Residents urged to get outdoors for National Public Lands Day

SALT LAKE CITY — To celebrate National Public Lands Day, volunteers are being sought to help repair and improve the Mormon Pioneer Trail on Sept. 24 in a project that supports the Wasatch Water Legacy Partnership.

Volunteers 16-years or older are needed to do tread repair and brush out vegetation that has grown along the trail, which is a popular destination for bicycling, jogging and hiking. Visitors can hike along part of the original course of immigrants from 180 years ago, with trailheads at Big Mountain Pass and Affleck Park.

The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and Salt Lake City manage lands that include the Mormon Pioneer Trail. Located east of Salt Lake City, the trail passes over Big Mountain Pass, following Mountain Dell Creek and then ascends Little Mountain Pass before dropping into Emigration Canyon and Salt Lake valley below.

Volunteers must register for this project through the Public Lands Information Center at 801-466-6411, or at plic@xmission.com.

On the day of the event, volunteers should meet at Affleck Park in Dell Canyon at 8 a.m. Project work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 1 p.m. Carpooling is encouraged.

The Wasatch Water Legacy Partnership mission is to enhance watershed conservation and provide sustainable recreation along the Wasatch Front in the Salt Lake area. Partners sponsoring the project include Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, and Save our Canyons.

The Western Governors' Association, too, is encouraging people of all ages to lend a hand on National Public Lands Day, which is the nation's largest, single-day volunteer event for public lands. Last year, 170,000 volunteers worked at over 2,080 sites across the country. More than 66,000 of those volunteers were in Western states.

The governors' association has launched the Get Out West! initiative, which aims to increase jobs and revenues in the recreation and tourism sectors of the Western economy and help urban children and their families experience recreation opportunities throughout the West.

For more information on Get Out West! visit the Western Governors' Association go to www.westgov.org. To learn more about National Public Lands Day go to www.publiclandsday.org.

Email: amyjoi@desnews.com

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