In 1989, after months of research, public hearings and some bitter debates, Salt Lake County adopted a master plan for its seven Wasatch Front canyons. Now, 20 years later, it's time to take a fresh look at the canyons and update the plan.

The issues haven't changed all that much. It's still a question of balancing growing recreational and development demands against the limits of canyon resources. What has changed is the number of people making the demands. In 1990, the population of Salt Lake County was 726,000. By contrast, the estimated population in 2008 was well beyond 1 million. The Wasatch Front as a whole holds 1.7 million people.

That population growth has increased the human impact in the canyons. One reason many Utahns love to live here is the unrivaled proximity and beauty of the Wasatch Mountains, and when they go to the mountains to hike, ski, run, bike, hunt or picnic, they go to the canyons.

In the past 20 years there also has been explosive residential growth in or near some of the canyons. Think about Emigration Canyon. The other canyons in the plan are City Creek, Red Butte, Parleys, Millcreek, Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood.

The central question for the new plan is how to manage that growth. State, county, local and U.S. Forest Service leaders will launch the planning process with a public event today. Envision Utah, the folks who advocate smart-growth planning, will facilitate the process, beginning with workshops to gather public comments May 12-14. For a list of the six evening workshops, which will be convened at different locations around the valley, go to wasatchcanyons.slco.org. If you cannot attend one of the workshops, you can take an online survey.

One thing that hasn't changed in 20 years is the need to protect the canyons' most precious resource: water. The canyons watershed provides drinking water to about 600,000 people, and like the mountains themselves, that water quality is one of the best things about living here. But our recreational activities degrade that water quality, particularly as more Utahns venture into the backcountry. That conflict, together with the ongoing challenge of conventional auto traffic to homes and ski resorts on narrow canyon roads, will be a focus of the new study.

Next week's educational workshops will inform people about canyon issues and give them a chance to respond to planning strategies with instant keypad polling. If you care about the canyons, be there.