The resort took a giant step five years ago when it introduced an aggressive seafood policy that promoted the use of sustainable seafood in the Royal Oak restaurant. The resort began recommending to its patrons fish from Marine Stewardship Council-certified sustainable fisheries and those that were harvested using sustainable practices, following guidelines developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch protocol and the Audubon Society's Living Oceans Seafood Guide. In addition, the resort stopped serving four species of seafood - Chilean Sea Bass, Atlantic Swordfish, Blue Fin Tuna and Shark - because the survival of those species is threatened by over-fishing, or they are harvested in ways that damage the environment.  
  
Last year, executive chef Peter Pahk added Certified Angus Natural Beef (CABR Natural Beef) to its sustainable cuisine offerings in the acclaimed Royal Oak and The Grill at Silverado restaurants. That addition was made in May just a few weeks after the beef became available in the United States. 

At the time, the resort was the sole location in Napa Valley to offer the Angus-type cattle, which is raised without supplemental hormones, antibiotics or animal byproducts. The beef must meet premium quality standards confirmed by USDA graders before it earns the CAB Natural name.
 

Operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Silverado is the only resort in Napa Valley to become a member of the Chef's Collaborative, a national network of more than 1,000 members of the food community who promote sustainable cuisine. The Chef's Collaborative educates chefs and consumers about local sustainable products and practices and also works to improve the quality and taste of sustainable food products.

"It has long been our goal to not only serve environmentally appropriate cuisine offerings but also to educate our guests and employees about the reasons behind those decisions," said Pahk. "Balancing availability, food cost and guest preferences is always a challenge, but we have found that our guests are particularly receptive when we explain that the choices they make can directly affect the health of the planet."

Pahk is one of eight Napa Valley chefs participating in this year's highly publicized Heritage Foods USA cross-country journey to protect small family farms and genetic diversity in the food supply. Pahk and other staff members also actively participate in the work of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to promote sustainable fishing practices and the Napa Valley Slow Food Convivium, which educates consumers about ways to live and eat in a sustainable manner.

The Silverado Resort's other sustainable cuisine practices include: 

• Serving wild Alaska salmon instead of farmed salmon. The resort's operator, Xanterra Parks & Resorts, was the first U.S. hospitality company to be granted the "Chain of Custody" certification from the Marine Stewardship Council. This important certification guarantees all wild Alaska salmon menu items can be traced to their source, assuring consumers that the salmon is from a fishery that has met the Marine Stewardship Council's stringent environmental standards.

• Featuring Snake River Farms Kurobuta Pork and Kobe-style Beef. Both products are produced using all-natural production methods. American Kurobuta Pork is raised on small family farms in the Midwest using no extenders, sodium or added water. Kobe Beef cattle are raised in a natural environment and fed a varied diet of barley, golden wheat, straw, alfalfa hay and Idaho potatoes. Their feeding program runs three times longer than traditional beef and is hormone free.

• Serving wine produced by members of the Napa Sustainable Wine Growers, a group of winemakers in Napa Valley who adhere to a variety of strict sustainable practices.

• Serving abalone produced by Abalone Farm, a California facility that uses state-of-the-art sustainable practices. Due to the rapid decline in the coastal wild abalone population, commercial abalone diving is illegal in U.S. waters. Abalone Farm operates an aquaculture facility that grows abalone without harming the earth's natural resources.

• Implementing a Foodservice Energy Awareness Program that teaches all of the resort's foodservice employees to participate in energy conservation in a variety of ways.

• Developing a Green Procurement program to ensure all paper products and chemicals used in the company's foodservice operations are environmentally sound. As part of Xanterra's Ecologix environmental management system, all foodservice operations also participate fully in recycling and waste reduction programs.

For more information about Xanterra and links to individual properties, visit: www.xanterra.com. For reservations and more information about Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion or Death Valley, call (1) 303-297-2757 or toll-free at (1) 888-297-2757. For reservations and more information about Yellowstone, call (1) 307-344-7311. For reservations and more information about Flamingo Lodge in Everglades National Park, call (1) 800-600-3813 or (1) 239-695-3101. For reservations at Crater Lake Lodge, call (1) 541-830-8700. For reservations and more information about Ohio State Park Resorts, call (1) 800-282-7275. 

Mesereau Public Relations
(1) 720-842-5271
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