Winter 2021 Newsletter

Mountains Of Money

A comprehensive guide to transportation and preservation efforts in the Wasatch Mountains

Citizens Committee to Save Our Canyons

Dedicated to protecting the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch Mountains

Director’s Message Written by Executive Director, Carl Fisher

Winter 2021 Newsletter

Director’s Message............P2-P4 Welcome To The Team............ P4-P5 Thank You For Donating...........P5 Wasatch Photography............P6 Protecting The Wasatch.............P6 Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area...........P7 NCRA Call Out Map ...........P8-P9 Transportation Perspectives From Our History.......P10- P15 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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The next several months will be critical for the coming years as local governments under the banner of the Central Wasatch Commission have said they will make a recommendation for transportation in the Central Wasatch Mountains by April 2021. Some call these efforts transportation “solutions”, but after four decades of inaction, calling these outcomes a “solution” isn’t far to the Wasatch Mountains. A solution to the issues we face in the Wasatch are more complicated than just a new transportation mode. And it’s time to be honest, transportation is heavily skewed toward supporting only the resorts and those beholden to them. What is being pursued doesn’t further protect our water supply, doesn’t enhance access for the non-resort patron, doesn’t stop the loss of species, and doesn’t remove development pressures from the Wasatch. It will do the opposite, because no governmental entity, with the exception perhaps of a few at Salt Lake City, have concerned themselves with the associated impacts of the decisions before us. Ask yourself and your elected representatives, when has building something in the Wasatch resulted in less pressure on this place? Development begets more development.

It’s true, when it snows the Central Wasatch is a mess, our engineering and technological evolutionary curve is a mirror of our winter driving evolutionary curve, where the former steeply rises, the later has sharply crashed. This is not a trend limited to our canyons, many of our roadways are a complete disaster with the mere hint of weather.

I-15 has closed or gets clogged with accidents, I-80 the same, even State Street and other roads throughout the city.

When Save Our Canyons formed in 1972, in response to Snowbird opening it wasn’t because we didn’t like skiing, recreation, chair lifts or tram rides. You’ll find many of the SOC loyal enjoying our resorts. The community passionate about our mountains are indeed your community. Our argument, which is proved on a daily basis, is that our canyons could not handle the pressures that Snowbird would create, without fundamentally altering the canyons.

These alterations hinder access and opportunity to the many other values both human and inherently wild while degrading our water supply.

What use, animal, waterway and/or community will you allow to be destroyed to help you get on a tram at 9am?

www.saveourcanyons.org

How much more will conservation have to compromise to urbanization?

Who will reap the financial benefits and who will pay for the burdens created? What is the actual problem we are trying to solve? Depends on who you ask, but what is driving the current conversation has everything to do with tourism dollars, not water quality or even our quality of life.

Gov. Cox has recommended $50 million for what he would like to be a gondola, in his UDOT budget. This is only a fraction of the $546M - $576M project that benefits two private businesses. If the $50M was sent to UTA to buy and operate buses and implement an occupancy-based toll, we’d start seeing improvements to the canyon experience for all users this next year. But the truth is, this isn’t about you. It’s about the ski resorts, money and the miner and settler mentality that led to the first ecological collapse of the Wasatch! It left our mountains deforested and our water undrinkable. This proposal is not about our community, not about protecting water, certainly not about stewarding the resource that is the sole reason for our existence in the desert.

If a gondola is built, what does that mean for nearly 70% of the users of Little Cottonwood Canyon, who don’t regularly patronize a resort? What does that mean for the tens of thousands of people who get their water from these canyons?

As the resort price-wars march north of $200 for a day of skiing, how will the average visitor who seek a much less circus-type environment for their outdoor pursuits get to their favored haunts? Climbing areas, campgrounds and trails will be replaced by gondola towers or train tracks. Now UDOT is saying, they’ll most likely need to expand the road anyhow, because their goal isn’t removing cars, it is improving travel times and increasing canyon capacity. So, we’re really looking at a gondola and an expanded roadway and more asphalt in the canyon. This is how politicians and developers (as if you could untangle the two) slow walk degradation - the warriors against the wild, wielding the blade that cuts a thousand times.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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Pay attention, because if you aren’t at the table, you’re likely on the menu. I suggest you take a moment to reread Ed Abbey’s “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks” from Desert Solitaire. My only critique of his piece is that it was far too conservative of a vision than what we are living. If you don’t have a copy, run to Ken Sanders Rare Books before his establishment succumbs to the similar fate.

