Save Our Canyons Team p.3-5

The Save Our Canyons team has changed and grown in the past year. We would like to take a moment to introduce the staff behind the organization. The people that send you emails, create targeted actions, attend public meetings, host events, educate K-12 students about the watershed, host trash cleanups, and so much more. Each person was asked THREE questions:

1. Explain your relationship with the Wasatch.

2. What’s your favorite snack to bring with you while getting outdoors?

3. What are you most optimistic about the Wasatch and what are you most concerned about?

Carl Fisher Executive Director

Started Volunteering/Interning in 2001 began working in 2005

1. My relationship with the Wasatch is ever-evolving, as any deep relationship should be. For the early part of my life, I probably took it for granted as I believe many Utahns do - they’ve always just been here. Anytime I needed to sort things out in my head, they were the place I would go reflect or to get out of my head and commit myself to whatever activity I was undertaking. Today, replicating memories from my childhood with my young family is what rejuvenates me most.

2. An alpine cheese and salami from Caputos. Maybe some dried apricots and a few nips of whiskey to share with friends. Also a sack of lemon drops for a boost of energy.

3. I’m increasingly concerned about both the intensity and frequency of projects that confront the Wasatch Range, most of which attempt to state they are for the public good, when they come at greater and greater costs. The lack of policy prioritizing the protection of the land, water, wildlife and ecology of the Wasatch is concerning. With pressures (development, drought, recreation, climate) increasing, conservation and environmental policy has increasingly been slashed. “Loved to death” used to be a cautionary principle, whereas today it appears to be the marching orders. The people who are elected to office, who can actually do something to protect the Wasatch by passing laws, ordinances and regulations can’t seem to do anything but pass toothless plans and ineffective resolutions. I’m concerned an unprecedented Mountain Accord was contorted by Utah officials to justify a gondola and an attack on our Wilderness. The broader Wasatch community gets it, though. Your emails, your advocacy, your encouragement, ideas, heart and soul, building with each passing day keep me fired up to do what needs to be done. I love bumping into you on the skin track, the trail, and the liftlines, but my favorite place to see you is at the dais, speaking truth to power.

Started Working at Save Our Canyons: 2021

1. The Wasatch is a place that I hold so dear and is exactly what convinced me to move to Utah - the “how could we not live in such a stunning place?”. The Wasatch is our water and a mountain range that provides an outrageous opportunity to breathe, explore, share, and conserve. It is foundational in the life I have built here.

2. I love a sweet and salty situation… Give me a cheese stick, a homemade chocolate chip cookie, some coffee, and I will be set!

3. I feel very optimistic about the project prioritization of our organization, Salt Lake County, the Salt Lake Ranger District, Salt Lake Public Utilities, and Salt Lake City to put conserving the Wasatch Mountains, our watershed, and the future of the Great Salt Lake at the forefront of our collective agendas. I feel terribly concerned about the sustained misunderstanding that the Wasatch can bear more development and that this environment can continually heal mine after mine, road expansion after road expansion, and now the atrocity that is the gondola proposalthe Wasatch and all that it holds… can only take so much.

Started Working at Save Our Canyons: 2023

1. I grew up finding solace and inspiration from the Wasatch Mountains, on long meanders with my camera in hand. I settled here in 2021 to be closer to the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch.

2. Dried mango is the way to go. Or any fruit, really.

3. While I am concerned about the disconnect between sound science and policymaking that is sometimes present, I am encouraged by the strength and perseverance of the community to keep fighting for what they value and believe in.

Grace Tyler Development Director Started Working at Save Our Canyons: 2017

1. When I moved to SLC in 2008, one of the first things I did was hike Mount Olympus. I just wanted to check the box to say I did it. I didn’t know anything about the Wasatch, or the history of the Mount Olympus Wilderness Designation Area, or the years of advocacy that had gone into protecting the Wasatch. Years later, I went back again. To climb over 4,100 feet above the Salt Lake Valley, to show my appreciation for the Wasatch. For our water source. For the flora and fauna. And for how much the Wasatch has changed, helped, and inspired me to grow as a person. Because without the Wasatch Mountains, I would not be who I am today.

2. Gummy bears! There’s nothing like reaching into your bag after hiking, climbing, skiing, angling, you name it – and enjoying a delicious sweet treat.

3. The idea of developing the Wasatch at the expense of the plants and animals, while only serving those that can financially afford to ski, is both disheartening and disgusting. “A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there” (Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire). Access to transit and to our public lands should be equitable. What counteracts the nauseous feeling the State of Utah provides when it comes to environmental protection — is knowing the next generation is tenacious and passionate. The Women’s Outdoor Leadership Initiative (WOLI), Students For The Wasatch, and all the 15,16,17-year-olds offering to volunteer with Save Our Canyons are both inspiring and motivating. The next generation is stepping up. It’s time for the State of Utah, UDOT, and beyond to listen, adapt, and implement comment-sense solutions that benefit all users, not just those that can afford it.

Katie Balakir Policy Associate

Started Working at Save Our Canyons: 2022

1. Growing up with limited natural spaces and recreational opportunities, I was overwhelmed when I moved to Utah. It took me a little while to get into the mountains and start to explore but once I did, there was no looking back. Being in the Wasatch Mountains is a truly liberating experience.

2. This is probably cliche, but I love a good ole granola bar (more specifically, KIND bars). It gets the job done and makes me feel better when I go for that post-hike/ski shake at Handel’s.

3. I’m most concerned about the sense of entitlement certain people/companies/governments show toward the Wasatch. We are not entitled to recreate in every inch of the Wasatch, and we are not entitled to endlessly extract resources from natural spaces until we’re left with hollowed mountains and leveled forests. Our relationship with the Wasatch should be based on the understanding that its ecosystems have just as much of a right to exist and thrive as we do. On the other hand, I’m most encouraged by the solidarity and resilience our communities have shown in protecting the Wasatch. The gondola is a wonderful example. Those who routinely recreate in the Wasatch and those who have never stepped foot in the mountains joined local governments and private businesses to advocate for the protection of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Sarah Sleater Executive Assistant

Started Volunteering for SOC in 2007 began working in 2012

1. The Wasatch and I met a little over 22 years ago. I instantly fell in love with her beauty! I knew immediately that with a burgeoning city only minutes away from the solace of our Mountains, that it must be protected from greed and self-serving interests of those who would sacrifice her and her inhabitants for their own profit and personal gain.

2. Cheese, jerky, and fruit.

3. I am most optimistic about our amazing community that rallies and helps us advocate for the Wasatch! I am most concerned about our Utah legislature/ UDOT and their intentions for the Wasatch and transportation issues.