November 2016 SOC Newsletter

Save Our Canyons Citizens’ Committee to Save Our Canyons

www.saveourcanyons.org

November, 2016

Central Wasatch Conservation and Recreation Act introduced Save Our Canyons is the quarterly publication of the Citizens’ Committee to Save Our Canyons CONTENTS: Chair’s Message ..................... 2 Rob DeBirk Bio ....................... 3 Director’s Message ................. 4 Legacy of Jeff Niermeyer......................... 6 FCOZ ........................................ 7 Ron Younger ........................... 8 MRZ ......................................... 9 Bohemian Brewery Spotlight ................ 10 Wag Bag Project .................... 11 The Good, Bad, and Ugly.... 12 SOC-Kids Article .................. 14 Quality Growth Commission .......................... 15 Support for CWCRA by property owners ................... 16 Central Wasatch Visitor Study ......................... 18 ALEXIS KELNER Perennial Editor JOHN WORLOCK Associate Editor

A few, of the many iconic 80,000 acres of the Central Wasatch to be protected under the CWCRA.” Photos by Alex Schmidt and Howie Garber

Gavin Noyes, Chair of SOC’s Board of Directors.

Accord & Discord in the Land of Zion

By Gavin Noyes

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or 44 years Save Our Canyons has advocated for public lands conservation and inclusive land-use planning for the Wasatch. We believe that every citizen and visitor to our home range has a role to play in shaping its future. Consequently, we are generally pleased with the past three years of the Mountain Accord process, with leaders who have been responsive to public input, able to achieve collaborative agreement that is a strong improvement over the status quo.

Productive outcomes do not always happen in this kind of complex planning environment, so it is worth comparing why the Mountain Accord process seems to be working while the Public Lands Initiative in Eastern Utah seems to be choking on its own fumes. Notably neither process is complete, and both have required a tremendous amount of time, energy, and resources to get this far. The land-use goals at the outset of both processes were similar, and both efforts still require legislation from Utah’s federal delegation to get them done. One however enjoys broad support, whereas the other seems to be sinking under the weight of a biased and inadequate public process.

Last summer Save Our Canyons, local, state, and federal officials; ski resorts, and dozens of our conservation allies signed a consensus agreement known as the Mountain Accord. Even though significant questions remain, generally the participants agree that the process has been respectful, responsive, and is an improvement over the current state of affairs in the Wasatch. Interest groups have gotten to know each other and the values that underlie our respective positions. Furthermore, everyone seems committed to stopping unplanned piecemeal development in favor of a future that provides more certainty for conservation, development, and transportation solutions. The Mountain Accord is on its way to receiving passable grades in each of these areas even as we strive to make it better.

Similarly, the creation of the Public Lands Initiative, or PLI, has required three years and a tremendous amount of effort trying to balance protection and development of federal lands. But this effort was hobbled by involving seven counties

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across Utah and is now being criticized for its lack of responsiveness to the public. Some conservation groups are also saying that conservation safeguards would actually be diminished if the introduced PLI bill (H.R 5780) were to become law.

So where did the PLI go wrong?

The Mountain Accord was driven by local leaders who did a good job of including national interests in federal decisions that greatly impact local people. Citizens submitted public comments, civic organizations represented their members, and the US Forest Service was an active participant in the negotiations.

Conversely, PLI leaders went out of their way to ensure that national interests were excluded or diminished in favor of local voices. Federal land management agencies, Native American Tribes, and Utah residents along the Wasatch Front have had little or no influence over the outcomes of the PLI, even though all have significant ties to and knowledge of the affected public lands. The PLI seemed to say to citizens, you only matter if you reside in the immediately affected county and live off of Indian reservations.

The other public process challenge of the PLI was that each County Commissioner was granted veto power over that county’s participation. No other stakeholders or individuals were similarly empowered to both deal the cards and walk away AND take the card table with them if things weren’t going their way. This skews the political balance because County Commissioners are relatively small actors who represent a few citizens and control small government budgets. Individual commissioners are sometimes elected with only a few hundred votes and have budgets similar in size to those of Tooele City or Holladay. The promises made to these individuals set up a dynamic whereby one person could hijack a good agreement and become a

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local hero in his next election cycle for single-handedly slaying unimaginably “dangerous” opponents. No similar assurance of favoritism was granted to any participant in the Mountain Accord and each group had to explain the merits of their positions at the negotiating table and describe whom they actually represent.

At the end of the day, it seems that the PLI was polluted by the anti-federal attitudes percolating within rural Utah counties. A few influential politicians threatened to oppose the PLI simply because it did not propose to turn all federal lands over to the state of Utah. Within Utah, these individuals have great sway over which candidates make it on to the ballot and so their opinions matter more than the opinions of average citizens. In reading the “discussion draft” of the PLI, it seems that their voices won out.

In summary, Congressman Rob Bishop and his colleagues bound both their arms and their feet at the outset of the PLI planning process, by making inappropriate promises to commissioners and by excluding entire segments of the public. Now, they are stretched across both sides of a deep canyon and have lost any hope of finding common ground. Certainly, the PLI is needed today as much as it was three years ago, but instead of finding ourselves together at a table where dialogue happens, many groups have been forced to leave the process and are seeking remedies through the Courts and the Obama administration.

The Mountain Accord should remind us that as Utahns we can work together across the aisle to solve challenges here at home. Let us hope we can move the Mountain Accord through Congress in 2016, and then follow its example to achieve accord over public lands elsewhere in our great state. The clock is ticking for both of these important issues. ~~~

SOC’s new Policy Director Rob DeBirk

www.saveourcanyons.org

Save Our Canyons hires new Policy Director Meet Rob DeBirk!

After nearly two decades as a supporter of Save Our Canyons, Rob DeBirk joined the SOC staff as policy director in November 2015.

Prior to joining Save Our Canyons, Rob served as the policy director for the public health and environmental non-profit, HEAL Utah, where he worked for six years.

While at HEAL, Rob focused on leading the organization’s legislative efforts, working with downwinders as well as local and national leaders on nuclear weapons issues, and improving renewable energy and air quality policies.

