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WINTERGREEN RESORT:

TREE HUGGERS TAKE NOTE

When it comes to development in the Blue Ridge, the environment doesn't always win. But tree huggers love Wintergreen (and Doug Coleman). This four-season mountain resort takes the environment (and Doug Coleman) seriously.

Doug Coleman, Wintergreen Resort's biologist/naturalist for the past 18 years, is helping to bring development and conservation closer together. Along with the environmentally-sensitive owners of Wintergreen, Coleman is largely responsible for the American Hotel & Motel's Environmental Achievement Award and many other accolades.

A Bridgewater College graduate, 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.

Of Wintergreen's 11,000 acres, 6,740 have been set aside as permanent undisturbed forest. Coleman designed a 25-mile trail system around the mountain-top community, which is designed to pass thorugh nature's wildflower gardens and geological formations. He also recently served as a contracted consultant to The Blue Ridge Parkway and co-authored "Important Plant Habitats of the Blue Ridge Parkway."

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