The goal here is to inspire action, not to give you a sense of hopelessness. I want to remind you that every wild nook in the Wasatch exists because of the actions your fellow citizens have taken over the years. Gale Dick reminded us that every loss is permanent and that every victory for conservation is temporary, the permanence of victory is only as strong as the advocates protecting voiceless values.

So just as Alexis Kelner did in one of Save Our Canyons first publications in 1975, I’ll finish this with his, and our most important call to action:

Photo Credit Elliot M. Frei (Instagram: @adaptwith_e)

Welcome To The Team Written by Community Development Intern, Berkeley Loper Hi, my name is Berkeley Loper and I am the Community Development Intern for Save Our Canyons this spring. I grew up in Washington, where I first fell in love with the mountains while backpacking with my family. I’m currently a senior at the University of Utah pursuing a degree in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and a minor in Modern Dance.

During my summers working for the Montana and Idaho Conservation Corps, I discovered a passion for ecological restoration and field work and was inspired by the sheer force of a group of environmentally-minded people coming together to make change.

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I am eager to approach conservation work from a new angle while interning with Save Our Canyons; initiating policy change and inspiring public involvement on important issues. While not in classes, I enjoy skiing and biking in the Wasatch and romping around in the sandstone of Southern Utah.

As the Community Development Intern this spring, I will be assisting Save Our Canyons in outreach and education about the dangers facing the mighty Wasatch Front. One of my primary projects will be advocating for greater land protections through the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act (NCRA).

Sign the NCRA petition today, located on page 6!

I will be reaching out to local community councils about presenting on the NCRA at meetings in hopes of engaging community members on land issues. I will also assist in the social media needs of Save Our Canyons; creating Berkeley Loper; Community Development Intern posts to raise awareness in the community about issues of land use and transportation in the Wasatch and encouraging people to take action. Decisions about land management in the Wasatch affect everyone in the valley below.

Whether an avid adventurer or drinker of clean water, raising awareness about these threats that have potential to harm our watershed is key to bringing more voices to the forefront of the issue.

2020 was a year like no other! And with a staff of 4 people, 11 Board Members, 5 Interns, and over 8,000 Wasatch defenders we were able to keep the Wasatch wild for another year.

We would like to give a big thank you to everyone that donated in 2020! We had a goal of raising $95,000 and we raised over $127,323 – THANK YOU!⁣ We would also like to say thank you to the Petra Foundation, KÜHL, and local Wasatch defender John Johnson and Hank Hemingway for generously providing matching grants during our End Of Year Fundraising Campaign.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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One of the first rules of backcountry safety is that you don’t go it alone. It’s not just the credo for backcountry safety, it’s also how you protect the backcountry. You don’t go it alone, it requires a community — and we have an amazing community full of Wasatch Defenders.⁣ We would like to say THANK YOU to all the photographers that have sent us photos to use on our thank you cards and social media: Brandon Dotinga (@bdotes), Elliot M. Frei (@adaptwith_e), Michelle Olmstead Photography (@ findmeonthemountain), Chad Van Ginkel (@chadvanginkel), Eric Johnson (@e2the3), 35mm Film Photography by Brian Kissmer (@kissmer.film), Katherine and Michael Koniuch (@katexplores), Zachary Coury (@zachcoury), Kristi Henne( @ kristi_jacks), and Shauna Hart (@byhartphotography), Christina Platt (@ranger.plattypus), and Guido Bergomi (guidobergomi).

During the next few months we will be posting on social media some of the photos we have received. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram! Highlighted here is a photo taken by Eric Johnson (Instagram @e2the3)!