With a grant awarded by the Utah Humanities Council in 2013, Rob produced a radio series for KRCL based on interviews with Utahns impacted by nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site.

A native Utahn, Rob earned both a BA and an MA from the University of Utah. While attending the university, Rob worked for the American West Center conducting interviews with environmentalists from around the state – including a few from Save Our Canyons. At some point during his time at the university Rob realized there was little difference between studying the prose in Finnegan’s Wake and deciphering incoherent state legislative and regulatory matters; hence, a would-be Joycean was irrevocably transformed into a policy wonk.

Rob lives in Sugarhouse with his bride Anndrea, and two children.

When not nose deep in policy issues, Rob enjoys hiking, climbing, fly fishing, biking, sauntering, and sipping the occasional single malt deep in the wilds of the Wasatch Mountains.

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Reining in the Anthropocene

By Carl Fisher, Executive Director

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cientists have just declared that we humans are a force to be reckoned with. Such a force that they are about to add another epoch to the Geological Time Scale, which means our actions have such vigor, that they’ll be forever memorialized in the geologic record of the earth.

“Changes to the Earth System that characterize the potential Anthropocene Epoch include marked acceleration to rates of erosion and sedimentation, large-scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements, the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level, and biotic changes such as unprecedented levels of species invasions = across the Earth.” (Ian Johnston, Independent.co.uk) Throughout our history; Save Our Canyons, Gale Dick, Alexis Kelner, and the thousands who have lent time, money, and passion; we’ve been fighting the establishment of this new epoch. We’ve been fighting to allow this little slice of the earth to continue the right to be shaped by forces of nature, though it appears the founding of this august organization was 20 years to late. What scientists call the “golden spike,” that moment in time where we crossed out of the Holocene and into the Anthropocene, was sometime around 1950. Of course to Utahns, the golden spike is something very different, though when you think about it, it was certainly a precursor to this new epoch, which we find ourselves some 60 years into. The laws of man appear to have overridden the laws of nature, which according to the Geologic Time Scale had previously been in charge for some 4,549,940,000 years.

For 44 years, our fight against the Anthropocene has seen increasingly difficult decisions as we swat back our long lasting impacts on the Wasatch. As you’ll read in this newsletter, there’s no shortage of projects that we are working on to secure protection of the Wasatch and the water it holds for us and our wild friends. These issues are often entrenched in policy

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and zoning ordinances – both of which are hard to follow without paying constant attention. When looking at the issues in isolation it can be difficult to understand their meaning in the broader context of protecting the Wasatch.

The Wasatch Mountains are contained in counties which are ever-urbanizing, continuing their march towards development and Anthropogentification.

This means that all kinds of pressures are being placed on the Wasatch. These pressures include that our Wasatch canyons receive more annual visitation than all five of Utah’s national parks combined, the market forces and changes in ski area ownership, as well as climate change and its effect on wildlife habitat and water availability. If these pressures are not mediated, we will be left with profound negative changes to our beautiful mountains.

The increased urbanization of surrounding counties and townships brings with it governance changes and new political boundaries. This in turn impacts the ordinances governing development in our Wasatch Mountains. These changes are neither good nor bad on their face, but they do present more challenges.

There are more planning commissions to follow, more ordinances to track and work to strengthen, and more energy exerted to counter the pressures threatening to negatively impact the Wasatch we all love and rely on.

It’s important to remember that the Wasatch is both a landscape that we enjoy and an independent ecosystem that needs certain things to remain vibrant and healthy. As Save Our Canyons works with various city and county governments we always emphasize that the Wasatch needs to be treated consistently and in a manner that is uniform across political boundaries. We also stress that the zoning and various other policies forever affecting the Wasatch need to be based on science, and not politics or profit, to drive outcomes that protect what is inherently unique about this amazing mountain range. www.saveourcanyons.org

Save Our Canyons’ aim is to ensure that the future of the Wasatch Mountains are controlled by science based policies focused on outcomes protecting wildlife, water quality and natural experiences. This is often an uphill battle; one as steep, strenuous, and ultimately rewarding, as the climb up Big Willow to the heights of Lone Peak.

One policy that was developed, way back in the Holocene was established to leave well enough alone. It’s more commonly known as the Wilderness Act. Today, it’s in danger of being anthropocized, mechanized and bastardized by special interests who wish to ensure there’s no place on in this country to have a primevil experience.

Some policies, like the Wilderness Act, are tried and true as longstanding protectors of the Wild. This is why we’ve aimed for Wilderness designation so many times, from our successful efforts to create the Lone Peak, Mt. Olympus and Twin Peaks Wilderness areas, to our proposed Wasatch Wilderness legislation in 2010, to our current efforts in the Mountain Accord, which includes over 9,000 acres of new Wilderness.

For over 50 years now, wilderness designation has stood as the gold standard of environmental protection. But even something as tried and true as Wilderness comes under attack. Currently, a fringe group of mountain bikers are working with US Senators from Utah, Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, to deflower the Wilderness Act by allowing bikes into wilderness areas. We believe what’s driving them is less about allowing bikes in Wilderness and more about driving a divisive wedge between recreational interest and those like us who see protection of the enviornment ahead of the evolution of how we use the land.

human decision making processes at all levels of our government, we need to keep a keen eye out, not just for recreation interests, but also for the geological and ecological principles that formed the Wasatch we are fortunate to enjoy today. Some policies, like Wilderness and National Monuments are politically polarizing. Perhaps this is because they are good at what they are intended to do – protecting the wild.

We hope our elected leaders look to these policies that stand the test of time to chart a course to protect the Wasatch for current and future generations. In the meantime, Save Our Canyons will continue fighting, as we have for the past 44 years, to ensure that both the landscape of the Wasatch Mountains and the delicate ecosystems within them are protected by the strongest policies possible.

Our charter in the new founded Anthropocene, is simple: work to insert within the laws of man, the laws of nature. We’ve done it quite well with the Wilderness Act – we just need to defend it and to appreciate it. We’ll continue to advocate for the laws of nature to be incorporated into the FCOZ ordiannce and into the newly founded MRZ ordinance (read more about these in this Newsletter).

