When building large facilities, topsoil is usually hauled away. But at venues for bobsleigh and luge as well as for biathlon, the removed topsoil was stored temporarily and later returned to its original site.

Topsoil in mountainous areas is formed from fallen leaves, and other organic materials that accumulate on the ground. Over long periods of time the matter is broken down by microbes, making it rich in organic nutrients. By restoring this topsoil, plants and animals can return to the site more easily.

Another way nature is being restored is through the planting of saplings around construction sites. The city of Nagano, for instance, has sponsored a volunteer movement, including local schoolchildren, to plant beech, oak, and other kinds of young trees.

These saplings around the venues for freestyle skiing and bobsleigh/luge, as well as around Olympic roads, have taken root and are growing quickly. Even though 5,000 of the 16,000 trees that were growing around the bobsleigh/luge course had to be cut down, two saplings for every square meter (11 square feet) of land are being planted. This means that 40,000 trees will eventually be planted in the area--eight times more than the number lost.