Architecture For People & Planet Written by Solstice Design Build Caroline Wallace and Shay Myers Solstice Design Build is an architecture and construction company that is passionate about creating sustainable spaces and structures for people and the planet. We believe in creating cleaner and healthier environments, reducing our ecological impacts in design and construction and promoting the preservation of natural resources. Communication, collaboration and compassion are at the core of what we do. Our priority is to enrich the lives of our clients and work toward a symbiotic relationship between the built and natural environments.

We are excited about the opportunity to partner with Save Our Canyons to support their work in addressing the most pressing issues threatening our beautiful, wild lands in the Wasatch Front. As avid skiers, trail runners, climbers, etc. we benefit from access to the incredible wilderness of the Wasatch Front and are looking to do our part to help preserve it.

We are offering our skill sets as designers to help amplify the essential advocacy work that Save Our Canyons is doing.

When looking for new architecture and construction company, outdoor gear, a nice place to eat, and more; please remember to support those that support the Wasatch! Visit Solstice Design Build LLC: https://solsticedb.com!

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Central Wasatch National Conservation & Recreation Area Written by Alex Schmidt, Campaigns Coordinator 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

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.

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. www.saveourcanyons.org

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Central Wasatch National Con

Public transportation to popular trailheads will reduce traffic congestion and emissions while making the Wasatch more accessible to all. Ski resorts want transit systems that work best for them, not for the entire canyon-user community.

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nservation & Recreation Area Development up Grizzly Gulch, situated at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon in the headwaters of the valley’s water supply, would tarnish the natural landscape and encroach on visitors’ access to a true wilderness experience.

The proposed idea to connect ski resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons is a profit-driven objective to attract greater tourism and initiate further development. Ski interconnect fails to keep the best interests of wildlife, traffic, and watershed protection in mind.

Little Cottonwood Canyon’s scenic Mt. Wolverine, known for its hiking and incredible ski lines, faces the danger of unsightly and disruptive development at its summit without comprehensive legislation to keep our watershed and wild public lands protected from unnecessary infrastructure.

Sign Our Petition Today

The incredibly beautiful White Pine area in Little Cottonwood Canyon contains Wilderness quality lands that are on par with already designated areas of the Lone Peak Wilderness, and yet this land is not included as proposed Wilderness designation.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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Transportation Perspectives From Our History This is a saga that has been wearing on for decades. In the 70’s part of Snowbird’s original vision had a gondola from the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon going all the way up to Snowbird. In the 80’s, Governor Norm Bangerter had a report commissioned on interconnecting the ski resorts in the Central Wasatch, with mentions of how it would attract the Winter Olympics to the Cottonwood Canyons.

Then came decades of piecemeal expansions and lift proposals by resorts to try and do it as a series of one offs. One could easily fill an old mining shaft with volumes of documents and maps along with efforts to industrialize our national forest and watershed. Some of these relics have moved with SOC for decades, many we’ve handed over to special collections at the University of Utah to deal with, while others provide structural support for Alexis Kelner’s living room.

Photo Credit— Katherine and Michael Koniuch; Instagram: @katexplores

But in 2010, something a little different happened. There were two pieces of legislation before the US Congress. One was created in collaboration between conservation and commercial interests, the Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act. The other bill, crafted in secret and facilitating development of areas many had agreed needed protection, would have built SkiLink — a lift between the Talisker’s Canyons resort and Solitude. It was the conflict of these two bills, establishing two sides, that created an opening, establishing the field for the Mountain Accord to play out.

This background is helpful because in the era of revisionist history, some will say that Mountain Accord was all about transportation and it failed because it didn’t come up with a solution. I say it failed because of Trump, and Utah’s emboldened stance after he destroyed our National Monuments, pure political brute force. That said, transportation, conservation, recreation and the economy were the agreed to pillars of the accord laid out quite plainly in the text of the agreement:

1.7. Specifically, the signers of the Accord seek:

• A natural ecosystem that is conserved, protected and restored such that it is healthy, functional, and resilient for current and future generations.

