Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Support HR 2808: Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act


Considering all the weird stuff government often gets involved in and all the things government does wrong, it is all the more refreshing and hope-inspiring when it finds itself one of the rare missions it is uniquely positioned to excel at and runs with it. This is exactly what US House of Representative Jim Matheson (Utah, 4th district) does when he sponsors HR 2808 with the help, support and advocacy of Save Our Canyons. This is not some trivial piece of legislation only meant to benefit its sponsor's career either, here are a few crucially important things that HR 2808 does:

ü      Designates an additional 24,420 acres of wilderness and special management area protection.
ü      Establishment of a new 6,202-acre wilderness area on the North side of Millcreek Canyon, to be called the Wayne Owens Grandeur Peak Wilderness Area
ü     Resolution of a long-standing conflict between backcountry skiers and Snowbird Ski Resort over a proposed expansion into White Pine Canyon. White Pine is proposed to rightfully become part of the Lone Peak Wilderness.
ü      Protection of Flagstaff Mountain, Pink Pine & Mt. Superior against land exchange with Snowbird Resort for the top of the American Fork Twin Peaks and lands in Mineral Basin.
ü      Protection of community water resources and springs
ü      Protection of the area proposed for the controversial SkiLink between Canyons Resort and Solitude Mountain Resort.

For a more detailed presentation go to Save Our Canyons.

Make sure to sign the petition! Click here.

Here are both a summer and a winter view of what we should be fighting to protect and (pre)serve, click to enlarge: 
Mount Superior all dressed up in his winter's best.

red Pine lake