No one wants it, everyone sees it, we are afraid to talk about it, and individually we each think it is always everyone else and not ourselves. We do talk about too much congestion, too many people, and too few places of refuge for the wildlife. What we don’t dare talk about is the solution: not everyone can go everywhere at the same time and maintain the experiences that draw us into natural environments. We must face managing our visits and that includes the heretofore unspeakable: limits.
Each of us seeks nature for our personal, unique experiences; some go to be enveloped in intense interactions with wild places, while for others, nature is a backdrop for intense social or physical engagement. For some, the crowds of people are an inconvenience, for others, crowding is anathema.
Where is the compromise, the middle ground? City Creek and Millcreek have limits on bicycling days. Zion, Arches, and Rocky Mountain National Parks limit entry in their own fashion. For fifty years, river-running managers have maintained limits and reservations for the opportunity of quality experiences rather than the quantity of experiences.
The town of Brighton is talking solutions by developing the Big Cottonwood — Mobility Action Plan (BCC-MAP). In January, Brighton, though the Central Wasatch Commission, will be asking for our input to help identify gaps in past plans, protect critical resources, prioritize near, mid-, and long-term recommendations, and to consider: reservations, timed entry, more bathrooms, parking and highway realignment, and whichever ideas you contribute! To enhance quality experiences, it is time to talk about fees (only to cover local costs) and reservations (rather than tolls) for limiting crowding. Perhaps we can learn from the myopic planning errors with the Little Cottonwood gondola and look broadly at the whole Central Wasatch, front-and-back.
Kirk Nichols, Salt Lake City