2001 Department of the Interior
Environmental Achievement Award Recipients

The Employees of Yellowstone National Park are working to integrate environmentally sustainable approaches into the conduct of their varied mission-related activities. Park personnel have partnered with many groups who have helped them with these projects and in developing and demonstrating new technologies. Some of these partners include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the States of Montana and Wyoming, local communities, and many private companies.

Park staff worked to establish the first regional recycling program and composting facility in the area, which now saves the park nearly $100,000 each year in solid waste management costs. A Dodge truck running on 100% bio-diesel logged over 120,000 miles in a pilot project, producing fewer emissions - hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. Renewable solar energy systems (photovoltaic cells) now generate nearly 70 percent of the energy used in the park. Electric snowmobiles are being introduced into the park, also to improve winter air quality. Recycled plastic lumber used in boardwalks has eliminated contaminants that otherwise would have leached from pressure-treated woods into the delicate geothermal ecosystem. And, as few as ten environmentally preferable cleaning products are now used by park staff, replacing over 130 more hazardous janitorial products.