Betty Ford Alpine GardensBetty Ford Alpine GardensBetty Ford Alpine Gardens
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens offers visitors breathtaking beauty in the heart of Vail, but our true impact reaches far beyond these mountain paths. We’re global leaders in alpine conservation and education, protecting Earth’s most fragile high-altitude ecosystems through groundbreaking research and community engagement.
Your support fuels year-round efforts that both inspire thousands of visitors and advance critical conservation work.
Ready to make a lasting impact? These essential projects are waiting for champions like you.
GARDENS PROJECTS
CHILDREN & EDUCATION PROGRAMS
COMMUNITY SPONSORSHIP
GLOBAL ALPINE CONSERVATION PROJECTS
An alpine plant conservation effort uniting scientists from around the globe to protect one of Earth’s most fragile and rapidly changing ecosystems is being led by Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.
Progress Report: In 2020, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens published the North American Botanic Gardens Strategy for Alpine Plant Conservation. This groundbreaking initiative created a roadmap for protecting alpine plants in North America through seed banking, living collections and monitoring of Important Plant Areas.
What’s Next? Now our efforts are expanding globally through the formation of the first Alpine Plant Specialist Group within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This peer-reviewed group is uniting scientists from mountain regions worldwide, from the Andes to the Himalayas. This marks a significant step forward in protecting vulnerable alpine plants—one that Betty Ford Alpine Gardens is proud to lead.
The time to act is now.
Alpine ecosystems are warming at rates significantly higher than the global average.
The Challenge: Federal funding for our nationally recognized alpine seed conservation program has been discontinued, threatening vital partnerships that collect rare mountain plants before they disappear.
The Opportunity: Your support continues our proven collaboration with three key institutions collecting irreplaceable alpine seeds from Arizona’s isolated peaks, Maine’s rare east coast alpines, and Canada’s unbanked species.
Why Now? These rare alpine plants exist in small, vulnerable populations. Every collection season we miss means potential extinctions we can’t reverse.
This is conservation with measurable, permanent impact—preserving North America’s alpine heritage for future generations through proven partnerships and protocols developed right here at Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.
This funding will enable the creation of a living museum of mountain flora that visitors can experience nowhere else. This specialized garden will showcase rare alpine species in their ideal growing medium— tufa rock—making previously inaccessible high-elevation plants available for education and conservation.
These gifts helped preserve biodiversity while creating an extraordinary visitor experience near our waterfall meditation area.
Bringing the High Country to Life
Funding for the creation of an immersive alpine meadow where rare mountain wildflowers and plants thrive in carefully crafted conditions that mirror their natural habitat. This living collection gives visitors an intimate encounter with delicate species normally found only at high elevations—plants many will never have the chance to see in the wild.
Donors and volunteer support helped us protect threatened alpine biodiversity while building a breathtaking destination that complements our waterfall meditation area, offering visitors moments of wonder and connection with nature’s most resilient beauty.
Learn more about the Alpine Meadow Project in our April 2026 blog post.
