"When we first talked about it, my father thought we wanted to paint the roof green," Holdereid said. "He was questioning how that would be good for the planet."

But the garden layer will extend the life of the roof by double.

It cuts runoff by 40 percent, keeping storm water out of Mirror Lake just 100 yards away.

The green roof works as an insulator, a storm-water management system, an herb garden, added bird and butterfly habitat and helps reduce the hotel's carbon footprint.

"We've worked to strike the right balance between profitability, what's good for the earth, and what our guests like," Holdereid said.

The payoff for investment will be better conscience and education for thousands of curious tourists.

Holdereid wouldn't name the final cost to install the roofing system, saying only that it was "substantial."

Green Grid specialists from Weston Solutions in Connecticut designed the green roof.

Jared Markham, an environmental engineer with Weston, helped explain the concept to curious guests this week.

"It is designed to be low maintenance," he said, "hand-weeded as necessary, and watered in periods of extended drought. The roof won't die, but will go dormant."

The plants help insulate the roof, keeping cold out in winter and heat off in summer for an expected 70-percent reduction of heat flow onto the roof, reducing the need for heating and cooling two floors of rooms below.

The green roof system works best on flat roofs, Markham said, though grid systems on pitched roofs are designed using baffles.

Holdereid said the roof is not only a first for Lake Placid and the Adirondacks, it is also the first known installation in any lodging property in the Northeast.

kdedam@pressrepublican.com