Manomet’s Clear Water Carbon Fund (CWCF) announced a new partnership this week with Jay Peak Resort that will enable visitors to offset their travel emissions through the program’s tree planting initiative.

 

The Fund collaborates with local stakeholders to plant native trees in deforested watersheds. The trees remove carbon from the atmosphere, protect water quality with their roots and provide important wildlife habitat.

 

“We think the Fund is a good model for ski resorts and customers to reduce emissions from travel and provide lasting benefits, such as clean water, habitat and flood protection, to local communities,” said Manomet Program Manager Ethel Wilkerson.

 

If a visitor’s journey to Jay Peak is 4 hours or less, they can pay $3.00 to offset their emissions through the CWCF. If the journey is 4 hours or more, visitors can pay $10.50. For $18.50, skiers with season passes can offset the entire season’s travel emissions. When customers choose to offset their footprint, the funds go directly to CWCF so the program can purchase trees.

 

The Fund also formed a similar partnership with the recent Circumburke Challenge race on Burke Mountain in Vermont.

 

“People who engage in outdoor recreation activities have an appreciation for the value of nature and are in a position to invest in protecting and enhancing natural resources by planting trees,” Wilkerson said.

 

According to Wilkerson, 1,620 trees were planted over the past two years in Maine’s Androscoggin River and Sebago Lake watersheds, and Vermont’s White River and Lake Memphremagog watersheds. Those trees will store approximately 856,000 pounds of carbon over 40 years.

 

Read more about the partnership at http://www.clearwatercarbonfund.org/jaypeak.

 

– Catharina Damrell