This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Approving a proposal to connect Summit County's Canyons resort with Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon could cause immediate harm to Salt Lake City's watershed and would set a risky precedent.
That's the fear of Salt Lake City water officials, who believe that building the SkiLink gondola will make it more difficult in the future to limit similar projects in the Wasatch Front canyons. And they're right to be concerned, because the Cottonwood Canyon watershed provides drinking water for half the Salt Lake Valley's residents.
Talisker Inc., a Canadian company that owns the Canyons resort in Summit County, wants to build SkiLink to take skiers 11,000 feet over the peaks between Canyons ski runs and Big Cottonwood Canyon resorts. The resort-expansion project, explained to reporters this week, has the backing of Utah's congressional Republicans. They are sponsoring a bill to make 30 acres of public land available for sale to Talisker to make the deal work.
The intervention of Congress members to circumvent the local public process rightly worries Laura Briefer, water-resources manager for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. Although Talisker denies it, Briefer logically argues that roads will have to be cut in order to maintain the gondola's 25 towers and to provide emergency access. The road, or roads, would be in addition to the initial tree removal and construction.
The SkiLink proposal has been sold as a "transportation solution" for those who want to ski both the Wasatch Back and the canyons of the Wasatch Front. But what could eventually become a chain of lifts connecting all seven resorts would open up tens of thousands of acres to commercial skiing, more lodges, and bring many more people to the ecologically fragile canyons.
The watershed becomes more precious as the valley's population continues to grow and global climate change makes the Beehive State, the nation's second driest, even more arid. Protecting it must be the first priority of local governments.
Surveys show a majority of Salt Lake Valley residents oppose expansion of ski-resort development in favor of less-invasive recreation. Salt Lake City and County governments, environmental groups and hunting organizations want a plan for the canyons that considers myriad related issues, not merely economic development, and the city and county are working on such a plan. Members of Congress should stay out of it.
SkiLink would require too much sacrifice by the majority in order to further enrich a few.