Summer 2021 Newsletter

A Summer Of Advocacy

Photo Credit: Louis Arevalo Photography https://www.louisarevalophotography.com/index

Citizens Committee to Save Our Canyons Dedicated to protecting the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch Mountains

Director’s Message Invest in natural infrastructure and heal our dilapidated planet

Written by Executive Director, Carl Fisher

Summer 2021 Newsletter Director’s Message............P2-P4 Protecting The Wasatch Through Pottery...... P5 SOCKids Activity..........P6-P7 Salt Lake City’s Foothills: On the Brink ...P8 Wilderness Stewardship and Education......P9 Pillars for Transportation Solutions in the Central Wasatch Mountains....P10-P11 Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area ....P12 Save Our Canyons Speaker Series...P13 Fear, Do Not Revere “Wasangeles”....P14 Becoming A Member .............P15

3690 E Fort Union Blvd STE 101 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121 https://saveourcanyons.org 801.363.7283 info@saveourcanyons.org ALEXIS KELNER Editor Emeritus

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Infrastructure, our nation’s infrastructure, is a key component of President Biden’s drive to restore the soul of this nation. When we think about infrastructure it’s things like roads, bridges, things we’ve built and need to maintain. These things cost a lot of money to build, arguably even more to maintain and operate. Our hope is that we apply 21st century thinking and values to augment the 19th and 20th century infrastructure improvements. Less pavement and personal auto investments, more transit and bike lanes connecting our communities together. We could solve a lot of problems in the Wasatch by simply investing in getting people out of their cars, well before they ever get near a canyon.

As we reconcile with our carbon footprints, we should also work to minimize our recreation footprint.

Our natural infrastructure sustained life (for humans and wildlife populations) well before North America was colonized. Had we cared for our natural infrastructure, listened to native populations, we arguably wouldn’t be in the midst of a climate crisis, living through this mass extinction of species, not having to stay away from bodies of water in a desert due to toxic algal blooms, just to give a few examples. The potholes on the road may be annoying, but the ecological crisis created by constant mitigation and being consciously blind to the cumulative impacts of the perpetual hardening of nature is a much higher priority. Life literally depends on nature.

Nature is resilient, but we must prioritize its health. We learned earlier this month that tribes in the Bears Ears region cultivated plants. We wonder what they might have done to the Wasatch to encourage more biodiversity and proliferation of life in Northern Utah. Our policies and budgets don’t reflect nature’s importance or role in our society. Just as we have seen with the removal of dams and how it revitalizes the health of streams, the passage of species previously blocked.

The nation’s infrastructure plan must look at our infrastructure, built and natural, and just like a dam that is preventing nature from taking its course, not all infrastructure should be additive, rather we should seize this opportunity to remove problematic roads “cherry-stemmed” into roadless and wilderness units. Natural infrastructure investments can help establish wildlife connections across the State of Utah and other western states. -->

One thing I’ve yet to see as part of the infrastructure plan is something we refer to as “natural infrastructure.” Traditional infrastructure generally converts our wild places that filter our air and water, into corridors of pollution that alter hydrology, introduce weeds and erosion, thus sedimentation, stream temperatures and wreaks havoc on our natural systems. Natural infrastructure is the original infrastructure, arguably the most ignored, but critical infrastructure in our country.

It is our forests, lakes, creeks, our alpine meadows, our riparian areas.

Natural infrastructure includes natural processes too, like fire which has been suppressed for generations leading to the overgrowth of our forests. Or the beaver that builds a dam shaping the river, creating wetlands that purify water and habitat for other creatures that contribute toward our ecosystem services that stewards our natural infrastructure. As we push species out with ever intensifying activity, proposing to build trains and gondolas converting habitat into roads connecting, ski runs, homes, condominiums and lodges, we fragment habitat and disrupt the ecosystem services once provided for free native species that once inhabited our forests.

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Lone Peak Cirque by Alexis Kelner

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Our trails and trailheads are in a state of disrepair, yet more money is allocated to building more, which then become dilapidated because there is no money for maintaining our resources - just to put a name on a highway or bridge.