• A recreation system that provides a range of settings and accommodates current and increasing demand by encouraging high levels of use at thoughtfully designed locations (nodes) with convenient access, while protecting solitude, nature, and other backcountry values.

• A sustainable, safe, efficient, multi-modal transportation system that provides year-round choices to residents, visitors and employees; connects to the overall regional network; serves a diversity of commercial and dispersed recreation uses; is integrated within the fabric of community values and lifestyle choices; supports land-use objectives; and is compatible with the unique environmental characteristics of the Central Wasatch.

• Broadly shared economic prosperity that enhances quality of life and preserves natural and scenic resources and infrastructure that is attractive, sustainable, and provides opportunity for visitors and residents.

These statements represent the consensus of our community. This is not Save Our Canyons, or Snowbird, or Alta, Salt

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Lake City, the State of Utah, land owners, or too many recreational interests to list — rather it is all of us. When you look at what is being pursued by UDOT’s Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), you’ll note a very different set of objectives, or in National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) speak, a different purpose and need: UDOT’s purpose is reflected in one primary objective for S.R. 210 (road going up LCC): to substantially improve safety, reliability, and mobility on S.R. 210 from Fort Union Boulevard through the town of Alta for all users on S.R. 210.

A quick audit in the action words between the Mountain Accord and UDOT’s EIS demonstrates the state has no interest in partnering to realize the vision of our community, but further, they are hostile to that vision. They are making decisions that affect all seasons of use and the environment, but only considering 3 or 4 months of the year (Dec - Mar). Some sleight of hand is happening with the word “all”. These are fatal flaws that will not only be carried through the process, but will wreak havoc on our communities and canyons for generations to come, unless of course you have an endowment to pay to play and build your own personal water filtration system.

The following pages are intended to help understand the pros, cons, and impacts that likely won’t be explored by UDOT, primarily because their jurisdiction and vision for the canyons begins and ends on pavement, severing a watershed, that watershed managers have astutely accused them of ignoring and causing irreparable harm.

Canyon Capacity

The current system for managing visitor capacity is by parking. It is clear this is a flawed model, in part, thanks to UDOT, who won’t enforce roadside parking.

And allowing overflow parking miles down the canyon highways from the parking areas, designed to accommodate only a finite number of cars. The USFS has abandoned trying to enforce its forest plan and adhere to parking, furthermore, allowing Alta to expand parking areas in the iconic Albion Basin because we flock to see rows of cars in the new Albion dust bowl, not wildflowers, right?

Better late than never, local governments have heeded the calls from the public and are in the process of looking at canyon capacity through a visitor manageIs this the future of the Wasatch Mountains? ment study. That said, the USFS has indicated it isn’t interested in those findings. National Parks however, have found these to be useful studies, so as we go forward, we may need to start looking for a new land management agency. One that can manage the Wasatch for its wild and watershed characteristics, rather than just kowtowing to resort and monied interests. This could be accomplished through legislation.

In 2019, the Wasatch Mountains, which act as the watershed for the million plus residents living nearby, saw nearly six million user visits. That’s roughly equivalent to the combined visitation numbers for all five of Utah’s National Parks, but in an area one fifth the size of those iconic parks. The simple truth here is that we cannot manage the existing numbers of visitors so looking at high capacity transit modes like trains or gondolas is patently insane. It is the local customers paying for the water coming from these canyons that footed the bill to steward these resources (clean and build restrooms), not the USFS and State of Utah. Even though they continue to promote and increase visitation pressures, more money goes to marketing campaigns than resource management; “It’s all yours” & “Life Elevated”. Seems equitable that the visitor also contributes to stewarding the resource they’re enjoying.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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Parking

All of the UDOT options (bus, gondola, & rail) would require the construction of thousands of parking stalls near the mouths of the Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. UDOT thinks about moving cars, not people, they’ve failed to incorporate into their scope delivering people to the canyon entrances without a car. These parking garages will just shift the traffic jams currently being held in the canyons further into valley neighborhoods as they queue up to navigate the maze of a parking garage at already busy areas.

