Could trails become roads?

Fears that hiking trails in Big Cottonwood Canyon — including some passing through a 154-acre wilderness preserve — are in danger of being developed as roads are misguided, according to the Utah Attorney General's Office.

Still, Salt Lake City water managers are worried their pristine watershed along with its Willow Heights wilderness preserve could be in jeopardy from road development if the trails are designated as rural highways under the RS 2477 statute. Because of those concerns, Public Utilities Director LeRoy Hooton Jr. sent a letter last week to Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman hoping for clarifications about the intents, if any, of the county.

The RS 2477 law, aimed at giving prospectors easy access to their claims, grants use of rights of way for roads and trails over federal lands that are not reserved for public use. It was repealed in 1976, but any road in place before that time would still qualify as a local right of way under the old law.

Three years ago, Utah put the federal government on notice that it intended to sue for the road claims, although it has yet to file a lawsuit. Because of that potential litigation, access to the possible road claims has been denied for media organizations and environmental groups, while county officials have been forbidden by the state to publicly discuss the claims.

In April, Gov. Mike Leavitt signed an agreement with U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton that will allow Utah to claim roads traveled by vehicles before 1976 that are not in federally protected wilderness areas, national forests, refuges, or national parks. That agreement, however, has little to do with the Salt Lake County road claims because all of them except one are either across National Forest or Department of Defense land.

Hooton's letter outlines eight trails of concern in Big Cottonwood, including Willow Heights, Silver Fork, Days Fork, American Hollow, Mill D South Fork, Mill D North Fork, Mineral Fork and Honeycomb Fork. Many of these trails lie with the city's 154-acre Willow Heights nature preserve purchased two years ago.

If these trails are designated roads under RS 2477 it would "foreshadow" them being open to vehicle access, Hooton wrote.

The county commission approved 15 road claims in 2000, including the Mill D North Fork, but the county's public works department has since submitted an additional seven roads to the state for consideration. There is no public record as to whether the seven roads Hooton identified in his letter are the same additional seven submitted by the county.