WINTER 2023 Newsletter

ALEXIS KELNER Editor Emeritus

• Director’s Message: P 2-3

• Save Our Canyons Team P 3-5

• The Magic Of Little Cottonwood Canyon P 6-7

• 2023 Legislative Session Recap P 8-9

• Central Wasatch Resort Employee Survey P 9

• Advocacy Corner P 10

• No Gondola In LCC P 11

• The Good. The Bad. And The Ugly. P 12-13

• Utah’s Olympic Legacy P 14-P15

• Become A Member P 15

Responding to challenges

Director’s Message

Written by Executive Director, Carl Fisher

The past several years have challenged us all in a variety of ways. These challenges, and in many instances, changes, have tested us — societally, organizationally, individually, to name a few. We are so fortunate, so grateful, to have an amazing community without whom we’d be unable to show up for the Wasatch in pursuit of protecting its wildness and beauty.

Last year, we celebrated our 50th year - we had one of the biggest events we’ve ever had, perhaps in part since we were unable to be together the prior two years. Of course, the pressures confronting the Wasatch are so numerous and intense — the ripple effect is being felt throughout the region. Your attention, comments and donations, your notes of support on social media or over email, your letters in our local papers — you are the ripples that carry the message of stewardship of the Wasatch, its wildlife, our water, our quality of life. Keep reverberating off the canyon walls and across the valley.

Every couple of years, we send out a community survey. It is one of several ways we work to engage our community. One of the things we hear most is that you want more representation from the Save Our Canyons community in the policy arena - you want us at the legislature, city, county and even federal levels. You’ve also asked for more presence working with agency partners to ensure consideration of conservation values. Protecting land, air and water are not just a consideration, but a priority and a legacy we pass along for generations to come. We recognize, and it has not been without trying, that responding to actions is not what is going to best protect the Wasatch, but actually being part of the formation of proposals, ideas, projects will have a bigger impact than our broken NEPA and public comment processes.

I’m excited to share how we are responding. Last fall, we posted a position for a Policy Associate. After sorting through a pool of over 40 excellent applicants (we are lucky to have so many amazingly talented people interested in the Wasatch), we hired not one, but two, Policy Associates to work with the over 50 governments that have jurisdiction in the Wasatch Mountains. Crystal Chen and Katie Balakir are up at the capitol, down at the county and rallying at the Wasatch Front Regional Council.

If you want to work on advancing an idea and working to implement it as a policy, please get in touch with us by emailing info@saveourcanyons.org. If you are interested in what they are up to, you can follow the Policy & Pikas blog on our website. When you hear the call of our policy pikas, make sure to act!

For the past couple years, Claire Parsons has been leading our stewardship and education efforts. You’ve seen her helping to pick up trash from our scenic byways and out of water ways, working to lead volunteers and community partners to work on trails, pull weeds and take care of our wilderness areas, and take our youth and university students on outings where we talk about everything from native plants to policy efforts.

While we still want to work on these projects, we are leveling up Claire’s engagement to have her bring her passion for ecology and science to work with agency partners on projects and initiatives they are pursuing. From trails plans to fuels treatments, as projects arise, we want to make sure we are bringing the best science and conservation practices to ensure a resilient Wasatch for generations to come.

We know we live amongst a community with deep expertise and familiarity with the environs of the Wasatch — as our Conservation Director, Claire will bring a tremendous skill set to the Wasatch and our community. In taking these steps, we will better align science and policy as we push against greed and uninformed ideologies. As we look at doing projects, we need to fully un- derstand their impacts — avoiding where possible, and implementing meaningful mitigations to avoid a Great Salt Lake-type crisis from ever coming into our Wasatch Mountains. Policies aligned with science, rather than economic development desires, are one of the best ways to set us up for success, in avoidance of failures which look painstakingly reminiscent of a gondola.

I look forward to working with our amazing community, leveraging the talents and expertise of our dedicated staff towards excellence for our incredible Wasatch Range. Thanks for all your support for making these changes possible.