Fifth Water Creek is better known as the source of the "hot pots" in Spanish Fork Canyon. In the letter to the Forest Service, the executive council said it "question(s) the wisdom of listing this stream in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System" because the area has historically had signs posted that warn of nude bathers.

The hot pots themselves are unnatural, created with plastic piping and plastic sheeting that control temperature, the council said.

The council agreed that more restrictions on the other proposed water segments are unnecessary.

"(The rivers in question) are not in that bad a shape now, after a hundred-plus years of management in the context that they have been looked at," said MAG Executive Director Darrell Cook. "How much more improvement can we make by tightening the restrictions for either scenic or recreation or other purposes? There seems to be an awful lot of expense, time and effort put into what is perceived to be a marginal gain in the case of any of the segments, especially when they're already protected through the resource avenues that we've got available."

According to Cathy Kahlow, U.S. Forest Service Scenic River Project team leader in Utah, the project has received thousands of letters from across the state expressing support for — and against — proposing rivers for the designation.

Kahlow says each letter received will be weighed for the issues that are presented in support or opposition to the designation and a finalized list should be ready by next spring.

"We're still just taking in a lot of information, and we have to look at the facts and not just the opinions," Kahlow said. "We will be looking at the comments and the major issues that have been brought up. We still have preliminary figures about the facts about why a river should be submitted for designation or not. We're looking at the preliminary issues and trying to come up with preliminary alternatives for groupings of rivers based on those issues. It's very early to say what will happen."

---

On the Web: More information on the rivers being considered can be found on the U.S. Forest Service Web site, www.fs.fed.us/r4/rivers.

---

E-mail: achoate@desnews.com