Protecting The Wasatch Through Pottery

A wise man once said, “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” That man now occupies the Oval Office. If he values nature and natural infrastructure, it needs to be part of this budget. Ever since the Sage Brush Rebellion raged in the 1980s, natural resource management budgets have been going the opposite way of pressure and visitation. There’s no better time to change course than now. Foresters, watershed managers, ecologists, biologists are our natural infrastructure’s front line workers.

Written by Save Our Canyons Member James “Gus” McCloskey

And speaking of budgets, we got a good chuckle a few weeks ago that the Utah Delegation, the one that thinks public lands should be sold to the highest bidder who values asphalt and concrete and gondolas above all else, was upset that Utah didn’t get as much money as they felt entitled to from the Great American Outdoors Act funding from the Department of the Interior. We wonder where the Federal Government got the idea that Utah wasn’t interested in funding public lands. Maybe it was the millions of public dollars we spent on a lawsuit challenging the very idea of public lands?

Maybe decades of advocacy trying to defund public land managers budgets. Maybe celebrating the removal of not one, but two legally designated National Monuments. Maybe it is that we have enough public money, $500M to $1 billion, laying around to build gondolas and trains through a watershed canyon in the midst of a drought.

Hello, my name is Gus. I make ceramic art and pottery and live in Sandy near LCC. You might have seen me or my pottery at one of the annual Lone Peaks celebrations. While living in Japan I learned traditional flower arrangement (Ikebana) as well as culinary customs and tea which is most often served in amazing handmade pottery no matter where you go. Japanese culture essentially has at its core beauty, which is expressed uniquely in just about everything. These experiences led me to the possibility of working with clay. I learned my craft through several traditional apprenticeships with master potters in a secluded region of southern Japan known for its ceramic culture.

I soon found myself expanding these experiences during the apprenticeships as I became more familiar with the language. My clay work is inspired by the folk pottery and arts of Japan. No matter what area you visit you will discover dozens of potteries within walking distance, each area with its own distinct regional flavor which inspires me to reflect on local life here. My works are earthy zen creations. Meditations on nature. The Japanese concept Yo no bi, means the beauty of function. Use with beauty has become very meaningful in my art. These expressions contain gratitude for the gifts of nature and is my way of giving back since art and nature go so well together.

Wooo Eeee. Looking North from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

The “Wild Urban Interface (WUI)

Utah’s anti-public lands, anti-environment rhetoric may well be catching up with them. Which isn’t to say we don’t have needs, however, our priorities are all mixed up, and decades of shilling for schemes gondolas and trains, compounded by active advocacy for harming our natural infrastructure with little if any investment in the health of our wild places is a narrative and a legacy we must change. Investing in nature, in the health of our forests and watersheds, in wildlife, in caring for our trails, must not be trumped by our destructive desires.

It’s time to rebuild, but it is imperative that we give nature half. Meanwhile, gas is being poured into the tanks of dozers that will destroy everything in their paths. At resorts, up Little Cottonwood Canyon, even tearing across Salt Lake City’s once pristine foothills. Without monetary investment to protect and steward our declining natural infrastructure, we can never leave it better than we found it - the monetary imbalance and inequity is too staggering.

The President’s plan can single handedly fix this. It must.

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www.saveourcanyons.org

I grew up here in the Wasatch, skiing, hiking and camping and since I care about it, I want to protect it. The Wasatch Mountains besides giving us the obvious benefits of pure air, water, recreation and grand scenery offer us silence, which is not merely the absence of sound. We find refuge, healing and celebration outside our schedules, routines and the daily noise of life in the valley.

Clay by Gus; Handmade Pottery

This is why I advocate for a free, untouched, untamed and undeveloped wild Wasatch. It’s owned by all of us, and it’s not for sale. So, what do you say? Take your personal stance, support the Wasatch and become a member of Save Our Canyons and do just that!

