SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 24, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) ─ Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest officials are considering imposing a fee to use popular trails in Utah’s Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.
The agency reports that five to six million people use the trails each year, and the proposed fee of $6 per vehicle, good for three days, would be used to help maintain trails, trailheads, bathrooms, and picnic and parking areas.
The proposed fee, which is allowed under the Federal Land Recreation Enhancement Act, would apply only to trails with those amenities. As an alternative, a $45 annual fee would buy a pass that could also be used at American Fork Canyon and Mirror Lake Highway.
Trailheads currently being considered as pay-for-use locations are Mill B. South, Cardiff/Mill D. South, Donut Falls, Spruces Winter, Guardsman Pass, White Pines, Catherine’s Pass, and Cecret Lake. Also on the list are the Temple Quarry trailhead and interpretive site, and the Silver Lake recreation complex.
For more information on the proposal and information on how to submit comments, visit this site. Comments will be accepted through Sept. 9 of this year. Fees, if approved, would go into effect in June of 2017.