Not only will these garages need land that isn’t really available, building parking is We must think about the decisions we are making as a year-round, 365 day, and 8,760 hour solution. expensive too. We’ve heard the new garage built at the mouth of the canyon cost about $30,000 PER STALL! That’s a cost we will all bear. Better transit to and from the canyon mouths would be a much wiser public investment, that will protect land and water, clean our air, and improve walkability around these already congested areas. Simply running buses on roads that are already in existence would negate the need for additional parking impacts.

Development Pressures

Delivering more people to the Wasatch will surely drive more development pressures. For the past 15 or so years, Salt Lake County has done a public option survey on our watersheds. It finds, pretty consistently, that only 7% of people want more development in our watersheds, while 41% say they want “about the same” amount of development and the majority, 52% say they want less than already exists today!

You may be shocked to learn that there is already more development than exists today in the Central Wasatch. Resorts and other developers amass development authorizations that have yet to be realized to inflate their value for potential sellers. For example, Snowbird has only built about 50% of what they are authorized to do —so effectively you could see another Cliff Lodge and another Iron Blossom come to the canyon. We at Save Our Canyons fervently believe that the interest in high capacity has everything to do with realizing this (and possibly more) development in the headwaters of our canyons, and laying the foundation for future Olympic venues in the Cottonwoods. It is a classic positive feedback loop, and a damning cycle that needs to be broken. More people, more cost, more development and infrastructure, repeat (without even rinsing).

Recreation Displacement

The greatest burden to help the ski areas get more visitation by these transportation modes will be borne by the people just trying to experience the beauty of the Wasatch away from resorts. The wildly popular Little Cottonwood Quarry Trail and beautiful creek will be replaced by railroad tracks and gondola pylons. No more morning or afternoon rides and hikes along the creek looking at birds. Popular climbing areas and boulder problems will enjoy that same fate, so that resort skiers have better access. Tanner’s Campground will be replaced by angle stations and the serene sound of the rushing

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creek will be replaced by the whizz of gondolas or the clickity-clack of tracks.

Much of this could be avoided by just running more buses and removing cars from the roadway that is already in existence. Or why not replace the roadway with rail tracks, there’s already a disturbed corridor. Transportation projects just aren’t as great if you can’t chase, The Lorax through the forest with dozers and cranes and other implements of destruction. Just as the desert tortoise in the Red Cliffs NCA - UDOT’s other myopic and damaging transportation initiative.

Watershed Impacts

Any project that isn’t using existing paved areas is going to have destructive impacts on the hydrology, thereby, our watersheds.

A 2012 USFS study found that Little Cottonwood Canyon was an “Impared Watershed”. There are stretches of stream where aquatic life is unable to survive. The report that accompanies the finding cited, “The main limiting factor for improvement is the impaired water quality (zinc) in Little Cottonwood Creek because it limits the aquatic productivity of the stream channel. Several culverts create fish barriers. New unauthorized hiking and mountain bike trails located near Little Cotonwood Photo Credit — Howie Garber; Instagram @howiegarberphotography Creek are causing erosion and sedimentation of the stream.” So naturally, transportation managers are looking to add cuts to the thousands of cuts already degrading our waterways, thereby diminishing your water quality. Increased turbidity caused by erosion and alterations in hydrology, further impede aquatic life, decrease the amount of oxygen in the water, increase temperatures and would likely increase the likelihood of algal blooms infecting these waterways.

Big Cottonwood Canyon

They’re looking to allocate up to $1 billion towards Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC) transportation, but not even considering Big Cottonwood Canyon (BCC). This means that the UDOT EIS is not addressing the landscape and visitor scope comprehensively. The parking proposed is only looking at accommodating LCC visitors, not BCC visitation, thereby programming a massive deficit and creating systemwide failures, thus failing visitors, communities and our canyons.

Wildlife Impediments

The roadways, trails and resorts already create impediments to wildlife movement. Adding new infrastructure, roads or guideways will further create barriers to wildlife, terrestrial, aquatic and avian alike. This will further contribute to the rapid and horrible extirpation of species whom we share the Wasatch with, making way for non-native species to fill their niche — fundamentally altering the wildness of the Wasatch.

