"After having seen this tax increase go down, I'm afraid some of them will say that this was our signal that we don't need to spend money on open space," he said.

Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said he hoped the 130,000 signatures on the petition and the 45 percent voter support for Initiative 1 will still serve as a wake-up call to legislators that many Utahns want more open space and are willing to raise their taxes to get it.

Becker is not holding his breath. A bill he introduced this past session that included the same tenets of Initiative 1 never reached the House floor.

"The response from the Legislature for open space funding has really bordered on hostility," he said.

Evan Olsen, a former Republican legislator and still a dairy farmer in Logan, created a bill to allow several counties to raise the sales taxes to buy open space. The measure passed the House but died in the Senate.

"Maybe my effort was a little bit before it's time, but now development has just gone hog wild in Utah," Olsen said.

Curtis, however, said open space measures often fail in the Legislature because they are weighed against education and transportation issues. When it comes to tight budgets, Curtis said open space often loses out to more pressing needs.

"The Legislature is probably a little more in tune with constituents than we're given credit for," he said. "It's important to have the Legislature's discretion to balance things."

Jerman said he was "definitely relieved" that the initiative failed because it is a local issue that should be funded by local governments.

Voters in Draper seemed to back up that sentiment Tuesday as they passed a $7 million local open space bond by 59 percent. Draper resident Richard Robinson said he and many Draper residents, however, voted against Initiative 1.

Both bonds would have meant about $14 more a year in taxes for the average Utah family. But Robinson said the difference was that the Draper bond was local with specific lands cited for conservation in Corner Canyon. Initiative 1, he said, did not nail down exactly where the money was going to be spent.

Local open space bonds have been gaining steam, with Salt Lake County passing a $5 million bond last year and Park City passing two bonds for $10 million each.

But Carabello said statewide funding is critical to clean water sources and air pollution, which do not respect county boundaries.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com