A citizens committee appointed by the Juab County Commission to work with the Forest Service is prepared to continue long-term negotiations to prevent Nephi citizens from being locked out of Salt Creek Canyon.
"They (Forest Service officials) think if they put us off and put us off we will give up and go away," said committee member Dale Worwood in a report to the commission. "But we will not give up and go away."The committee is made up of Betty Sanders; state Sen. Cary Peterson, R. Nephi; Glen Greenhalgh, Juab County economic director; and Worwood. They have continued to ask that the Forest Service open the corridor along the roadway from the mouth of the canyon to the top of the canyon where the road ends at Bear Canyon Campground to dispersed camping.
The Forest Service posted no-camping signs along the corridor and closed the area to camping along the creek banks and road last summer. The Cottonwood campground was also closed. Area residents have asked that that campground be reopened.
The committee has also asked that the county be allowed to develop Andrews Canyon for camping. If the county puts up the money to improve the site, county residents should be allowed to use Andrews free of charge, said Worwood.
He also said that if the county put in a culvert across Salt Creek into Cottonwood, the people of the area should be allowed to use it free.
At one time, said Worwood, Nephi people had a two-lane bowling alley and two amphitheaters in Salt Creek Canyon. The Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located there and 300 people lived there for three years.