Choosing to renew your membership makes a real and lasting difference in the long-term protection of the Wasatch Mountains. Donate $100 or more and Save Our Canyons will ship you an incredible handmade mug created by me.

Here are several ways you can donate to Save Our Canyons: • Online Donation • .Mail in a check to PO Box: 112017 Salt Lake City, UT 84147 • Donate stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRA accounts, real estate, life insurance, business interests, and bequests through your will or trust!

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Salt Lake City’s Foothills: On the Brink

Wilderness Stewardship and Education

Written by Hilary Jacobs, Save Our Foothills

Written by Alex Schmidt, Campaigns Coordinator

In 2016, Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands decided to overhaul the extensive network of trails in the city’s Foothills. Under the guise of a new Trails Master Plan, the Parks department promised a trail system that would accommodate a full spectrum of users—hikers, runners, bird watchers, botanists, dog walkers, skiers, snowshoers, picnickers, and mountain bikers, among others—while also prioritizing equitability, environmental sustainability, habitat protection, accessibility, and safety.

The Wasatch, and surrounding valley’s and ranges are feeling the heat. Not just from soaring temperatures of a dry summer, but also because of the excitement of the masses who are exploring and escaping into the wonders of our shared public lands.

Those of us who have used the foothill trails for decades eagerly anticipated well-crafted new trails that would complement those we so greatly valued. Instead, we are facing poorly planned, erosion-prone trails that pit pedestrians and bicyclists against each another. Favorite walking trails have been closed (and demolished) in the name of “revegetation,” even as unsustainable trails have been gouged out of fragile hillsides, pristine meadows, and essential What will the future of the Wasatch look like? habitats. Plants and wildlife have been displaced or killed as trails and hillsides erode, slump, and collapse. Collisions between bicycles and wildlife have already occurred.

And this is but the beginning of the destruction that is spreading like a cancer across our precious foothills. To date, only Phase 1 of the plan has been initiated; Phases 2 and 3 will add an additional 50 miles to the 15 that have already been bulldozed. When Phase 3 is complete, not a single mountain top or wilderness area between Meridian Peak to the north and Emigration Canyon to the south will be free of high-speed mountain bike traffic.

Adding insult to injury, the trails on the ground often do not match the trails on the Masterplan. When asked about this discrepancy, the Parks department said the so-called Masterplan is “only a guide.” In other words, hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been granted to bike-trail consulting and construction firms without oversight or accountability. Moreover, the new trails have been built without following any of the National Park Service or U.S. Forest Service trail-building guidelines.

The Save Our Foothills campaign is working to put a stop to this environmental assault, and we need your help! Following strenuous citizen objections, Phase 1 construction has been paused for a four-month review. Now, please sign our petition at SLCFoothills.org to demand that all work be stopped until a legitimate and truly inclusive Foothills Trails Masterplan—based on sound ecological, geological, environmental, zoological, and archaeological studies—has been completed. Anything short of this is unacceptable.

Salt Lake City has only one chance to get this right. As stewards of these precious lands, our first priority must be to maintain the environmental integrity of Salt Lake’s Foothills so that we can continue to enjoy the myriad resources the Foothills so generously provide, including water, beauty, nature, and refuge. We can determine our legacy; we stand at the precipice now. For more information or to find the petition, please go to slcfoothills.org!

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Save Our Canyons is continuing our efforts of stewardship and environmental education this summer with our Wilderness Stewardship and Education Coordinator staff position. With support from the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance and the Hemingway Foundation — we have been awarded funding to bring on a part time staff person to further our efforts as a partner to the US Forest Service, Utah Department of Transportation, and several public and after school youth programs through our SOCKids Program.

Chris Monte Photography; 2019 Wilderness Stewardship Project

Our Wilderness Stewardship and Education program comes from the recognition that our local wilderness areas are being gradually degraded by overuse. Our project recognizes that many of those who love and visit the canyons lack a functional understanding of the critical importance of the Wasatch Mountain watershed and the sensitivity of this landscape to external pressures.

