WASHINGTON — Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, fought three close, bitter campaigns against his predecessor, the late Rep. Gunn McKay, D-Utah. Now he's pushing a bill to honor McKay.
Hansen introduced a bill Thursday to create a 15-acre natural preserve in McKay's hometown of Huntsville in Ogden Canyon, and to name it for McKay, who died in 2000.
"His love for Huntsville and his family's roots there are central to the town's history. I think this preserve is an excellent way to commemorate his life and public service," Hansen said.
Hansen said Huntsville residents proposed the preserve after they learned that the U.S. Forest Service was planning to build a helicopter landing pad in an area between residences and the Cemetery Point recreational beach at nearby Pineview Reservoir.
"We thought it would be detrimental to have helicopters coming in and landing so close to the neighborhood," said Kevin Anderson, a Huntsville property owner and a member of the Gunn McKay Nature Preserve Foundation.
Residents countered with the idea of a nature preserve, and Hansen said the Forest Service agreed to it.
Scott Anderson, another member of the preserve foundation, said, "This pristine and undeveloped property is important to the community as open space and as a buffer between the residential neighborhood of Huntsville, and the beaches and boating marina of the Pineview Reservoir."
Kevin Anderson said the area would not allow motorized vehicles, and would include some walking trails and a plaque at the entrance that would summarize McKay's life. McKay served in Congress from 1971 to 1981. Hansen beat him in a close race in 1980. They later had two close and sometimes bitter rematches, also won by Hansen, in 1986 and 1988.
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