We’ve got our work cut out for us. It is going to be one hell of a busy epoch. We need your help developing these policies and working to protect this unique and iconic place. Join with us and do your part to help make sure the anthropocene is forever remembered in the Geologic Time Scale, as a time where we anthropoids did something to improve upon the trajectory we now find ourselves on in this new time. If we can destabilize the atom, we should also be able to restabilize the planet. As for us here at SOC, we’ll start in the Wasatch and hope it catches on to assist other cherished landscapes. ~~~

Other methods of protection, like Salt Lake County’s FCOZ, are incredibly important when wilderness designation is not an option. FCOZ, as you’ll read more about in the newsletter, originated in 1997 as a strong ordinance, but is in the process of being revised by the Mountainous Planning Commission and then by the Salt Lake County Council. FCOZ has been a strong protection for the Wasatch; it has limited development and safeguarded streams, habitat, and recreation. However, if we don’t work hard during the ongoing FCOZ revision process we risk seeing this exceptional protection weakened to the point where it’s merely facilitating death by a thousand minor cuts to our beloved Wasatch.

As we continue to craft policies and inform our www.saveourcanyons.org

Great Western Trail

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Jeff Niermeyer Leaves an Important legacy

By Gayle Parry

“We simply cannot lose these resources that are not replaceable.” ~ Jeff Niermeyer

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eff Niermeyer has recently retired as director from one of the most important jobs in city government, Director of Salt Lake City Public Utilities. We can only applaud Jeff’s commitment as a protector of our watershed, as should the over half a million people of Salt Lake County whose water is some of the purest and safest in the nation.

of Science Degree in Civil Engineering in 1978. He was a consulting engineer in Price and Wellington, Utah and then went to Fairbanks, Alaska as a consultant on water resources. In 1986 he returned to Salt Lake City and became a partner in a small consulting firm.

Former Mayor, Ralph Becker, had this to say about Jeff:

In 1991 Jeff joined Salt Lake City Public Utilities developing the city’s storm water quality management plan. In 1997, Jeff was promoted to Deputy Director for the department where he managed the watershed in the Central Wasatch. He became Director of Salt Lake City Public Utilities in the summer of 2007.

“Nobody better exemplifies protection of the Wasatch Mountains, public service, and serving as a fierce advocate for our mountains than Jeff Niermeyer. His twenty-four years in the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities, building on the many decades of legacy left by Charlie Wilson and LeRoy Hooton, have preserved our mountains and watershed for us and future generations.”

There is no doubt that Jeff loves the mountains he has protected. He hikes, bikes, does backcountry and resort skiing, is a climber, and a white water kayaker. Jeff enjoys hiking and backpacking with his wife, Gloria, and loves mountain activities with his daughters, Madison and Megan. He hopes that the future will continue to hold the same opportunities for his children that he has enjoyed.

Wilderness is watershed. Jeff says, “When development moves into wilderness, this exceptional resource, our water, could be terribly degraded or actually disappear. Wilderness is threatened by reduction of the snow pack through climate change, development and mismanagement of the watershed.

We are unusual in that we have a world-class wilderness at our doorstep that is threatened by the increase in recreational demands and the pressures of a growing county population as well. For these reasons, we need to protect these resources at a higher level.

We simply cannot afford to lose these resources that are not replaceable.”

His first adventure as a retiree will begin in July when he plans to go on a 2,500-mile bike trip on the Great Divide Route that extends from Canada to Mexico.

This route crisscrosses the Continental Divide twenty times in the United States. We wish him a happy retirement. ~~~

The part of the job that was the hardest for Jeff was the litigation that was necessary to protect and preserve the Central Wasatch. Jeff feels his greatest accomplishment was helping to facilitate the Mountain Accord that created a fifty-year vision for this part of the Wasatch. This amazing compromise occurred between twenty-six elected officials, numerous stakeholders and environmental groups.

Jeff Niermeyer was born in Butte, Montana. His father was a mining engineer who moved his family many times with Salt Lake City being his favorite place to live. First the family moved from Butte, Montana to South America, then to Canada and back to Salt Lake.

He attended the University of Utah earning a Bachelor

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Jeff kayaking Piatua Ecuador

Jeff hiking with Gloria

www.saveourcanyons.org

Revisions for FCOZ

by Rob DeBirk

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ince 1997, Salt Lake County’s zoning ordinance, the Foothill and Canyons Overlay Zone (FCOZ), has successfully been used to control development in the Wasatch Canyons.

FCOZ was initiated to create standards for development that would preserve the aesthetic qualities of the canyons, protect wildlife habitat and environmentally sensitive areas, and prohibit activities that degrade soils, slopes, and water quality. A 2010 poll conducted as part of Envision Utah’s Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow study found that 82% of the public supported FCOZ. A strong ordinance enjoying a solid approval rating and a nearly two-decade long history of successfully protecting our canyons. Sounds like a sure thing to continue into the foreseeable future, right? Wrong.

Unfortunately, the ordinance that’s been so successful in protecting the canyons is now coming under fire from a few self-interested parties — namely ski resorts, developers, and a small minority of landowners.

The FCOZ ordinance requires that private landowners adhere to certain standards of development in order to protect water quality and curb aesthetic intrusions on the natural landscape. Some — but certainly not all — private landowners find this ordinance burdensome. However, there’s no doubt that for the overwhelming majority of us who don’t want to see the Wasatch further despoiled, a strong FCOZ is arguably both our best line of defense and the reason there isn’t considerably more development in the Wasatch. The ordinance’s protections are also the reason that the development we do see in the canyons isn’t more egregious. And that is exactly why certain parties are so incensed by the ordinances success.

FCOZ is comprehensive, governing everything from potential development near the wetlands and streams at the canyons’ bottoms, to building on the ridge lines at the canyons’ tops. While important in its entirety, there are a few key points critical to FCOZ’s success from a conservation perspective. These are: prohibiting development on slopes above 30 degrees (with some rare exceptions), limiting development near

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streams and wetlands, and wildlife protections.

