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Where Wilderness Advocacy and Volunteerism Meet Written by Alex Schmidt, Campaigns Coordinator

It seems one can always find a barrier to getting involved in a cause that they care about. Life is busy and the threats to our water, air, land, and the plants and animals that depend upon these systems are many. For decades, SOC has been fortunate to have a dedicated and growing membership and community who have helped on miles of trail, removed hundreds of pounds of garbage, pulled thousands of pounds of invasive weeds, and written comments for or attended numerous public meetings related to the protection of the Wasatch Range. Your actions have made a difference in our community and for the Wasatch Mountains.

To say the least, 2020 has been a year like nothing I have ever experienced. Save Our Canyons staff in partnership with the U.S Forest Service has been working tirelessly to continue our stewardship events, while keeping the volunteers and staff safe. Since the creation of Save Our Canyons our organiLast WSP of the 2020 season in Thaynes Canyonzation has relied upon grassroots advocates to step up and help us lead the charge. Each summer we attend dozens of events ranging from the Downtown Farmers Market to the Dias De Los Muertos Festival – where we learn from the community about why the protection of the Wasatch Mountains is important in their lives. Many of you reading this have volunteered at these events or at the least, stopped by our SOC table to chat and grab a newsletter or bumper sticker.

Save Our Canyons volunteer group numbers in the hundreds and we do our best to foster relationships and connect our members to help us build a community and grow our influence in decisions related to our public lands. Assisting the Forest Service on trail maintenance projects in the Pleasant Grove and Salt Lake Ranger Districts demonstrates our true dedication to conservation. Providing quantifiable buy in that we often reference in the discussion about expanding wilderness designation to protect our water and human powered recreation. This summer Save Our Canyons, much like you, have had to make a lot of changes as in person events have been postponed or even cancelled. To continue growing and building our grassroots army, we need your help. The value of a few hours from you coupled with the information and experience you gain from volunteering creates a positive ripple effect. Save Our Canyons is the lake and you are the stone which creates a splash of advocacy and influence within your circle of friends and family.

We are grateful to our volunteers those who have joined us this summer to help make our Wilderness Stewardship Project and User Created Trail Inventory robust and successful. And to the many more who have shown interest, but due to public health concerns and safety restrictions we have had to reschedule we encourage you to stay involved. We have spent dozens of hours in the Tri-Canyon Area of the Central Wasatch to assist in the management of the trail system. These areas have an even more essential role as people are seeking immersion into nature to settle anxiety or relieve some stress by taking a long walk or hike into the many drainages and up the majestic peaks.

The Wasatch Mountains are a geologic wonder that have been shaped over 1.4 billion years. Our role is to leave them in a healthier and more intact state than we found them. Through volunteer driven projects we seek to foster a growing number of advocates who have experienced the natural world around them in a unique way and in turn take action on their behalf. Wilderness conservation and volunteerism go hand in hand. Please visit Save Our Canyons website, follow us on social media and make a commitment to yourself and our planet to volunteer some of your free time to protecting the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch Mountains.