Making Headway on the Wasatch's Mountain Accord

The first week of August marks the next Outdoor Retailer show, when nearly everyone from the outdoor industry descends on the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City to show off the upcoming season of outdoor gear and apparel. It's a great time filled with catching up with friends and sharing stories of recent adventures. Walk outside the Salt Palace and take a look around, and you can't avoid the impressive views of the Wasatch Mountains. These peaks and drainages offer world class skiing, hiking, mountain biking and the ability to easily escape Salt Lake's hardscape, activities many conference participants seek out in the shoulder hours before, during and after the tradeshow.

The Wasatch has long been a place of competing pressures. Ski resorts looking to expand face off against locals looking to protect their favorite sidecountry and backcountry access. Mountain biking competes with protections that prohibit the sport in designated wilderness areas. With over a million outdoor-minded residents in the Salt Lake Metro Area, not to mention national and international tourists that visit each year, it's no wonder these mountains get caught up in long-standing debates on how to best protect them.

Over the past many years, many stakeholders have worked on a process called the Mountain Accord, led by the tireless advocacy of Save Our Canyons, a group dedicated to protecting the Wasatch Range. This work has culminated in bipartisan legislation presented by Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz called the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Act of 2016. The act will create 8,000 new acres of wilderness protection in the Wasatch and create permanent protection for 80,000 acres. It has the support of Save Our Canyons as well as a diverse group of stakeholders who have helped shaped the legislation. Head up into the Wasatch and you'll see why so many people love and want to protect these mountains so near to downtown Salt Lake.

Want to show your support for the Mountain Accord and the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Act of 2016? Check out Save Our Canyons and their information on how to support their conservation initiatives in the Wasatch Mountains.