This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, has proposed a bill to designate more than 26,000 acres of land in the Wasatch as federally designated wilderness and special management areas. These designations are proposed to maintain open space and watershed protection in light of expanding population growth and increasing recreational pressures.

The Town of Alta has always been supportive of wilderness; it is one of the core values of our town policy and history. However, the last-minute insertion of a Flagstaff land swap to the bill contains specific language that threatens the future of Alta's avalanche mitigation program. Although the Flagstaff lands are not in our town, those slopes must be controlled to mitigate for avalanches that pose imminent threats to the town residents, visitors, infrastructure and State Road 210.

Proponents of the "Wasatch Wilderness and Watershed Protection Act of 2010" continue to miss the point (see "Pollard's plan," Public Forum, Sept. 1). A bill focused on preservation of key lands has been stoked into a contentious issue about ski area expansion and backcountry exclusion in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

It is interesting — and hypocritical — that the stakeholders are content to let one ski resort (Snowbird) expand to its heart's content for purely economic gain, but are happy to throw the Town of Alta's public safety interests under the bus over a mere thought of a chairlift.

Counter to what has been alleged, the town is not in the business of conspiring with Alta Ski Area to build chairlifts. The town is in the business of providing public safety to our visitors and residents by supporting the employment of reliable and effective avalanche control methods.

Avalanche control is a mutual, complex and expensive problem that involves the Town of Alta, Alta Ski Area, the Utah Department of Transportation, the U.S. Forest Service and private landholders. A cursory study of this portion of terrain has identified a variety of avalanche control methods that could be used in the future and one of those alternatives is a chairlift. However, due to unique terrain and lack of detailed study, no single method currently stands out as the obvious solution.

The knee-jerk reaction has been, why not use Gazex technology? A Gazex is a large, permanent structure that uses a mixture of oxygen and propane to cause an explosion that can trigger avalanches in a specific avalanche starting zone. However, there are over 50 starting zones above the Town of Alta, many of which are unsuitable for this technology. The installation of Gazexes in this area could cost over $10 million and would still leave many starting zones uncontrolled.

Avalanche mitigation in this area will most likely require several different technologies. Until further study has been completed, the town cannot afford to take any avalanche control method off the table.

If the stakeholders of the bill would like to take responsibility for the public safety of the hundreds of thousands of winter visitors to our town, perhaps they would like to contribute a few million dollars toward alternative avalanche methods to protect the Town of Alta.

The town has requested federal appropriations funding through Matheson's office the previous two years for an expansion of the Gazex program, and the requests have never left his office. It is discouraging to see the lack of support for not just a chairlift, but other technologies as well.

I encourage Matheson's office and other stakeholders to continue to work with us to find mutually agreeable language that would help ensure the public safety of our town and ensure continued backcountry recreation access into the future.

I also encourage anyone who is interested to please visit the town's website and read my written testimony that was submitted to the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

It would be imprudent to allow a last-minute deal to jeopardize the future public safety of the Town of Alta.

Tom Pollard is mayor of the Town of Alta.