All three of these major protections, as well as a number of others, are currently under attack during the FCOZ revision process.

Beginning in December 2015, a revised FCOZ draft was released for public comment. Almost immediately, lawyers for the ski resorts shot back with demands that the environmental protections enshrined in the 1997 version of FCOZ be significantly weakened. Ski resorts, the document complained, have to compete for customers in a regional market and so environmental and wildlife protections should be diluted in order to “level the playing field” for resorts. According to the ski resorts’ lawyer, Marty Banks, the strong environmental and water quality protections found in the original FCOZ aren’t fair because other resorts in the West can build more condos and shops without being inconvenienced by such environmental protections.

Ski resorts, chiefly Snowbird, seem to have forgotten that unlike other resorts they’re located in the middle of a productive watershed that provides a majority of the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents in the valley below.

In order to “level the playing field,” lawyers for the resorts demanded they be allowed to build on steeper slopes, severely cut the distance between new buildings and streams and wetlands, permit for more lighting and significantly taller light poles, and concede to more building development near canyon ridge lines.

The suggestions made by the resort’s lawyer were then incorporated in the draft ordinance. The new draft also stripped wildlife protections, removing important references to the value of protecting critical wildlife habitat from development. Perhaps most alarming, in order to appease resorts and private property owners this latest draft substantially altered the purpose statement of FCOZ. The original purpose of FCOZ drafted in 1997 was the following: “To promote the health, safety, and public welfare of the residents of the county, and while being cognizant of private property rights, to preserve the natural character of the foothills and canyons by establishing standards for foothill and canyon development proposed in the unincorporated

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areas of the county.” The most recent version of the new purpose states: “To promote safe, environmentally sensitive development that strikes a reasonable balance between the rights and long term interests of property owners and those of the general public.”

Notice a difference? Comparing the original FCOZ with the revised draft is like substituting the preamble from the Declaration of Independence with wishy-washy language about perhaps the rights of men being inalienable and Life, Liberty, and the pursuit Happiness being reasonable goals but maybe they should be balanced with or deferred to the desires of King George. You know, in the interest of striking a reasonable balance.

The Mountainous Planning Commission recommended this draft and forwarded it to the Salt Lake County Council for consideration. This fall, the County Council will have the final say, deciding whether the nearly twenty-year-old FCOZ ordinance will continue protecting the watershed, wildlife, and unparalleled recreation experiences found in the Wasatch Canyons or if those protections will be sacrificed to the whims of developers and ski resorts.

Expect to hear more from Save Our Canyons about FCOZ in the coming weeks. For the most up to date information on our campaigns click the “Get Involved” tab on our website at www.saveourcanyons. org. We’ll send you a couple updates a month with the latest information and how you can help save our canyons. Don’t like email? Like us on Facebook.

There you’ll get all the updates and some pretty pictures of the Wasatch thrown in to make the policy stuff more palatable. ~~~

Ron Younger - a dedicated supporter of Save Our Canyons

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Ron Younger

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on Younger, who was a Trustee with Save Our Canyons for many years, passed away in late January. Ron did a lot of important work with SOC back before the organization had staff and as it was getting its first staff members.

Carl Fisher put the following brief tribute on the SOC Facebook page.

“We’ve lost another soul of the wild. Ron Younger was a Save Our Canyons Trustee for many years in the 90’s and 00’s. He helped SOC on many issues including litigation on the Old Snowbasin Road and fighting the Snowbasin land exchange leading up to the 2002 Olympics that facilitated development at Snowbasin and loss of public land in the Ogden Valley, to name just a few highlights. When I first met Ron, he was swinging a pick mattock and leading a team of SOC volunteers on a trail day in the summer of 2000 up Mt. Olympus (he was then in his 70’s!). He never missed an opportunity to give back to a place that gave him so much, on trail day or a canyon clean up. We salute you and your service, Ron! Thanks for your dedication to country, community, wild things and the Wasatch! We’ll continue your fight, comrade!”

Gavin Noyes contributed another brief reminiscence.

“When I started at SOC, Ron had a quiet presence on the Board. He was always listening, but rarely voicing his opinion. I was told by Wes Odell to ask Ron his thoughts before any important decisions are made. Wes was right as Ron always had great insights on how the Forest Service worked, or what the right decision would be for the Wasatch.

Additionally, when I would run into Ron in the Wasatch, he was usually near parking lots or in the foothills trimming seed heads off of noxious weeds. Ron did an amazing amount of work for SOC and the Wasatch.”

www.saveourcanyons.org

Salt Lake County’s New Mountain Resort Zone

By Rob DeBirk

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n addition to FCOZ, Salt Lake County’s Mountainous Planning Commission has been laboring since early this year on a new zoning concept, a Mountain Resort Zone (MRZ). The planning commission has been holding dozens of working and public meetings to arrive at an ordinance to be forwarded to the Salt Lake County Council to review in October.

Save Our Canyons has been working on the Mountain Resort Zone since the very beginning and while we’re not happy with everything in the ordinance, we’re proud of what we’ve been able to do to improve it before the Mountainous Planning Commission.

So what is the MRZ? The MRZ is specific to ski resort properties and splits the zoning on those properties between “village” and “recreation” zones with the purpose of ensuring that any additional development occurs only in the appropriate zone.

The idea behind these two zoning areas is that the uses and infrastructure appropriate to a resort’s base area would, through this zoning, be confined to the village zone. This would also be the area where future development activities would be concentrated. Other parts of a ski resort’s property, away from the base area where skiing and trails are located, would become the recreation zone where the only development allowed would be in support of recreation activities.

By tirelessly engaging with the planning commission and with the help of hundreds of emails from SOC supporters we’ve been able to walk back most, but not all, of the worst items in the original draft ordinance.

Before getting in to what we’ve walked back, here’s the worst that we lost in close votes before the planning commission. The MRZ ordinance possibly eases the way for resorts to develop more zip lines, alpine slides, mountain coasters; items which the Forest Service has deemed appropriate uses on Forest Service lands. Despite this item getting through the planning commission we still have the opportunity to fight it at the County Council.

