Ecotraveler....

VIRGINIA'S WINTERGREEN RESORT IS ALL GREEN

When it comes to resort development, Virginia isn't always for lovers of the environment. However, ecotravelers will love the development at Wintergreen. This four-season mountain resort development is all green (and so is Doug Coleman). The fall foliage season makes it a perfect time to enjoy the Wintergreen environment.

Doug Coleman, Wintergreen Resort's biologist/naturalist for the past 17 years, has helped to bring development and conservation closer together. Along with the environmentally-sensitive developers of Wintergreen, Coleman was responsible for the American Hotel & Motel's Environmental Achievement Award and many other accolades bestowed on the resort because of their successful environmental programs.

Coleman came to Wintergreen Resort in the early development stages and had a big impact on the resort's dedication to conservation. "The environment has played a role in every stage of development at Wintergreen," Coleman proudly states.

Coleman is in charge of organizing and carrying out almost every outdoor program Wintergreen offers. Education and conservation are the themes behind every activity. He runs at least five field trips a week, children's nature camps, wildflower symposiums, and a myriad of other special educational events which attract more than 10,000 visitors annually. Coleman's relocation programs have saved more than 150,000 plants slated for the dumpster during development.

Of Wintergreen's 11,000 acres, 6,740 have been set aside as permanent undisturbed forest. Coleman is particularly proud of places like the ten-acre nature preserve that was originally slated for development as 12 $40,000 homesites. He also designed a 25-mile trail system around the mountain-top community, which is designed to pass through nature's wildflower gardens and geological formations.

Coleman recently served as a contracted consultant to the Blue Ridge Parkway and co-authored "Important Plant Habitats of the Blue Ridge Parkway." Wintergreen is situated just a mile below the parkway, one of Virginia's (and the nation's) greatest scenic drives.

Along with the wildly successful Spring Wildflower Symposium, Wintergreen features many summer and fall programs for outdoors lovers. On September 16-18, Wintergreen and the Virginia Museum of Natural History will sponsor "Virginia's Natural History" for nature enthusiasts of all levels.

Coleman and many of the state's finest field scientists will share their most recent findings and favorite field trips near Wintergreen. There are dozens of programs and Wintergreen is the perfect setting.

Wintergreen Resort is located in an area that geologists refer to as "Old Appalachia." This eastern deciduous forest is undergirded by geological formations that are among the oldest in North America, making it a natural outdoors destination.

The fall foliage season provides a perfect time for leaf-peeping at Wintergreen, with many programs, hikes, and ski lift trips available. From the Blue Ridge Parkway to the base of the mountain, the fall colors explode for all to see.

New plant discoveries of national significance have been made at Wintergreen and the towering oak-hickory canopy shelters one of the most splendid springtime arrays of wildflowers in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's the perfect spot for ecotravelers any time of year.

Thanks to people like Doug Coleman, Wintergreen has become established as one of the Mid-Atlantic's premier four-season destinations. With golf, tennis, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, dozens of other outdoor activities, and luxurious lodging and dining, Wintergreen makes Mother Nature green with envy.

For further information about Wintergreen's environmental programs, contact Wintergreen Resort at P.O. Box 706, Wintergreen, VA 22958, 804-325-2200.