The Salt Lake Valley now teems with more than a million people, many of them outdoor enthusiasts who frequently trek to the Wasatch Mountains to ski, hike and climb. But most valley dwellers depend on the eye-catching peaks for something more critical: water.

With the valley's population set to double in the next 30 years, state and local officials are asking residents to help update a 20-year-old Salt Lake County master plan that guides public policy in the Wasatch.

"We're defined by these canyons around us," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said at Thursday's kickoff event. "They define who we are. They define our quality of life. And we, to a certain extent, help define the canyons by how we use them."

Huntsman, county Mayor Peter Corroon and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker gathered in City Creek Canyon's Memory Grove to launch "Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow," a yearlong planning process, guided by Envision Utah, that will tap public feedback to update the 1989 Wasatch Canyons Master Plan.

"What we ask is for the public to fully engage and [share] what these canyons mean to you," Becker said. "Because if we don't continue with the kind of foresight that's been shown, really now for a century and a half ... they will not be here in the way that we enjoy them today."

The seven major canyons -- from City Creek to Little Cottonwood -- cross multiple jurisdictions from the U.S. Forest Service and the town of Alta to the Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy and the Utah Department of Transportation. But the various governing agencies pledge to work together on the project, which includes a 45-member steering committee.

It's a complex task. Since the county developed its master plan, the popularity of the canyons has ballooned. Not only are more Utahns and tourists visiting the lofty peaks and the gushing creeks, but they also are finding more ways to recreate, popularizing sports such as rock climbing, mountain biking, even parachuting on skis.

That makes it increasingly difficult to find one thing prized in the Wasatch: solitude.

Besides all the skiers, climbers, hikers and bikers, homeowners and businesses also have a stake in the canyons.

"Don't forget about us landowners," Ron Woodhead told Becker and other officials. He lives along Emigration Creek in Salt Lake City and worries about limits on building in his neighborhood.

Envision Utah plans to hold a series of workshops next week and post an online survey at www.wasatchcanyons.slco.org to gather grass-roots concerns and suggestions.

The process is likely to examine such issues as boosting transit options in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, including buses that run after the ski season ends or even a rail spur in one or both canyons. Could Mill Creek turn to bike lanes like the ones that now hug Emigration? Should restrictions on dogs be loosened or tightened?

"The ski industry would like this group to take a really hard look at public transportation," said Ski Utah Director Nathan Rafferty. The resorts, he said, want to ensure locals and tourists have a positive experience skiing in the Wasatch Mountains.

Still, he acknowledged, "across the board," for all parties involved, "water quality is the No. 1 issue."

rwinters@sltrib.com