50 Volunteers Plant 1,000 Trees Across Alta Ski Area
Alta Ski Area has 1,000 more trees growing on its slopes after volunteers spent their Saturday morning planting Engelmann spruce saplings across the Utah ski area.
50 volunteers joined members of the Alta Environmental Center, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation and TreeUtah for Alta’s annual Tree Planting Day on Sept. 12.
By the end of the event, approximately 1,000 native Engelmann spruce saplings had been planted by hand across the mountain.
It is the latest chapter in a reforestation effort that stretches back decades. Alta says nearly 44,000 native tree saplings have now been planted across the ski area since 1991.
These Trees Started as Seeds Collected at Alta
The trees planted Saturday did not come from just anywhere.
Each year, the Alta Environmental Center works with the U.S. Forest Service to collect cones from mature trees growing around the ski area. Forest Service crews climb some of Alta’s largest trees to gather the cones, allowing seeds to be collected from trees already adapted to the area’s high elevation and harsh mountain weather.
Those seeds are then sent to a U.S. Forest Service grower in Idaho.
Alta says the young trees spend between one and three years developing root systems before returning to the Wasatch Mountains. The Alta Environmental Center then identifies planting locations based on ecological needs and ski-area operations.
The goal is not simply to increase the number of trees on the mountain.
Planting young Engelmann spruce among established forests increases the diversity of tree ages and encourages natural regeneration, which Alta says helps create a more resilient forest over the long term.
Alta Was Once Nearly Stripped of Trees
Tree planting at Alta has a much longer history than the modern ski area.
Mining began reshaping Little Cottonwood Canyon during the 1800s. By the early 20th century, generations of mining had left large portions of the landscape almost completely stripped of trees.
Alta traces its earliest documented organized reforestation efforts to 1933, when the Civilian Conservation Corps began planting trees in the canyon.
The lack of vegetation was more than an aesthetic problem. Alta says the denuded landscape contributed to avalanche and landslide hazards along with water-quality and ecological problems.
Civilian Conservation Corps crews spent seven years planting trees around Little Cottonwood Canyon as interest in developing the area for outdoor recreation grew. Ski pioneer Alf Engen would later help identify Alta as a promising location for skiing.
Modern tree planting continues that restoration effort.
Since 1991, Alta had documented 42,924 trees planted before this year’s Tree Planting Day. Adding roughly 1,000 saplings this September brings the total to nearly 44,000.
Alta Plants Much More Than Trees
The spruce planting is only one piece of the restoration work happening around Alta each summer.
The Alta Environmental Center was established in 2008 to coordinate the ski area’s sustainability and environmental stewardship programs. When construction or other work disturbs soil around the mountain, Alta uses a restoration protocol designed to reestablish native vegetation.
Alta says more than 121,000 native plants have been planted across the ski area as part of that work. Disturbed areas can receive approximately 1,000 native plants per acre for three consecutive years as crews attempt to stabilize soil and restore habitat.
Earlier this summer, Unofficial Networks covered the arrival of 10,572 native plant seedlings at Alta for the 2026 growing season. The shipment contained 28 native species destined for restoration work around the mountain.
Unofficial Networks also highlighted Alta’s 2026 community stewardship program, including Tree Planting Day, earlier this summer. The program gives volunteers opportunities to plant native vegetation, remove invasive plants and assist with other restoration projects across Little Cottonwood Canyon.
This year’s Tree Planting Day was Alta’s largest volunteer event of the season. The work required volunteers to hike off trail across challenging terrain while carrying tools and saplings to planting sites around the ski area.
Those 1,000 small trees will take years to become a noticeable part of the landscape.
But across a mountain where reforestation work began more than 90 years ago, that is the point.
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