Silverwood Theme Park serious about fun, sustainability

Silverwood Theme Park is the kind of place where childhood wonder meets real-life amazement. There are more than 65 attractions that will capture the imagination of visitors of any age, from magic shows to jaw-dropping roller coasters to the sprawling Boulder Beach Water Park. Unbeknown to most spectators, however, the theme park has a host of environmentally minded systems in place across the several-hundred-acre site. In fact from the North Idaho park’s beginning in the 1980s as the Northwest’s foremost family-oriented destination, the staff has been toiling away to make it an example of a self-contained community with as little of an impact on the environment as possible, and that includes everyone from the owners down to the hundreds of seasonal staff members. “Silverwood is an environmentally-conscious company,” says Mark Robitaille, a park spokesman. “A lot of it is self-contained. We are always trying to find new ways to conserve natural resources in the world, and basically to protect our environment and reduce waste.” Since Silverwood was opened in 1987 by Gary Norton, the family-owned and operated business has grown in a number of ways. There’s the size of the staff, with as many as 800 during the busy summer months, where more than 8,000 visitors on the busiest days are common. There’s the vertical, with two wooden roller coasters, a 140-foot drop tower, and the recently added 191-foot Aftershock roller coaster, an inverted boomerang-style ride that was purchased from Six Flags Great America near Chicago, and reassembled at the park. “We try to constantly look at ways to consume less energy, recycle our energy and conserve our resources such as water and power as much as possible, and keep as much of our waste out of the environment as possible,” Robitaille said. Also fairly new to Silverwood is the Boulder Beach Water Park, which expanded last year with two wave pools, 10 water slides, a lazy river and a splash area for toddlers. And of course, the 1915 Steam Engine Train still chugs its way around the park on the three-mile track, starting and finishing in the heart of the Victorian-themed Main Street. Just as important as those features, however, are the eco-conscious systems running all through the theme park. Long-running programs such as cardboard recycling have been joined by a number of other start-up projects in recent years. Recycling plastic bottles, reusing restaurant grease and building a community garden are just a few instances of the ways Silverwood is doing its part for the overall health of its surroundings. Annual community-oriented events including a canned food drive. Last year’s event brought in about 6 tons of food that went to those in need. One of the park’s major innovations was the addition of a $1 million sewer treatment plant. The recently completed plant, which sits a few hundred yards south of the main property, was necessary both to protect the environment by eliminating the old septic tanks and drainfields, and in order for Silverwood to expand in the future, such as with a planned hotel. Silverwood generates roughly 4.6 million gallons of waste matter a year. To offset that, the treatment facility pumps treated wastewater around the theme park, where it’s used in places such as the water park to irrigate the abundant landscaping, and the greenhouses to water the trees, shrubs and other plants grown at the park, which are eventually used in its landscaping. Even the new above-ground garden will be irrigated, and the various fruits and vegetables it produces will be donated to local food banks. The park’s original attraction, the vintage steam engine train, was given an overhaul as well, and is now powered by the restaurant grease produced at the several on-site eateries. The recycled fuel burns cleaner and helped cut down the amount of oil purchased by the park by 17 percent the last few years, Robitaille says. But that’s not all, he added. “We’re going to continue to grow our recycling programs,” he says, adding that Silverwood is going to start recycling plastic bottles this year. And all the old light bulbs throughout the park are, or have already been, switched to low-energy bulbs. “It costs a little more to implement them, but they last longer and use less electricity,” Robitaille explains. Even if a program costs more to implement, “that doesn’t matter,” he added. Asked what people can expect out of the theme park when they pass through its gate, Robitaille says their purpose is straightforward. Visitors should feel comfortable knowing that Silverwood is committed to its role as a world-class destination with an environmentally friendly conscious. “I think people more and more are recognizing the importance of recycling, and typically people are going to appreciate the companies such as Silverwood that are trying to be more environmentally conscious,” he says.