NarrativeGrantProposal

CoverSheet

Citizens Committee to Save Our Canyons

Institutional Information
SaveOurCanyons
824S400W#B115
SLC,UT84101
(801)363.7283
saveourcanyons.org

Contact:
CarlFisher,ExecutiveDirector
carl@saveourcanyons.org
(801)5395333
Board of Trustees:
RonYoungerGavinNoyes
GaylePerryJohnWorlock
ClayNorthropBillKing
TomLundAlexisKelner
BillLockhartTomBerggren
MikeReburgJamiePleune

Amount Requested:

Summary of Request
The Citizens Committee to Save Our Canyons respectfully requests your organizations
support. Since 1972, Save Our Canyons has served as an advocate for the beauty and wildness of
Utahs Wasatch Range, dedicated to defending the interests of our community and protecting the
mountains vital to its being. We inform and mobilizethepubliconissues affectingtheWasatchand
engage directly incriticalplanningprocesseswhich determinethe rangesfate.Thisyear,theburdens
placed on Save Our Canyons are great. With the threat of heavily funded development projectslike
OneWasatchand acceleratingurbanizationacrossthe WasatchRange,oureffortswillbeparamountin
safeguarding the mountains and jeopardized community interests. We seek your support tocontinue
our potent community presence and to maintain our significant contributions to ongoing political
discourseconcerningtheWasatch.

Save Our Canyons

NarrativeGrantProposal
Mission Statement

Save Our Canyons is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to protecting the beauty and
wildness oftheWasatchcanyons,mountains,andfoothills. TheWasatchRange,whichprovides
an aweinspiring backdrop to the Salt Lake Valley, serves as a year round mecca for outdoor
enthusiasts of all kinds, featuring seven world class ski resorts and seeing some 500,000annual
visitors. As a regional asset, the range sustains the Utah community, providing adventure and
recreation as well as solitude and escape and supplying clean drinking water to more than one
million residents in the central Wasatch alone. This already dense population has grown and
urbanized the areas around the Wasatch at a tremendous rate in recent decades. Approximately
85% of Utahs residents live within just 15milesoftheWasatchRange,andfrom2010to2013,
Utah ranked as the third fastest growing state in the nation. The close proximity of these
mountains to such rapidly swelling urban centers presents unique challenges in ensuring their
long term preservation. Both public and private development interests threatenthe waterquality
and overall quality of life enjoyed by Utah residents as well as the supreme natural beauty and
wildness of the range itself. Since our foundation in 1972, Save Our Canyons has met these
challenges by serving as a strong advocate for the Wasatch and the Utah community, standing
firmly amidst threats to the watershed, wildlife, recreational opportunities, public land access,
and the integrity of the Wasatch environment. We envision a future of sustainable use,
preservation, and responsible stewardship of the Wasatch, one in which the range remains an
immense community asset while retaining the characteristic wildness that distinguishes it from
any other region in the world. The demands placed on us now are greater than ever, and it is
crucial that SaveOur Canyons continuestoworkdiligentlytowardsthisvision,towardsensuring
theprotectionoftheseinvaluablemountains,ifitistoberealized.

Institutional History
The Citizens Committee to Save our Canyons was founded in 1972 in response to the
threat that urbanization and development interests posed to the Wasatch Mountains. The
establishment of the Snowbird Ski Resort soon after,withitsplansto buildtramwaystosatellite
villages throughout the Wasatch, catalysed the movement. Since then, we have been successful
in confronting many of the issues affecting the Wasatch, contributing to community dialogue
concerning ski resort expansions, zoning and variance revisions, private land construction
projects, trailhead access to public lands, Olympic venue discussions, sewer line size and

placement in the canyons, avalanche control techniques, transportation, and more. Save Our
Canyonswasinstrumentalinthedesignationofthe LonePeak,TwinPeaks,andMountOlympus
wilderness areas and participated heavily in the formulation and adoption of the 1989 Canyons
Master Plan, which guides the building permit process on both public and private land in the
canyons. In recentyears,wehavecontinuedtoactivelyadvocate fortheWasatchatthelocaland
national level, serving on multiple planning committees, including the 20142015 Mountain
Accord which will seek to establish a central vision of the future of the Wasatch, and vocally
supporting Wasatch preservation in our community.Lastyear,wewerean instrumentalforcein
the campaign to stop SkiLink, a controversial lift interconnect proposalwhichcouldhaveposed
substantial harm to the watershed, backcountry access, and the general aesthetic of the
mountains. The proposal failed to receive Utah congressional approval in 2013 after numerous
attempts and is widely considered dead, in large part, we believe, due to the well organized
community backlash. In the last several months, pressure for harmful development in the
canyons has been fairly constant with the introduction of numerous new proposals and
interconnectionschemes,andwecontinuetomeetthesechallenges.

