WEST YELLOWSTONE, MON.—Three West Yellowstone properties owned and operated by global hospitality company Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts successfully graduated from the Yellowstone Business Partnership’s (YBP) UnCommon Sense Program. The Gray Wolf Inn & Suites, the Holiday Inn Conference Center and Branch Restaurant and the Yellowstone Park Hotel are known as the Park Gate Lodges.
The Park Gate Lodges group of properties is one of only 10 businesses to graduate in the class of 2013. Graduation ceremonies were held April 25.
“The UnCommon Sense program provided an amazing opportunity for our Park Gate Lodge properties to look at business in a sustainable manor,” said Delaware North’s director of environmental affairs at Yellowstone, Justin Cook. “It also allowed us to partner with dozens of businesses and organizations in the Greater Yellowstone Region.”
Two-Year Business & Leadership Program
UnCommon Sense is a two-year business and leadership program that focuses on involving environmental and social considerations into all aspects of a business. Through the UnCommon Sense program, the Park Gate Lodges quantified current environmental actions and implemented new actions to further reduce environmental impacts. The program was done in conjunction with the company’s award-winning environmental management system, GreenPath.
Specific accomplishments from the program include:
• Doubling the collection of recyclables from 45,000 pounds per year to 90,000 pounds.
• Implementing a composting program at the Branch Restaurant that now collects 36,000 pounds of compost per year.
• Implementing a linen reuse program to save energy and water.
• Installing 75 percent more efficient LED lighting in lobbies.
• Reducing vehicle miles traveled by 22 percent over two years, saving an estimated $13,000 in fuel costs.
The program involved attending four business workshops and monthly phone conferences over two years while working through the eight specific program modules. The modules included Leading the Way, Waste-Stream Management, Responsible Purchasing, Social and Community Investment, Energy Efficiencies, Water Efficiencies, Transportation Efficiencies, and the Business Response to Climate Change.
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