We’ve fought back efforts by resorts to establish skate parks, sports fields, developments in areas away from

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the ski resort bases and the weakening of stream and wetland setbacks. Significantly, SOC was successful in two other areas that we identified as being incredibly problematic: the location of the mountain resort zone boundary and Transfer of Development Rights.

The mountain resort zone boundary, as voted on by the Mountain Planning Commission and forwarded to the County Council, would tie the new zone to the existing USFS ski area permit. If we can hold the line on this it means that ski resorts will not be able to expand their base areas beyond the USFS permit, effectively locking county zones to the boundaries established by the USFS and Mountain Accord. This is a significant win in our efforts to freeze resort expansion. The Transfer of Development Rights section of the ordinance immediately caused consternation at its first unveiling. As written, the TDR section would have allowed properties outside of ski resorts to be transferred to the resort bases. While it sounds like a good idea, the ordinance would have incentivized this process by creating bonuses for the ski resorts that would have both triggered a wave of land speculation on previously unbuildable properties and significantly increased resort expansion.

Just as with FCOZ, ski resorts want zoning ordinances weakened to more closely mirror those of other, more developed, ski regions. However, in their myopic chase for real estate bucks, ski resorts forget that Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons aren’t remotely comparable to some of these other regions. Not only is the geography substantially different, but the demands on the canyons as watershed, wildlife habitat, and for recreation makes these canyons unique in a way that should be recognized and preserved.

There remain some unknowns and a tremendous need for the public to make its voice heard on appropriate and inappropriate activities, infrastructure, and uses in the Wasatch Canyons when this ordinance makes its way to the County Council this October. If you value the Wasatch and don’t want additional development, including making it easier for resorts to develop coaster, slides and zip lines in the canyons, please prepare to help make the case before the County Council this October.

Thanks to members of the Mountainous Planning Commission for allowing us the time and opportunity to thoroughly engage on the creation of this new zone and for their commitment to the public process and to understanding the details of this complex ordinance. ~~~

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Buy SOC a Beer event sponsored

by Bohemian Brewery

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hat a great community we have living along these Wasatch Mountains. In an effort to celebrate and show our appreciation, SOC has teamed up with Murray based Bohemian Brewery to host 3 (and counting) “Buy Save Our Canyons a Beer” events at locations such as Beer Bar, Campfire Lounge and most recently The Tap Room. Because of YOU, our amazing community and members of SOC, we have raised over $2,700 at three events over the past year!

Wasatch advocates and adventurers have shown up in droves to mingle, discuss the latest issues facing the Wasatch Range while making new friends and enjoying locally brewed Czech style Lagers created using water from the very mountains we work so hard to conserve.

“Old soda’s” have long been a staple of wild souls after a long day on a dusty trail or high atop an alpine peak. So we wondered what role the Wasatch Range and the culture of outdoor enthusiasts play in Bohemian Breweries business and their employee’s lives?

Five questions with Andrew Murphy (Marketing) and Brian Ericksen (Head Brewer) of Bohemian Brewery

• Why brew beer in Utah?

We love beer and Utah equally. Most of us who work at the brewery are from elsewhere, Arizona, Wyoming, California, Illinois, New York, and of course our owners, the Petras family, are from the Czech Republic. We’ve all moved here to live in this scenic city and to enjoy the many activities the mountains lend us by being so close and so beautiful.

• Bohemian has been an amazing partner and supporter of SOC over the years. How does connecting with your customers and community help to build a successful brewery or brand?

We’ve always thought the same type of person who is going to care enough about the preservation and quality of their nearby wilderness is the same type of person who cares enough to drink higher quality beers, made from all natural ingredients and brewed by locals who are hiking the same trails. All our beers follow the German purity law of using no more than barley, water, hops and yeast.

• Why does Bohemian’s beer taste so refreshing after a long day exploring the Wasatch Range?

We make lagers, which means after a bottom fermentation, our beer is cold conditioned for an additional 30 day period. This makes a cleaner, crisper and lighter bodied beer, perfect after a day of adventuring.

• In your opinion, what Bohemian beer and Wasatch Wilderness area pair best?

Drinking lager beers in the high mountains is a tradition going back centuries! We would suggest Cherny Bock, a German style Schwarzbier, along with the beautiful meadow below the Broad’s Fork Twin Peaks, Broad’s Fork trail, a flavor of the Alps within a short distance from the city. We have an incredible view of the Twin Peaks from the garage door at the brewery and Ferguson Canyon, and we’re always enjoying their beauty throughout the day.

Save Our Canyons continues to fight for conservation minded policy and land use that represent the voice of our members and community who overwhelmingly wish to see the Wasatch Mountains protected for generations to come. We applaud and genuinely appreciate local businesses like Bohemian Brewery that support a connected, wild and preserved Wasatch Range. ~~~

• What role does the Wasatch Range play in Bohemian’s business and culture?

Bohemian brewery was the first to can its beers in Utah. We have always thought that canned beers were best for adventuring in the area, not to mention better for the quality of the beer and for the environment because of their easy recyclability.

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www.saveourcanyons.org

www.saveourcanyons.org

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Good, Bad and Ugly

By Clay Northrup

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GLY: Nathan Rafferty, president of the Ski Utah association, commenting in High Country News on our Wasatch Range and the potential of One Wasatch: “I’ve come to understand very intimately that people aren’t quick to embrace change… We have an incredible product here (already), why would you change it?”

But then he reflected and said, “Well, I thought that about my iPhone 3, too, but things improve.” So now the Wasatch Range, like the cell phone, is going to be improved by new technology? One Wasatch will be succeeded

by Two Wasatch and then Three Wasatch…..Hold it! Building more stuff in those mountains will not “improve” them.

BAD: After nearly three years and 1200 meetings with stakeholders, Utah Congressmen Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz revealed a draft of their “Public Lands Initiative” bill, intended to resolve decades of conflict over land use and management in eastern Utah. The fact that it was praised by Governor Herbert and The Western Energy Alliance while being universally panned by conservation groups and the Bears Ears Tribal Coalition probably says it all. Biased as it is toward development, and riddled with loopholes that make the ‘conservation’ provisions even weaker than they appear, we can only hope the Public Lands Initiative is DOA.