As advocates who have worked to protect these mountains and canyons through policy measures for nearly four decades, Save Our Canyons recognizes our responsibility to actively care for this landscape by helping to maintain it and by educating those who use it. The purpose of this project is to educate new generations about the importance of wilderness designations and to give back to our wilderness areas by actively working to maintain them. Our trail work will include such activities as: trail maintenance, rehabilitating and restoring sensitive areas, packing out garbage, and dispersing unsanctioned hardened sites such as camps and campfires.

With 1,800 native plant and animal species in the Wasatch, most being found in designated wilderness areas, we take our responsibility of caring for these areas seriously. It is our goal that each year we focus on one wilderness area in the central Wasatch Mountain Range to maintain, restore, and create an education plan to educate the public.

vOLUNTEER Today

Volunteer this summer with Save Our Canyons and enjoy the wonders of the Wasatch Mountains. Participating in our WSP helps to make a positive impact on the flora and fauna, while enjoying the fruits of your labor with old friends and new.

Sharing your favorite story of a night in Lone Peak Wilderness, quiet moments observing a Moose in the Twin Peaks Wilderness area, or maybe a speedy descent down the fins of Mount Olympus’ best kept secrets during a Save Our Canyons volunteer day helps deepen the connection you and others have with this landscape.

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Pillars for Transportation Solutions in the Central Wasatch Mountains Contributed By The Commissioners Of The Central Wasatch Commission June 7, 2021

LCC, which could result in negative environmental, public safety and water resource consequences. Additionally, over-use could negatively impact the visitor experience for both tourists and locals who seek to enjoy recreation and nature from unmanaged crowds.

These concerns have been raised repeatedly by the public, various groups, and elected officials during the EIS process, but the limited scope of the EIS’s stated “purpose and need” has not allowed UDOT the opportunity to fully consider these issues. To appropriately address the risks, we believe a corresponding visitor use strategy needs to be identified and implemented to complement any existing management plans.

Watershed Protection Protection of the fragile environmental conditions of the Central Wasatch Mountains is the highest priority for the communities that rely on these Mountains for watershed and water supply. Any transportation solution for LCC should minimize and mitigate negative environmental impacts, including irreversible damage to the watersheds that provide precious drinking water to more than 450,000 people in the Valley and in the LCC itself.

Traffic Demand Management, Parking and Bus (or other Transit) Strategies The Commissioners favor the implementation of a set of traffic management strategies that address both traffic impacts on the roads accessing Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, as well as the roads within these Canyons. In addition, consideration of expanded bus (or other transit) service and parking management outside of the Canyons is critical, regardless of the transportation mode ultimately selected for LCC. Management strategies outside of the Canyons include providing parking in dispersed locations and improved bus (or other transit) service. The Commissioners also favor appropriate roadway improvements along Wasatch Boulevard and 9400 South. Canyon traffic management options include variable tolling, limited access for single occupancy vehicles, carpool programs, and the reduction of on-road parking. These Canyon strategies should be utilized immediately as a “first phase” of the final EIS alternative implementation, i.e., even before a long-term LCC transportation mode is designed and constructed. None of the proposed transportation alternatives in the EIS will be fully effective without corresponding traffic demand management, expanded regional parking, and bus (or other transit) strategies.

Overlooking Little Cottonwood Canyon, Taken By 2019 Summer Outreach Intern Ben Schoffstall

In connection with UDOT’s Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), we, the undersigned commissioners (Commissioners) of the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC), hereby state the following.

For over two years, CWC has actively engaged in assessing the foundational elements of the upcoming Draft EIS and successful solutions for transportation in the Central Wasatch Mountains. Throughout that process, each Commissioner has invested heavily in studying and reviewing objectives and options regarding the complex decisions surrounding solutions to the transportation and preservation challenges facing Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC) and the Central Wasatch Mountains. Although our work in this critical area is not yet complete, we have decided to issue this statement in the interest of sharing some observations we have at this time.

