- Big Cottonwood Canyon is the subject of a cooperative agreement that restores access to recreationists in the Cardiff Fork area.
- The canyon, along with other Wasatch canyons, is also acknowledged as a place ripe for wildfires.
- The risk of wildfires propelled the state into action with new on-the-ground assessments taking place on fire-prone structures.
A team of state forestry experts is surveying the density of conifers, the scattering of aspen stands, the fallen and rotting trees and the underbrush that crowds this jewel called Big Cottonwood Canyon.
It is important to make this area more immune to catastrophic wildfires, especially given a new agreement recently inked involving the Cardiff Canyon Owners Association, the Wasatch-Uinta-Cache National Forest and the Wasatch Backcountry Alliance.
New legislation could also bring motivation to make the area safer.
First, the agreement restores long awaited access to Cardiff Fork for recreationists whose playground for backcountry skiing and hiking was off limits after a permit lapsed.
But via mutual negotiations, a new special use permit opens that access, giving these outdoorsmen the ability to cherish a place they love. The agreement will be in place for 10 years and blends cooperation among visitors, private landowners and the Forest Service on adjacent property.
“Some of my best days in the backcountry have been in Cardiff Fork, and I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I have so many great memories of taking in the view across Mineral, Mill B, and Broads Fork, then ripping skins and dropping into George’s or the Ivories for a thousand feet of blower Wasatch powder,” said Dani Poirier, director of the alliance.
“Even on the slower days, when conditions are mediocre or I’ve slept in too late to score fresh tracks, I still love being there. There’s something special about Cardiff. If you’ve been, you know that it’s a truly beautiful drainage.”
It was not easy, she emphasized.
“But this kind of win doesn’t just happen. It takes persistence, relationships, and local advocacy, the kind that WBA specializes in. We attended regular meetings. We negotiated. We reviewed permit drafts. We pushed back when needed. We built trust.”
Due to longstanding disagreements with the U.S. Forest Service, the Cardiff Canyon Owners Association allowed access to the 1,200 acres of privately owned land in that area to lapse via a special use permit from the Forest Service.
That cut off access for recreational users.
Part of the problem was being caught in the crosshairs of two different agencies. There were a couple of structures that needed to be moved but Salt Lake County said those issues had to be resolved with the Forest Service before negotiations could move forward, but the Forest Service said it needed to be resolved with the county before there was any movement on the permit.
That dispute has abated, for now, with the granting of a special use permit.
Now, the challenges turn on making the area more resistant to raging wildfires and restoring a road that has been washed out due to an eroded stream that needs maintenance. It will require a stream alteration permit from the state of Utah, which is being expedited.
Overgrown forests, fires and deadly consequences
Both Little and Big Cottonwood canyons are wildly popular, nestled along the Wasatch Front and offering premier hiking opportunities in the summer and tantalizing powder in the winter for skiers of all sorts.
But they come with inherent danger — with limited ways to get out of the canyon. At Big Cottonwood Canyon, Guardsman Pass is open during the summer, but in Little Cottonwood Canyon there is only one way in and one way out, which presents a recipe for devastating consequences should a fire erupt.
Private landowners at Cardiff specifically asked for the tour by state forestry officials to determine their fire risks and ask for steps they can take to alleviate them.
The state is taking a methodical survey of the compromised nature posed to homes and other structures that exist in what is called the Wildland Urban Interface.
The state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands says the risks are tremendous and cites the factors that make it so dangerous.
- Desire to live in a secluded area surrounded by natural vegetation without defensible space.
- Homes are built of flammable materials (wood siding, shakes and patios).
- Fire equipment hampered from protecting an area because of long, narrow, winding, or steep driveways.
- Distance from fire departments.
- One ingress and egress road in subdivisions and some communities.
- Misperception that fire protection in rural areas is equal to urban fire protection services as well as inadequate water supplies.
- Poor signage and access to residences.
- No hazard planning for evacuation and no early warning systems.