Rob Bishop, Utah Congressman

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Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

BAD: Rob Bishop, in his role as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, delayed a bill that would have extended the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), thereby allowing the program to lapse for the first time since its enactment 50 years ago. The LWCF, which has long had broad bi-partisan support, provides for federal land acquisitions, conservation easements on private land, state recreation projects and endangered species grants.

Its lapse meant that revenues from off-shore oil and gas development were no longer being collected to fund such projects, and Bishop’s proposed revision of the bill – many commentators preferred the term ‘gutting’ – was excoriated from both sides of the aisle.

A few of the hundreds of Utah projects that have benefited from the LWCF are the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, Bear Lake and Antelope Island State Parks, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Golden Spike National Historic Site. Ironically, Rep. Bishop himself earmarked $500K to buy land within the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Antelope Island

GOOD: the Land and Water Conservation Fund got a 3-year extension this past December, bypassing Rep. Bishop’s House Natural Resources Committee via its inclusion in an omnibus spending bill. That’s not the permanent authorization that would have made sense, but at least the LWCF continues to breathe.

GOOD: After nearly 18 months of intense discussions with ski areas, land managers, local governments and a coalition of recreation and environmental interests, we were proud to announce the introduction of the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act (H.R. 5718) on July 11th, 2016. Rep. Jason Chaffetz sponsored the bill, which also has the support of Rep. Mia Love and Rep. Chris Stewart.

The next step will be a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee on November 15, 2016.

www.saveourcanyons.org

GOOD: Peter Metcalf, stalwart defender of the Wasatch and the natural world everywhere, as well as a generous supporter and treasured ally of Save Our Canyons, stepped down as president of Black Diamond last summer, but is staying with the company in the role of ‘Senior VP of Public Policy, Advocacy, Activism, and Culture’. We wish him all the best in achieving his stated goals of freeing up time for outdoor activity and his family… and continuation of his passionate and effective conservation advocacy.

Peter Metcalf Photo Credit: High Country News

BAD: Last winter’s early-season snow storms precipitated not only a lot of snow but also terrible automotive traffic in the Cottonwood Canyons…but with the GOOD result that the focus on the Mountain Accord process has turned to near-term solutions for the transportation problem – with practical solutions like improved bus transportation, rather than long-term, infrastructure-intensive concepts like trains, trams, or tunnels.

UGLY: Snowbird announced a new set of expansion plans for Utah County, including two ski lifts and a zip-line amusement park ride, on land that is zoned ‘Critical Environment Zone -1’; the county’s most restrictive. Another Ugly component to this is that Utah County does not require a public hearing for the issuance of the Conditional Use Permit that Snowbird would require to construct the lifts. The ugliest and scariest part of this is just how long, and through how many channels, Snowbird has been working on getting their way in Utah County. The proposals began almost 50 years ago, before ground was broken at Snowbird, when the resort concept included a second base area in American Fork Canyon – an idea that has recently resurfaced.

UGLY: In late August, American Fork Canyon Creek filled with 2 feet of black, sediment laden “muck” after Tibble Fork Reservoir was drained as part of a rehabilitation project incident. “It would be a surprise if anything could live through this. It is suffocating the fish it is so thick,” said Brian Wimmer, president of Utah County chapter of Trout Unlimited in a Tribune article following the event. Though the Natural Resources Conservation Service press release states all environmental analysis, permits and laws were followed during the discharge, DWR fisheries biologists believe the draining discharged much more sediment than the NRCS expected. ~~~

GOOD: Those same storms have been good for skiing, obviously, but more importantly, the snowpack is getting closer to ‘normal’ for northern Utah.

UTA Ski Bus service has been available in LCC and BCC for more than 30 years... no thumbing needed.

Photo Credit: Mountain Accord

Opposite page: Antelope Island State Park – one of many Utah parks to benefit from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Photo Credit: Antelope Island State Park brochure

www.saveourcanyons.org

Twin Peaks

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Save Our Canyons Kids reaches new communities in 2016

By Lauren Stephenson

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ave Our Canyons Kids summer season of 2016 is wrapped up. This summer we took approximately 140 kids on total of 13 hikes throughout the canyons including Twin Lakes, Donut Falls, Lake Mary, Albion Basin, Bloods Lake, City Creek Canyon and Neff’s Canyon. The kids we worked with were from 4 to 18 years old, but the majority of them were in middle schooler. Some of the kids we took out had never been hiking before and they loved it! I’m so happy I was able to give kids an introduction to hiking while teaching them the importance of trail etiquette and protecting our shared watershed.

The kids we worked with were from all around the Salt Lake Valley. We continued our partnerships with the Boys and Girls Club of Sugarhouse and Lied Club, and created new partnerships with St. Olaf’s School, the Refugee and Immigrant Asian Association and Sunnyvale Neighborhood Center. Some kids had lived in Utah their entire life and others were from places like Haiti, Egypt, Iraq and Sudan. Some of the leaders told me that their kids thought that Utah was ugly because they had only spent time in urban areas. Being able to share with them the beautiful natural parts of Utah that I love so much meant a lot to me. Younger kids are super impressionable and will mirror your enthusiasm. If they see how much you love something they will think it’s cool to love it too, if they see you having a good time they will have one too.

We are very excited about our new partnership with Let’s Move Outside, a new initiative from the Let’s Move campaign started by first lady Michelle Obama.

Their mission statement is, “The goal of Let’s Move Outside is to get kids active so they see the physical activity they need not as a chore but as a fun way to explore our country.” With their help we were able to collaborate on hikes with Tracy Aviary, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation and Seven Canyons Trust. On our hike with Tracy Aviary we practiced collecting data on Broadtail Hummingbirds found in Albion Basin. A volunteer from Cottonwood Canyons Foundation took us on a walk around Silver Lake and taught us about the ecology in that area. With Seven Canyons Trust we did a walk up City Creek Canyon then down to Memory Grove and then followed the creek to the last place it is daylighted to demonstrate just how close we are to the water we drink. We love collaborating with other non-profits and are so appreciative of their willingness to work with us. We hope to see more collaborations in the future.

