About US
Where We Started — and Where We’re Going
We Have a Long History of Stewardship and Sustainability
The IDEAL Destination Stewardship Program was born in Vail, Colorado — an iconic mountain resort community founded specifically as a tourism destination. From the start, Vail’s Town Charter (1966) called out open space preservation and environmental conservation as core to its identity.
Nearly sixty years later, that legacy continues. Today, Vail offers dozens of environmental and community-oriented programs for residents and remains a leader in sustainable tourism.
In 2012, the Town of Vail partnered with Walking Mountains Science Center — a world-class environmental learning center — and Sustainable Travel International (STI) to launch a multi-phase, multi-year strategy for destination sustainability. That partnership led to the creation of the Actively Green Business Program and the Mountain IDEAL Destination Standard, both designed to meet the complex challenges of resort communities.
Tourism Impact Services’ Founder authored both standards and designed the program frameworks while at STI and has led the partnership’s evolution for over 12 years.
What began in Vail has since grown into a nationally recognized program. As demand for outdoor recreation surged, it became clear these challenges weren’t unique to mountain towns — and the IDEAL Program expanded to support all communities with deep ties to public lands and outdoor life.
Meet the Team
Bobby Chappell
Bobby Chappell is a conservation biologist turned tourism strategist with 25 years of experience addressing global challenges such as endangered species conservation, urban sprawl, over-tourism, climate change, public land stewardship, and accessible outdoor recreation. He has worked across every sector of hospitality and at every level of the tourism industry—from micro-enterprises and rural DMOs to global corporations and national Ministries of Tourism. He holds two degrees from the University of Georgia Warnell School of Natural Resources where he studied the socio-ecological impacts of wilderness recreation (1999) and the socio-economic impacts of ecotourism (2009). He has lived and worked in world renowned destinations such as Colorado, Utah, Costa Rica, the Virgin Islands, Oregon, and the Carolinas. He calls the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains home and can be found enjoying accessible outdoor spaces with his family or bush whacking blue lines in search of native brook trout.
Melissa Kirr
- Melissa Kirr is the Senior Programs Director of Sustainability at Walking Mountains Science Center in Avon, CO. She currently works at a local, regional, and global level on a variety of sustainability initiatives. In her role at Walking Mountains, she is responsible for the oversight of all the sustainability-focused programs and projects at the environmental learning center that include Energy, Climate Action, Actively Green Sustainable Business Training and Certification, Waste Diversion and Zero Waste programs, and Mountain IDEAL Sustainable Destinations. She has spent the past 18 years working in the non-profit sector, specifically the environmental and sustainability realms. She holds degrees in Forest Resource Management from Penn State University and the University of Montana. Melissa enjoys spending time in nature with her family backpacking and cheering on her daughters in their many extracurricular activities.
Kim Langmaid
Kim Langmaid, Ph.D., is the Founder and Senior Sustainability Adviser at Walking Mountains Science Center. She has been involved in sustainability, sustainable tourism, climate action planning, collaborative conservation, environmental education, and nonprofit leadership for over two decades. In addition to her role at Walking Mountains, Kim is the Associate Professor of Sustainability Studies at Colorado Mountain College at the Edwards Campus and serves as an Associate Faculty with the Master of Arts Program in Environmental Studies at Prescott College. Kim serves on the Vail Town Council and the Colorado Tourism Office’s Destination Development Committee. Kim has held positions as the first Colorado Program Director for the National Forest Foundation; the Graduate Program Director for Teton Science Schools in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and as the interim Program Coordinator for the Ph.D. Program in Sustainability Education at Prescott College. Kim holds a B.S. in Biology from Colorado State University, an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Prescott College in Arizona, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England. Kim grew up in Vail and has followed in the footsteps of her parents and grandparents who were involved in pioneering new initiatives in the early days of the mountain resort community.
We Are Mountain IDEAL
Inspire — Spark local leadership. Share bold ideas. Encourage new thinking. Elevate voices that often go unheard. Support creativity in problem-solving. Believe in what’s possible. Lead with purpose and passion.
Design — Co-create solutions. Plan with intention. Align tourism with community values. Build systems that reflect local priorities. Bring people to the table. Use data, storytelling, and lived experience to shape better outcomes.
Engage — Invite collaboration. Listen with care. Convene diverse partners. Strengthen connections between residents, visitors, businesses, and land managers. Make stewardship everyone’s responsibility. Share the work and celebrate the wins.
Access — Ensure all people belong. Remove barriers to participation and place. Prioritize equity in recreation, mobility, and leadership. Create inclusive systems that serve communities of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
Livability — Invest in what makes life better. Protect clean air, safe streets, and housing people can afford. Support local food, public lands, and vibrant main streets. Design tourism that works for residents first — now and for the future.
Ready to make your destination more sustainable?
Take the destination self-assessment.