Here's my letter:
Loren Kroenke:
I recently read the article in the Salt Lake Tribune and your Scoping Report regarding motorized use in Cardiff. Please add me to any mailing list you may have regarding Cardiff Fork.
I would like to give you a little bit of background on myself. I have been enjoying Cardiff since I was a teenager. I first explored Cardiff with my parents in an old pickup truck they had in the 70's and it is my favorite location in Big Cottonwood. I have explored old mines and relics in the area alone and with landowners, Marv Melville being one of them. I have frequented the canyon in all seasons. Frankly, it was much more fun before 1992 when the gate went in. Before that time it was easier to access the canyon utilizing the existing network of old mining roads. There are still plentiful old roads in the area. I do not advocate building new roads, blazing new trails, or going off trail. All users should adhere to Tread Lightly! principles.
I think it is wrong to close the canyon to landowners. In recent years I have been interested in purchasing property on Cardiff Fork and have been in communication with Buxton's regarding a purchase in the canyon. Legally I do not believe that you can block access from landowners!! It is certainly "reasonable" to have motorized access to private land in the canyon utilizing a hundred year old road system!! I am very tired of the sorry old excuses that vehicles are causing erosion, compromising the watershed, etc. These are all very poor excuses from those who do not like watching people on motorized vehicles drive past them when they are forced to hike. If we are really concerned about the watershed then maybe we should close the state highway up Big Cottonwood canyon due to all the oil, antifreeze, fuel, etc. that eventually gets washed into the creek! A few ATV's and jeeps on weekends are simply a non-existent problem. A good spring runoff will do 100 times the erosion damage than a handful of vehicles could ever do, particularly when they stay on the existing road system.
As for "increasingly common" "conflicts between landowners and recreation users" (hikers), I seriously doubt there is one documented case. I would challenge the Forest Service to come up with a single one, particularly since motorized use in the canyon is closed to the general public! If people want to hike without the sound of a motor then they should go to any of the several other side canyons in Big Cottonwood or head to Twin Peaks Wilderness area. Without private property rights the freedoms we enjoy as Americans are worth nothing.
Sincerely,