I learned that the kids generally liked the more unstructured hikes where the emphasis was on being outside and enjoying nature with an educational element. More than anything, I think it’s important for kids to enjoy hiking and think of it as a fun activity not a chore. The lesson plans that I created were about 5 minutes long but with some groups I could tell that even 5 minutes would be too long so I focused on the basics: leave no trace, following regulations to help protect our watershed and why access to public lands is so important to our communities.

Being the SOCKids intern has been such an incredible experience for me. I learned a lot this summer and gained a lot of invaluable experience. I am excited to see how SOCKids grows and transforms in the years to come. ~~~

Students from the Boys and Girls Club hiking and snowshoeing with SOC kids program.

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Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

www.saveourcanyons.org

Quality Growth Commission

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t the request of a handful of land speculators the Quality Growth Commission, a state organization housed in the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, is studying Salt Lake City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction of the watershed. The commission, which is tasked with identifying obstacles to growth and advising the legislature, was asked by a land speculator with holdings in Little Cottonwood Canyon to review Salt Lake City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction as an impediment to development in the watershed.

The commission anticipates making a recommendation to the state legislature by the time of their November interim meeting. Of the three recommendations the commission identified as possible, the elimination of Salt Lake City’s extraterritorial jurisdiction of the watershed is by far the most terrifying for those of us who value clean water, healthy wildlife habitat, and experiencing nature without the sights and sounds of construction echoing throughout the canyons.

Extraterritorial jurisdiction was granted to Salt Lake City over a century ago and is enshrined in the state constitution. Why was giving SLC the ability to protect the watershed located beyond its borders so important that it’s been in the state constitution for over a hundred years?

Near the turn of the century the Wasatch Mountains were denuded by logging, its streams polluted by runoff and erosion, and the population in the valley below fearful of cases of Typhoid Fever linked to polluted water sources. As a response, the Forest Service took over areas of what is now the Wasatch Cache in order to rehabilitate the forests from the effects of clearcutting, and the city enacted a series of watershed management programs including, with a recommendation from the City Health Commissioner, jurisdiction over the entire watershed. The health commissioner’s recommendation was later acted upon by the state legislature and Salt Lake City has had extraterritorial jurisdiction of the watershed ever since.

That the Central Wasatch is the jewel it is today for everything from water quality to recreation, is due in part, to Salt Lake City’s ability to protect the watershed through this power of extraterritorial jurisdiction. However, the City’s effectiveness in

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safeguarding our shared watershed has prompted a backlash from would-be speculators and canyon developers who have had their dreams of more concrete in the Wasatch squashed by lack of water access and SLC’s concern for the impacts such development would have on the watershed. The speculators, many of whom have lost in court on this and similar issues, are now trying to harness the power of the Quality Growth Commission and attempting to take the legislative route in order to change the laws they’ve been unable to affect in the courts.

There’s a very real threat that state legislators may take this idea seriously and run a bill to this effect next session. It doesn’t require too great a leap of logic to imagine that the same legislative body willing to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on lawsuits to give the state ownership, and thus the option of selling, federally owned public lands may find common cause with a group of speculators trying to weaken environmental protections in order to further development in our watershed.

Having healthy forests and wetlands acting as watersheds to collect, filter and purify water, is critical to Salt Lake City’s future. This delicate watershed which also does double duty as a playground and retreat for Wasatch Front residents, is our primary source of drinking water, and allowing for more development in these canyons not only threatens the quality of our water but also further impairs already fragmented wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities.

Thankfully, Salt Lake City and Salt Lake City Public Utilities in particular have done an incredible job of protecting our watershed for over a century.

However, protecting the watershed for millions of residents also means that some interests get upset when their efforts to increase land values and drive up canyon development are denied due to the impact such schemes would have on our city’s water quality.

This effort to strip SLC of its ability to protect the watershed is something everyone living along the Wasatch Front who values the canyons and/or clean high quality drinking water needs to take very seriously.

Contact John Bennett of the Quality Growth Commission (801-538-1696, jbennett@utah.gov) and ask that the commission not take aim at watershed protections for the benefit of a handful of land speculators. ~~~

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Support for Central Wasatch Conservation and Recreation Act (Letter to the Editor printed July 16, 2016. Reprinted with permission from Salt Lake Tribune.)

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s property owners inside the proposed designation, we are writing to express our support for the newly introduced Central Wasatch Recreation and Conservation Act. The Act, which was introduced this past Monday, July 11, by Congressman Chaffetz, resulted from the open and transparent Mountain Accord process.

The legislation will designate nearly 80,000 acres of public lands within the Wasatch Mountains as a National Conservation and Recreation Area and will result in heightened protections for the land, recreational uses, and watershed. Though still managed by the U.S. Forest Service, this designation will significantly improve environmental protections for one of our state’s most cherished and heavily used landscapes.

The legislation includes voluntary land trades between ski resorts and the Forest Service with the aim of freezing ski resort boundaries within the Cottonwood Canyons and protecting dispersed, non-ski resort-related, recreation. The bill makes it abundantly clear that private property will not be affected and that land use regulation of private property will continue to be performed by local authorities.

In arriving at the legislation, and after significant public input, the Mountain Accord sought to resolve access and conflict issues, improve sustainable transportation measures, acknowledge and enhance the importance of recreation, protect natural resources — including preserving our delicate watershed, and protecting the future of our economy and quality of life which depends on a healthy and intact Wasatch

Range. As currently drafted, we believe the Accord’s proposed legislation achieves these aims without impacting the rights of nearby private property owners.

As individuals who own property adjacent to and within the areas included in the new designation, we are united in support of these new protections.

We believe that the legislation as currently written succeeds both in protecting our rights as landowners and in improving the stewardship of this vibrant and unique public landscape.

