Owens would cheer Wasatch wilderness proposal
Were he still alive, our father, Wayne Owens, who served the Salt Lake City area in the U.S. House of Representatives, would be cheering the latest steps for preservation of our municipal water supply. Rep. Jim Matheson recently introduced legislation to permanently protect more than 26,000 acres of national forest lands in the city watershed along the Wasatch Front.
As important as these land protections are, how they came about is equally worthy of celebration. The Matheson legislation represents the product of nearly two years of collaboration involving businesses, including ski resorts, local elected officials, the community, and conservation groups. With steady encouragement from Matheson, these diverse interests were able to work out a win-win proposal. Each group made compromises, yet all have found that the new land protections will best serve their long-term interests.
The new Matheson legislation marks the latest step in a decades-long process of adopting the strongest possible conservation provisions for the watershed that is so vital to everyone who lives along the dramatic Wasatch Front. As the population of the Salt Lake region has grown, a steady supply of high-quality water could easily have deteriorated. Instead, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, and Utah's congressional delegation have worked to gain additional protections for the watershed, and to make it available for high-quality outdoor recreation -- downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking and camping -- and nature study opportunities for students and scientists.
Congress designated the Lone Peak Wilderness in 1978 and added the Mount Olympus and Twin Peaks Wilderness Areas in 1984. What Matheson now proposes are key additions to these wilderness areas, together with special management provisions crafted for other lands where wilderness designation is not currently appropriate.
The proposal will also designate two new wilderness areas, the Bear Trap Wilderness and the Wayne Owens-Mt. Aire Wilderness. Naming the latter area after our late father is an honor and a meaningful tribute, as our father worked tirelessly to protect this watershed for his constituents. The central feature of the Matheson legislation is that all of these new conservation designations will have the full force of federal law.
The economic benefits of Rep. Matheson's legislation are invaluable. You would have to put a dollar value on things such as our continued, abundant supply of clean water and the diverse recreational use of these lands. You would also have to account for more intangible benefits, such as the enjoyment we all have in viewing the wild scenery of the Wasatch Front.
And we gain a huge advantage in attracting new employers to open their businesses in the Salt Lake region by having this backyard wilderness playground on our doorstep. Total all that up, and the economic benefits our community gains from these new land protections would be measured not in the millions, but in the billions.
Thanks to the broad and nonpartisan coalition of support that emerged from the collaborative process led by Rep. Matheson, there is every reason to hope that this legislation can proceed to hearings and be enacted this year.
Stephen W. Owens and signatories Elizabeth Owens Tew, H. Douglas Owens, Sara Woodard Owens and Edward W. Owens are the children of the late Rep. Wayne Owens.