The Commissioners are unified in the opinion that “doing nothing” regarding the challenges facing the Central Wasatch Canyons is not a viable solution. In addition, although we are not yet fully united on a preference for a particular transportation mode, we continue to work toward arriving at consensus. In the meantime, we have come to agreement on a set of “pillars” that we believe should be considered and implemented in connection with the eventual transportation solution. These broad principles are consistent with the original intent of the Mountain Accord, and we believe should be applied to whatever transportation mode is ultimately recommended in UDOT’s Record of Decision.

PILLARS

Integration into the Broader Regional Transportation Network Understanding that the EIS is limited from a geographic perspective to a narrow focus on LCC and its immediate surrounding area, a broader, more holistic approach should be used when implementing solutions for traffic issues related to LCC. To that end, consideration should be given to the integration of any LCC-oriented system with transportation issues attendant to Big Cottonwood Canyon and the broader valley-wide transportation network.

To justify the cost from a public benefit perspective, a large-scale infrastructure investment that serves a singular purpose (i.e., alleviating traffic congestion issues affecting LCC) should be accompanied by broader service and infrastructure investment in other areas of the valley. As a result, we support the exploration of the idea of transit micro-hubs in areas throughout the valley as gathering places for visitors and residents to catch transit.

Year-Round Transit Service The Commissioners consider year-round transit service to destinations in the Canyons a priority, including dispersed recreational opportunities, and other dispersed recreational opportunities in the surrounding areas (such as areas along the foothills). The existing LCC EIS only considers winter, peak transit service.

Long-Term Protection of Critical Areas Through Federal Legislation Transportation improvements for LCC should be coupled with improved land and natural resource protection.

The ultimate transportation solution should be conditioned upon the passage of federal legislation (the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act). This coupling of federal legislation to transportation is necessary given the delicate balance that was central to the Mountain Accord agreement, based on four principal tenets: transportation, economy, recreation, and environment.

Visitor Use Capacity The transportation alternatives being evaluated in the EIS have the potential to significantly increase the quantity of visitors accessing LCC, and what they do when they visit. All of these alternatives pose a risk of “over-use” of

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Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area

SAVE oUR cANYONS Speaker Series

Written by Alex Schmidt, Campaigns Coordinator

Written by Development Director Grace Tyler

Since 1972, Save Our Canyons mission has been to protect the wildness and beauty of the Wasatch Mountains. We do this in a variety of ways by working on land use ordinances, partnering to purchase lands, engaging in land planning processes, and responding to proposals confronting the Wasatch.

One of the most productive ways to protect lands is to petition Congress to permanently protect this place for the values that we, their constituents, hold dear.

Sign Our Petition Today

The threats to the Wasatch, to our watersheds, to the places that inspire our rapidly growing communities and the generations that will surely follow, are intense, complex, and need attention. What they need perhaps most of all is unity.

We can show unity in a variety of ways by: attending a Save Our Canyons event, attending a public meeting, signing a petition, volunteering with our organization, or writing a Letter to the Editor or Op-Ed showing support for protecting the wildness and beauty of the Wasatch Mountains, canyons, and foothills.

As such, our current goal in partnership with local communities, governments, and stakeholders is to protect 80,000 acres of public land and your watershed by working with Congress to designate the Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area (NCRA). Once passed, this legislation will connect fragmented land with areas currently under federal protection, designate additional wilderness areas, and limit future development on public domains of the Wasatch — all while protecting our shared values of natural places.

In the coming months we will have an update about the UDOT Draft Alternative EIS! Please stay tuned in for this update.

Ways to stay informed: • Email list: Sign up for our action alert emails through our website • Facebook: Save Our Canyons • Instagram: @saveourcanyons

However, there are several outstanding issues that must be resolved to bring this legislation to a place where the lands we are charged with stewarding for future generations are protected. Tell the Central Wasatch Commission that in order to continue supporting this proposed legislation the following must be addressed and resolved: • The proposed “White Pine Watershed Protection Area” area in Little Cottonwood Canyon contains wilderness quality lands that should be added into the Lone Peak Wilderness Area to protect plants and animals as well as the future of non-mechanized experience for hikers, walkers, picnickers, or wildlife viewing.