The potential loss of life is unthinkable should there be a fire or other natural disaster.
Consider that Big and Little Cottonwood canyons, along with Millcreek, receive an estimated 3.2 million visitors a year in an area that spans 80,000 acres. That eclipses the amount of visitation Arches and some other national parks in Utah receive.
The arid landscapes of Utah present a new dynamic for Doug Campbell, forestry operation manager for the division.
“We are at a more sustained drought than we have been, and we really need to be even more aggressive because of how it’s changing,” Campbell said." In the back of my head as I see how the climate is changing, I realize we can’t keep doing the same thing if it is going to change drastically."
Same country, but worlds apart
“I’ve never worked in a state with the wildfire risk like Utah. So it has never been a huge part of what I did day to day,” he said. “So here, you know, there’s so little water and we are in this real arid part of the world and fire season seems to be almost 365 days.”
Campbell got his start in the northern most part of Maine and went on to work in Georgia and North Carolina.
It was not like Utah.
“Prescribed burning was pretty common; wildfires were not. Everywhere I worked there was plenty of moisture,” he said.
“We spent a lot of money getting water out of our way so that we could operate,” he added. “So this experience in Utah is different from anything I’ve ever done, and I’m trying to bring to this kind of operation the mentality of proactive long-term planning. We tend to be reactive.”
It is also a matter of building trust.
People hear about a timber cutting operation and automatically think of clear-cutting. They can be skeptical at best and distrustful at worst. But their choice to live in these high risk areas without taking precautions comes with a cost.
Michael Swinsick, the wildland urban interface specialist with the division, was on the tour and saw plenty of problems just waiting to go up in flames.
“It’s a challenge,” he said, with the area full of dead timber, dense forests, understory — plenty of ingredients that go into the blender for a dangerous wildfire.
“It’s a challenge,” he said. “There’s some work that could be done up there. We will write a good plan for it and try to get some grant funding to go towards it soon. But at least we got them looking at some things that need to be done, so we will see what traction we can get.”
Farther up the canyon, the most troublesome spot is the Silver Fork area in the town of Brighton, he added.
“There’s a lot of homes in there, and there’s no code compliance in there whatsoever as far as the code goes. So there’s some more challenges in there, and it’ll be kinda the same thing: get homeowners in there to start looking at what they need to do to mitigate around their homes, things like that.”
Wildfires, insurance and solutions
The state is not messing around when it comes to homeowners following the proper precautions to “harden” their homes if they live in a high risk area of the wildland urban interface.
HB48 passed this last session, sponsored by House Majority Leader Casey Snider.
It is expected to generate as much as $4.1 million in revenue for the state based on fees derived from the square footage of a home or other structure that exists in a high risk wildland urban interface.
Owners will remit an annual fee to the state based on square footage, according to the law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.
Snider had a sense of urgency to get the bill through given the continuing encroachment of people moving to the so-called high country. More information on HB48 can be found on the division’s website.
The division will abide by rules to enforce the law, but the intent is for homeowners to get help from their local county, fire wardens or the state for guidance on how to better fire proof their home by creating a defensible space and appropriate buffers according to code.
“They will be assessed an annual fee,” Snider said in legislative committee testimony this year. He said it will only be sufficient enough to pay for the program, which involves wildland urban interface coordinators to do on-the-ground assessments.
If homeowners take steps to meet the WRI code, their home will be highlighted as a safe structure in the event of a fire.
“We are seeing pretty whole scale abandonment of insurance. We are trying to make sure they can have coverage at a reasonable rate,” he said.
“There is also a degree of personal responsibility in this,” Snider added. “People will have to take steps.”
Property owners can then show an insurance company they are in compliance with the WRI code in an attempt to restore coverage or reduce premiums.
Clint Smith, president of the Utah Fire Chiefs Association, added during the same hearing that the problem has reached a tipping point.
“We are very well aware that the urban interface is significant across the entire West and we are not exempt in the state of Utah.”
