Land Swap In American Fork Canyon

[DrNed]

This is an item I have just become aware of and thought those here would be interested.

Here's a Provo Herald article on it.

Here's more info from Protect & Preserve American Fork Canyon.

 

[Upgrayedd]

“They currently own Mary Ellen Gulch and most of Miller Hill, the south facing part down to the road,” Holdman said. “What they are trying to do now is do a land swap with the Forest Service to acquire 416 acres that would connect the Mary Ellen and Miller Hill land. They already own Mineral Basin. If this happens they will control a large part of the canyon and although their representative (Bob) sort of denies it, I believe they have plans to put in a gondola from Tibble Fork Reservoir to the top somewhere and condos at the base of Miller Hill.”


This bothers me. Mary Ellen Gulch is a nice 4x4 trip with the kids and from what I'm seeing here they will have complete control of the area if this deal goes through. The last thing we need is more traffic in AF Canyon. Maybe I missed it but what exactly does the public have to gain from this deal going through?

 

[WasatchWill]

AF Canyon will soon be home to another resort town. They may as well just blast out the canyon walls and widen the road to serve all the additional traffic. Get up there and enjoy what's left of it before it's developed even further.

 

[DrNed]

Maybe I missed it but what exactly does the public have to gain from this deal going through?

Though I'm no expert on this matter yet, your question hits the nail on the head - all the things that Snowbird promises will be available can already be done without them. To answer your question, nothing.

 

[Upgrayedd]

AF Canyon will soon be home to another resort town. They may as well just blast out the canyon walls and widen the road to serve all the additional traffic. Get up there and enjoy what's left of it before it's developed even further.

This is really what I'm worried about. I am a pro business, conservative, Libertarian so I support business development and removing unnecessary red tape and absurd regulations when it's in the best interest of society and long term sustainability. That being said, public land is a treasure that safeguards nature and what few undeveloped land we have. I see ZERO reason to let any kind of development happen in American Fork Canyon and I don't want to see it spoiled. The West is really the last bastion of public land in the U.S. and I don't want to see that spoiled, sold off and abused.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Though I'm no expert on this matter yet, your question hits the nail on the head - all the things that Snowbird promises will be available can already be done without them. To answer your question, nothing.

This really is the crux of the issue for me. I don't see ANY public benefit to Snowbird's proposal and I see a TON of abuse and negatives that will come in due time from accepting it.

 

[Nurrgle]

In the words of the prophet RZA from WuTang

CREAM - Cash Rules Everything Around Me

 

[steve]

thanks for bringing this up Ned, not enough people know about this. There's a great facebook group: protect and preserve American Fork Canyon

 

[LarryBoy]

I ski Snowbird... and this is a horrible idea. Keep the resorts within their borders, the public has nothing to gain by letting them run amok. They're rolling in the dough as it is.