Our Efforts
Save Our Canyons activities include informing and mobilizing the public on issuesthat
affect the Wasatch Range and interacting directly with relevant governmental and planning
bodies at the city, county, state, and federal levels,engagingintheplanningprocesses criticalto
preserving the integrity of the Wasatch. We conduct grassroots outreach at local events, give
presentations, sit on panels and participate in forums, meet with local decision makers, and
disseminate information through various outlets, including newsletters, mass media, local radio
and community events. Our highly successful volunteer program actively involves citizens in
public land issues,promotinggreatercommunityengagement.Communityrelationshipsarevital
for the success of our endeavors, and we take great pride in the extent of our connections with
localresidentsandgovernmentalbodies.

Current Campaigns and Goals

Wasatch NationalMonumentCampaign: A backbone of the local SaltLakecommunity,

the Wasatch Range represents unique environmental and historical significance. Save
Our Canyons has initiated the Wasatch National Monument Campaign with the goal of
gaining key areas of the central Wasatch designation as National Monument territory.
This would protect some 170,000 acres reaching from Parleys Canyon in the North
down to the Provo River in the South, encompassing some of the most threatened and
dramatic landscapes in the Central Wasatch Range. The proposal is consistent with a
vision of the central Wasatch in which the range remains a place of supreme natural

beauty, continues to supply more than 60% of the water needs of a population of over1
million, and is the haven of rich recreational opportunity that continues to attract more
than 9 million visits per year. National Monument designation could be granted through
several avenues,eitherbyfederallegislationpassedbyCongressordirectactiontakenby
the president under the Antiquities Act of 1906. In the past, specific lands have already
been put forward that possess wilderness quality and nowawaitadesignationthathasso
far not been realized. The Salt Lake community also strongly supports increased
protections for the Wasatch Range 94% of respondents to Envision Utahs Wasatch
Canyons TomorrowstudysupportedincreasedprotectionfortheWasatchRangein2010.
We intend to kickstart the National Monument designation process for the Wasatch by
mobilizing this public support and working directly with legislators and government
entities to stimulate decision makers to grant the Wasatch greater protection. Ourefforts
have included, most recently, the publication of numerous articles and media addresses
bringing the initiative into the public view and formulation of a comprehensive map of
the areas to be protected. Over the course of 2015, Save Our Canyons plans to ensure
that the voice of the community is heard and that the Wasatch Range is granted the
protectionsneededtoconservethisinvaluablehabitatforgenerationstocome.

Opposing One Wasatch: Unveiled early in 2014 by the centralWasatchs seven major ski
resorts and Ski Utah, a marketing entity for the states ski industry, the One Wasatch
proposal would see the creation of a systemofskiliftinterconnectionbetweentheseven
centralWasatchresorts:CanyonsResort,ParkCityMountainResort,DeerValleyResort,
Brighton Ski Resort, Solitude Mountain Resort, Alta Ski Area, and Snowbird Ski and
Summer Resort. This would entail the creation of several new ski lifts over currently
undeveloped, pristine swaths of land in the Wasatchs most beloved backcountry areas,
and its greater effects on the areas backcountry accessibility, watershed, and
environment have yet to be fully revealed. Save Our Canyons opposes One Wasatch on
the grounds that it would pose a hazard to the watershed, violate important wishes and
concerns of the local community, and compromise the integrity of the Wasatchs
remaining undeveloped lands. Our campaign currently endeavors to increase public
awareness of the One Wasatch proposal, which to this point has remained somewhat
obscuredfromthepublicconsciousness,sothatthecitizensofUtahmaycometoactively
engage in the dialogue surrounding its environmental soundness. We hope to stimulate
community debate between all relevant parties, including community members
themselves, not just the select group of winter ski recreationalists and private interests
who have participated thus far. To this end, we actively contribute to the information
output on the One Wasatch proposal, providing perspective to local media outlets
coverage of One Wasatch as well as directly raising public awareness on the issue
through our own content output and participation in the various forums of discussionon

One Wasatch. The Wasatch is a finite resource, with the central section of the range
spanningonlytwocountiesand220squaremiles,paltryincomparisontootherrenowned
ranges like the Alps(75,000 square miles) or even the small area within Grand Tetons
National Park (485 square miles). It is our first priority to protect and conserve this
unique expanse, and that means ensuring the desires of the community are represented
and that development in our sharedlocaltreasureisminimalandresponsible.Ourgoalis
toultimatelypreventtheOneWasatchproposalfromseeingfruition.