We already have a lot of impacts on the species we share the Wasatch with and there are some studies going on in this very geography to better understand the impact. New modes, new corridors and the new recreational amenities they will fuel, will undoubtedly have a compounding (not necessarily linear) impact on wildlife.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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UDOT’s Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement — Alternative Factsheets Avalanche Mitigation

Avalanche Mitigation

According to UDOT’s EIS, avalanches cause 6 to 10 days of closure on average, per year. This is a primary consideration for what mode and associated mitigating measure will be installed. Another way of putting this, for a hand full of days, we are permanently going to change the canyon forever. It is akin to damming a river or blowing up a rapid, to ensure safer passage at higher levels.

Unsightly avalanche sheds will likely accompany every mode being considered because reliability has become one of the highest values to commercial interest. Both the gondola and the rail proposals include them because both require at least 70% of the vehicles to continue to use the road way. We argue there will likely still be 100% of the cars, because what is actually happening is a 30% increase (at minimum) in visitation to these canyons, rather than a 30% reduction in cars.

The snowshed would run up the North wall of LCC about 300 linear feet

Service Roads

Every tram, lift and gondola has service roads, both for construction, but also for evacuations. Given this will be the longest gondola likely with the most towers, with a 45-minute transit time and given the rapid changes in mountain weather (particularly in the winter), it is likely that there will need to be numerous roads accessing the gondola guideway, which are currently not in existence. High canyon winds are not uncommon, and storms shutting down the gondola because of high winds are probably more of a frequency than the avalanche issues that complicate the existing roadway. Can you imagine being stuck in a gondola in the middle of Little Cottonwood Canyon during a windstorm?

Wait Times and Increased Visitation

As more and more people come to the area, we will have to build more and more to accommodate them. From bath-

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rooms to parking, to condos and restaurants, possibly more lifts too. As we look to solve the problems of today, we need to make sure we aren’t just making it worse.

Removing 30% of the cars from the road way and putting them on another mode, just makes room for 30% more cars on the roadway, which is an increase of 30% in visitation. Ski areas like Alta state they need to grow commensurate with visitation (30% more visitors = 30% more parking = 30% expansion of the resort).

Further, introducing a mode shift to a train or gondola at the busy mouths of these canyons will only make things worse. As thousands of people flock to the canyon entrances to either drive or get on a proposed gondola or train departing from the mouth will only exacerbate the problem we are living today. Snowbird’s Aerial Tram has wait times to load many times in excess of an hour, so as you are looking at the 40 min travel time for a gondola, make sure you factor in wait times as the assumption is that there won’t be wait times. At what point is waiting an hour for a 40 min gondola ride diminishing returns?

Parting Thoughts

Many of these issues are being purposely hidden or just ignored from the conversation. We aren’t bringing them up to be argumentative, rather to be thoughtful and methodical and to truly understand what we are embarking on with these very impactful modes. It might be easy to disregard any one of these issues in isolation, however, ignoring the combination of these and the ripple effects they will have on both visitor experience and the impact to the Wasatch is just irresponsible. This list isn’t exhaustive, it can’t be.

We’ve articulated several visions for the Wasatch. Some are based in history, some are derived through compromise and community engagement, some based around policy -- all driven by science, vision and passion. I suppose one of the most damaging things about UDOT’s Little Cottonwood EIS is that they aren’t being honest with our community, or themselves, about what their vision is for the Wasatch. The Central Wasatch Commission is at least being more thorough in that regard… the short coming there is, just as we have been fought and vilified by the State, so have they. The concerning thing about the CWC’s process, is that the land use changes they acknowledge they will need (locally and federally), are also being fought by the State.

So until the State of Utah, is honest with itself, and with all of us, it will be impossible to fully understand what their vision for the Wasatch is. We are left wondering if their plan or their lack of a plan is more frightening. The best weapon to fight this is to unify behind a protective plan because there are only two fights: fighting to protect or fighting to develop.

www.saveourcanyons.org

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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

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