We are fortunate to call these mountains our home, but we also recognize that the public lands surrounding our properties are where millions of Utahns and visitors alike go to enjoy nature, explore, picnic, ski, climb, bike, fish, hunt and hike among other activities. These mountains, and the watershed within them, are the source of clean and inexpensive drinking water for a majority of us along the Wasatch Front. Additionally, they’re also our first opportunity for interacting with some of the other communities that call this place home, from the elk herds found at the back of Millcreek Canyon to the moose at Albion Basin and the raptors who soar in the winds above the Tri-Canyons. These areas deserve to be protected not just for the benefit of property owners, but also in the interest of the ecological and biological communities harbored within the canyons.

We support the Central Wasatch Conservation and Recreation Act and the additional environmental and recreational protections that will follow the enactment of this legislation.

Sincerely, Rob White Forrest Shearer Erme Catino Gena Cecala-Cottone Larry Cottone

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James Ogilvie Chris Adams Marcus Hall George Vargyas Klaus Biggers

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

Lauren Howells Jocelyn Taylor Bina Skordas Lindsey Ryder Jessica Jacobson

Sandrine Yang Michele Lowry Sarah Betts Shane Brogan Constance B. White

Joette Langianese Steve Russell Cassidy Doucette Michael Campenella Ulrich Brunhart Lise Brunhart

www.saveourcanyons.org

Little Cottonwood Canyon

Albion Basin www.saveourcanyons.org

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Central Wasatch Visitor Study

By Alex Schmidt

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n the November 2014 Save Our Canyons Newsletter, update on the Central Wasatch Visitor Study volunteer coordinator Tyler Higginson called on our members and volunteers to be part of this important activity to “ensure preservation for future generations. It doesn’t take much…don’t let this opportunity to have your voice be heard pass you by!” No surprise here, our community answered the call! Our dedicated group of CWVS volunteers spent 5 days a week at 44 sites in the Central Wasatch for a full year between May of 2014 and 2015 completing 4,039 surveys and collecting 4,300 comments! In addition, all respondents were asked to voluntarily complete a follow up “e-survey” resulting in 981 more surveys.

The Central Wasatch Visitor Study was designed to gather the following information: visitor demographics including group size and make-up, local and non-local use, visitor use patterns, minority use, forms of transportation utilized for access, sites/ areas recreated in and activities in which engaged, motivations for recreation participation and personal values/benefits sought, issues of solitude and perceived crowding, and awareness of protected watersheds and of designated Wilderness Areas.

This useful data and analysis will inform the Mountain Accord process and other stakeholder groups interested in use and perspectives from Central Wasatch Mountain visitors.

Keep in mind that the Wasatch Mountain Range receives more visitors annually than all 5 of Utah’s National Parks combined! What an incredible statistic! Without understanding the experience and perspectives of those who spend time in this mountain environment we realized we were missing a large portion of the population who can be strong advocates for protection and responsible use of these irreplaceable wild places. It is a landscape that is home to 250 animal species and 1,100 plant species; many of which are endemic to the Wasatch Range.

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Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

What are the motivations for visiting the Central Wasatch Mountains?

Respondents to the study ranked “observe scenic beauty,” “enjoy the sights and smells of nature,” “experience peace and tranquility,” and “improve physical health” as the most important motivating factors for recreating in the Central Wasatch.

Where did people come from?

The median distance traveled by Central Wasatch Visitors was 25 miles with one respondent visiting from as far away Germany, some 2,552 miles away.

By calculating the distance each zip code was from a central location in the CWM, in this case Brighton Ski Resort, we learned that 70% of visitors to the Central Wasatch Mountains live within 60 miles of Brighton Ski Resort.

Overall, comments from the CWVS present access as being one of the best aspects of living along the Wasatch Range. One respondent said, “I moved from Phoenix to SLC to have the benefit of using the Central Wasatch area.” Another said, “If the mountains were not here and easily accessible for recreational activities I would not have moved here.

The mountains are amazing!”

Where are people going and what are their primary activities?

52.7% of respondents reported using both developed and undeveloped areas equally, and 37% said they mostly use undeveloped areas while recreating in the Central Wasatch Mountains.

Over 60% of respondents reported getting at least 80% of their exercise from outdoor year round recreation. The number one response as to why was

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that being “outdoor recreation helped them feel more patient with themselves and others.”

Primary activities include hiking, backcountry and downhill skiing/riding, photography and escaping noise, heat or pollution What did they see?

92% of respondents said the encounters with other recreationists either positively enhanced or had no effect on their recreational experience.

What was their experience?

88% of respondents to the study were “very satisfied” with their visit.

Safety, scenery, trail conditions and helpfulness of Forest Service personnel were points of high satisfaction while restrooms, signage and transportation/parking left visitors wanting more.

Word Cloud showing frequency of words used by visitors to describe the study area of the CWVS.

Wasatch Mountains www.saveourcanyons.org

How will SOC use this information to build our community and educate more canyon visitors on the impacts we all have to these sensitive environments?

This, in part, depends on you. This study was the most significant financial expense that SOC has undertaken to help us better understand the values of our members, community and visitors to the Wasatch Range. As a member or simply an interested reader we rely on your involvement to guide the future of this organization. We now have data specific to the Central Wasatch showing the vital role this portion of the range plays in our state.

Thank you to all who took the time while visiting the Wasatch to complete the CWVS. This information will guide SOC in efforts to expand conservation measures that will ensure a healthy, intact and connected ecosystem enjoyed by all that depend upon a wild Wasatch.

To view the full Central Wasatch Visitor Study Report visit: http://saveourcanyons.org/campaigns/ rec-survey/

Albion Basin

Save Our Canyons, November, 2016

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Citizens’ Committee to Save Our Canyons 824 So. 400 West St. Suite B-115 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH PERMIT NO. 7271 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

The Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act is a locally driven, consensus-based bill aimed at protecting the sources of our drinking water, preserving recreational opportunities for the future, and ensuring enjoyment of the Central Wasatch Mountains in the face of pressures from a growing population. The Central Wasatch Mountains are located between Salt Lake County and Summit County in Utah. We need your support to push this bill over the finish line and implement this long overdue designation to protect the amazing Wasatch Mountain Range for future generations. Visit www.saveourcanyons.org to sign our petition.

Broads Fork, Wasatch Mountain Range