Central Wasatch Visitor Study: In partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Salt Lake
County and overseen by Professor Steve Burr and student Chase Lamborn from the
Institute of Outdoor Recreation and TourismatUtahStateUniversity,SaveOurCanyons
has undertaken the Central Wasatch Visitor Study. The project will provide adrastically
improved picture of recreational enjoymentoftheCentralWasatch,supplyingimportant
data on the number and behaviors of those who recreate in the area. This information is
crucial inmakinginformedplanningdecisionsconcerningtheCentralWasatch,decisions
which have long been made in ignorance of the true nature of recreation. For the study,
Central Wasatch Mountain visitors are randomly surveyed at numerous locations
throughout the range on their activities. The compileddatarevealsinformationincluding
visitor demographics, local and non local use, usage patterns, forms of transportation
utilized for access, the sites recreated,the activities in which surveyors engaged,
motivation for recreation participation, issues of solitude and overcrowding, and
awareness of protected watersheds and Wilderness Areas. This process requires a high
volume of volunteers to carry outthedatacollectionatmultiplesitesoverthecourseofa
year. Save Our Canyons plays the foremost role in mobilizing this force, utilizing our
strong media presence and significant network of dedicated volunteers. Preliminary
results from the summer of 2014 have provenparticularlyinsightful,andwefullyexpect
the final outcomes, completed and published in 2015, to prove invaluable to our
communityplannersunderstandingofthecentralWasatchasarecreationalhaven.

In addition to these campaigns, SaveOur Canyons currentlypartakesinnumerousefforts

crucial to achieving the long term goals of the organization. This includes consistent
involvement in community planning processes and our contribution to Mountain Accord, a
multiphase initiative that seeks to make important decisions regarding the future of the central
Wasatch mountains by incorporating the perspectives of varied public and privateinterests.Our
efforts and continuing involvement are critical in ensuring responsible stewardship and
communityparticipationinthemanyissuesaffectingtheWasatchtoday.
We hope that your organization sees the crucial nature of our involvement in ensuring
responsible stewardship of the priceless natural habitat that is Utahs Wasatch. Sustained
funding is necessary forthesuccessandcontinuationofourefforts,andyoursupportwouldhelp

us conserve and protect a truly unique environment. With it, we intend to have a lasting impact
inWasatchconservationeffortsthatbenefitsvalleyresidents,visitors,andfutureresidents.

Staff Biographies

CarlFisherExecutiveDirector
CarlgrewupalongthefoothillsoftheWasatchMountainsandenjoysspendingtimewith
friends and family mountain biking,climbing, hiking,fishingandbackcountrysnowboarding.In
2001, he began volunteering at Save Our Canyons while working in the hospitality andtourism
industriesattheHotelMonacoandSnowbirdSkiResort.After graduatingfromtheUniversityof
Utah with degrees in Geography and Environmental studies, he joined Save Our Canyonsstaff
in 2006. The Wasatch Mountains and their unmatched beauty and access to worldclass
recreationalopportunitiesarethesolereasontheSaltLakeValleyremainshishome.

AlexSchmidtCampaignCoordinator

Alex has been a friend of Save Our Canyons since his mother bought him a Save Our
Canyons t shirt in 2003. He has worked as an active volunteer, intern, part time, and now full
time staff member forthe organization.HavingtheWasatchMountainsinsuchcloseproximity,
with ease ofaccesstorecreation,naturalspaces,andquietsolitude inthe mountainsandfoothills
of this incredible area, has shaped the way that Alex has come to better understand himselfand
theworldaroundhim.

SarahRosemeyerAdministrativeAssistant
Sarah fell in love with the beauty and wildness of the Wasatch Mountains when she
moved here twelve years ago. After a few years, she began volunteering at Save Our Canyons
because of her passion for the outdoors and realization of just how precious, unique and
endangered the Wasatch truly was and is. Her deeprespectandadmirationforitsfounders,staff
and members is a driving force behind her love for SOC, which she is so proud to be a part of.
She enjoys hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, photography and spending time with her two
beautifuldaughters.