponsors of golf tournaments like last week's Women's Open Pro-Am to do the same through its longtime partner Renewable Choice Energy, and its long-term energy goal is 100 renewable. Even Crystal's golf courses are enviro-friendly, certified by the voluntary
Michigan Turfgrass Environmental Stewardship Program, which goes beyond the law to protect and enhance the land on which the courses reside.
Writer: Patty LaNoue Stearns
Sources: Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa, Detroit Free Press, Sierra Club
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