Fake snow could cause real trouble

Using artificial snow as a replacement for lulls in snowfall on Utah’s ski slopes is causing Utah State University biologists to take a closer look at its possible detrimental side effects on the ecosystem.

Snomax, a commercial snow inducer used in snow-making machines, contains a bacteria that may be harmful to the ecology of Utah’s alpine forests, especially in the ski resort areas, said Jon Takemoto, a USU biology professor involved in the research.

If the research proves successful, USU biologists will be able to alter the bacteria before it causes any permanent damage to the ecosystem, but completing the research is still years in the future, Takemoto said.

“The next step in our reserach is to go out into the forest or onto the ski slopes to begin documenting any effects that are being caused by Snomax,” Takemoto said. “I hope we’ll be doing that for the next few years.”

However, York Snow Inc., the international company that produces Snomax, has used its product in the most environmentally sensitive areas in the world, said Jay Collins, western regional manager for York Snow Inc.

“Once people submit to real research information, there’s is no issue,” Collins said.

Snomax is a ice-nucleating protein readily found in nature, which causes frost to form on vegetation such as leaves, fruits and vegetables. It is not harmful to human beings and has not had any harmful effects on vegetation up to this point, Collins said.

However, Snomax contains anti-microbial compounds, Takemoto said, that have the potential of killing root-associated fungi that plants depend on for nutrients and water.

Although it may take several years, the deterioration of this fungi could eventually kill trees covering the hillsides of ski resorts throughout the state.

“It takes a while for this (fungi) to get down into the soil and they (Utah ski resorts) have only been spraying heavily for past five years,” said Henry Nowak, manager of USU Small Business Accelerator who is working on the commercialization of this research.

Camille Swasey, a graduate student who has been working on the project since it began, said within a year, they will have a better idea of whether or not Snomax is effecting vegetation.

However, through greenhouse testing on plants, Swasey noticed the more Snomax that was applied to the plants, the less they grew.

As for now, the Nowak is waiting for a patent approval for the research, which he filed about five months ago.

“The lab results are very interesting and they could have major implications,” Nowak said. “If you take the most pessimistic end of the spectrum, this could totally kill everything on these slopes.”

Despite the negative implications from the product, additional research has been done to use Snomax as an environmentally-friendly insecticide. Hypothetically, insects that destroy vegetation on the hillsides could eat the artificial snow and freeze at a higher temperature, Collins said.

The company has also proven Snomax to be a safe non-pathogenic organism and the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service has regulated its commercial development.

“If the univerity needs any assistance or additional information, we would love to work with them to help them speed their investigation along so they don’t have to cover the same information again,” Collins said.

Currently, Snomax is used most ski resorts throughout Utah except those in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons, Collins said.

“Over half the maor ski resorts in the world now use Snowmax,” Takemoto said. “Snomax snow seems to be so much better and desireable.”

However, because it is fairly expensive, smaller ski resorts such as Beaver Mountain just depend on Mother Nature to provide snow.

“It requires millions of gallons of water and the snow makers are very, very expensive,” said Marge Seeholzer, owner of Beaver Mountain.

The resort owns one snow maker that they use when they have an unusually dry winter season.

-mmackay@cc.usu.edu