• Grizzly Gulch, Patsy Marley, Mount Wolverine, and Catherine’s Pass must be permanently protected within this legislation.

• Transportation is given priority over the protection of water and numerous dispersed recreational activities along the Little Cottonwood Riparian Habitat Conservation Area threatening species, water quality and activities like camping, bouldering/climbing, hiking and mountain biking at areas like Tanners Campground, White Pine, and Little Cottonwood Trail.

• The proposed legislation should support transit access to trailheads and dispersed recreation sites. Or encourage the implementation of/and adherence to a recreation management plan that would benefit the recreation experience and protection of our environment.

By taking action today you are requesting these issues MUST be resolved in the next draft of the National Conservation and Recreation Area Act before introduction. This is a pivotal time for our communities who wish to protect the Wasatch Range as a source of water, place of solitude, and our shared home with 1,200 plant and animal species. Sign our petition today by scanning the QR Code in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are new to QR Codes, here are some helpful steps in completing this action: • Open the QR Code reader on your phone or camera • Hold your device over a QR Code so that it’s clearly visible within your smartphone’s screen.

• .Two things can happen when you correctly hold your smartphone over a QR Code. Your phone automatically scans the code. On some readers/phones, you have to press a button to take a picture, not unlike the button on your smartphone camera. If necessary, press that button.

• Your smartphone reads the code and navigates you to our NCRA action.

• After completing the petition. Text the link to 10 people to help us protect your water and public land in the Wasatch.

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Advocacy Corner

www.saveourcanyons.org

“Far Out” taken by Samuel Werstak; Instagram @sam_werstak

Our Speaker Series held during March 2021 gave an opportunity to celebrate the Wasatch Mountains, while practicing social distancing.

The Speaker Series featured unique voices about water, climate change, and conservation of wild places followed by a short presentation on current issues Save Our Canyons is tackling.

If you missed any of our events we recorded them over Zoom and uploaded them to YouTube. Turn the video on while working and listen as you would a podcast or grab a beverage and host a Save Our Canyons Speaker Series at your home! Watch today: https://saveourcanyons.org/the-latest/save-our-canyons-blog/wasatch-wednesday-speaker-series Save Our Canyons would like to say thank you to Brad Meiklejohn, Ayja Bounous and Torrey House Press, and Laura Briefer and Mike DeVries for participating in our Speaker Series!

www.saveourcanyons.org

Throughout this newsletter you will find different actions from signing the Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area (NCRA) petition on p.12, becoming a member of the Save Our Canyons on p.15, and becoming a stewardship of the land on p.9.

Save Our Canyons is a community driven organization and there are many wanys to get involved, including making a donation.

Here are several ways you can donate to Save Our Canyons: • Online Donation • .Mail in a check to PO Box: 112017 Salt Lake City, UT 84147 • Donate stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRA accounts, real estate, life insurance, business interests, and bequests through your will or trust!

Every generous donation helps to protect the public land in the Wasatch Mountains.

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FEAR, DO NOT REVERE “WasAngeles” Written by Development Director Grace Tyler

we pave our way into wilderness leaving nothing behind except wider roads, gondolas, and trains?

Clean air, clean water, and open spaces don’t come easy. We have to actively work to protect our open spaces and places. And as the population in Utah keeps growing – it’s critical that we adapt to lifestyle changes that focus on protecting the quality of life we all rely upon. What are you willing to do differently so we can protect the wildness of our wilderness? What will the Wasatch look like in 10 years, if we don’t act now in protecting our water source? Will there be a “WasAngeles” sign at the bottom of the Cottonwood Canyons?

Now’s not the time to sit back, relax, and expect things are going to change on their own. Born and raised in the valley of the Wasatch or transplanted from another ecosystem — we need voices that help to carry our shared goal of protecting the wildness and beauty of the Wasatch Mountains.

Throughout this newsletter you will find different actions from signing the Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area (NCRA) petition on p.12, becoming a member of the Save Our Canyons on p.15, and becoming a stewardship of the land on p.9.

There’s no gondola-ing our way out of this, we need to pass permanent policies that protect our public lands

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3690 E Fort Union Blvd STE 101 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121.

Join

Save Our Canyons relies critically on the support of individual members and local businesses. Join today for only $35: https://saveourcanyons.org/join!

Renew

Renew your one-year membership today for only $35, and keep doing your part for the Wasatch: https://saveourcanyons.org/renew.

Give Monthly

Become a monthly member for as low as $5 a month: https://saveourcanyons.org/give-monthly.

• Connection to a community passionate about conservation • Discount on ALL Save Our Canyons event tickets • Direct access to our brightest conservation leaders • Ability to serve on a Save Our Canyons advisory committee • An exclusive Save Our Canyons membership event • Quarterly newsletters delivered to your door or via email (your preference) • Action Alert emails that focus on direct actions to protect the Wasatch

From cheeky Instagram accounts popping up highlighting the red snake throughout the Central Wasatch and Southern Utah. To Uinta Brewing launching a craft beer called “WasAngeles” saying, “A tribute to our hometown and the active outdoor lifestyle that is the foundation of our love for this place.” Uinta Brewing truly wants to help protect the Wasatch from redirecting people under the age of 21 away from their webpage and to the Salt Lake City Public Utilities website, to partnering with SOC during an event back in 2018. But, I begin to wonder what the impacts are when we embrace the term “WasAngeles”.

If the powers that be think Little Cottonwood Canyon is the only area experiencing pressure from visitation, they are sadly mistaken. What Utah cannot do is – gondola our way out of this. Building a train or gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon doesn’t solve the problem, it only enhances it. And as Edward Abbey said, “Congress is always willing to appropriate money for more and bigger paved roads, anywhere – particularly if they form loops.” We are at a critical turning point, do we prioritise clean water, clean air, and the flora and fauna throughout Utah? Or do

Your tax deductible donation enables us to continue protecting the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch Mountains. Becoming a member by donating online or by mailing in a check to:

Membership Benefits

The amount of growth that Utah has experienced in the last few years is undeniable. Home sales along the Wasatch Front reached historic highs in 2020 as low interest rates encouraged more buying. And sales of single-family houses, condominiums, townhomes and duplexes in Salt Lake County topped 19,125 last year, up from 18,125 in 2019 (Tony Semerad, Jan. 27, 2021, The Salt Lake Tribune). As more and more people move to Utah the term “WasAngeles’’ has begun to spread like wildfire.

If you think about the growing pains that Utah is experiencing, some could draw the connection between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Currently, Salt Lake City has some of the worst air quality in the nation. Roadways are seeing more and more pressure, as public transportation systems need more connectivity. And our public lands are being loved to death. Trying to access the Central Wasatch on a powder day, is similar to trying to access Moab during the spring to go climbing or mountain biking.

Become A Member

Other Ways To Donate

Photo Credit— Eric R. Johnson; Instagram: @e2the3

Remember, growth for the sake of growth, particularly as it wreaks havoc on the wildness and beauty of the Wasatch, is the ideology of the cancer cell. Don’t be part of the cancer, be part of the cure and take action (sign a petition, volunteer, or donate) with us today.

www.saveourcanyons.org

There are multiple ways you can support or donate to Save Our Canyons! Donate stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRA accounts, real estate, life insurance, business interests, and bequests through your will or trust! If you’re interested in leaving a legacy of support for the continued preservation of this amazing range and the communities it supports please contact Sarah Sleater at sarah@saveourcanyons.org or 801-363-7283.

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NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH PERMIT NO. 7271 Citizens’ Committee to Save Our Canyons 3690 E Fort Union Blvd STE 101 Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121

As a community driven organization, our members guide and direct our work. Join us! Annual memberships are $35 and allow us to continue to advocate loudly for our water, land, recreational access and quality of life that result from a connected and protected Wasatch Mountains.

It’s easy — donate online via saveourcanyons.org

Donate Today

Louis Arevalo Photography https://www.louisarevalophotography.com/index