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← Mission 13 · Brian Head expansion
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Mission 13 · Dixie National Forest, UT

Brian Head expansion

Dixie National Forest

The agency files it as “Brian Head Resort Expansion project”

Closes today

Anyone can write to the agency about this until October 29, and it has to answer. What you send before then joins the file a judge is allowed to look at later.

The sentence we think is wrong

“two upper sections of the unnamed perennial stream were not culverted and flowed directly over East Snow Mobile Road and South Spring Circle”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Section 3.7.3, Affected Environment - Existing Drainage Conditions. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Walk East Snow Mobile Road and South Spring Circle above Brian Head and find where the small year-round creek meets each road. Photograph whether water runs across the road surface or through a pipe. A photo at each spot showing water running over bare road with no pipe, or showing a culvert carrying it under the road.

The decision

Brian Head Resort wants to add 1,651 acres to its special use permit on the Dixie National Forest, expanding its ski terrain and facilities on the Cedar City Ranger District. The Forest Service has prepared a draft EIS and is accepting public comments before making a final decision. It's a critical window to weigh in, since only those who comment now will be eligible to file a formal objection lat

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the crossing from the road, then from upstream and from downstream.
  2. 02At a culvert, photograph the outlet from downstream so the drop from the pipe to the water shows. Put a pole or a person beside it for scale.
  3. 03Photograph the water: is it flowing, standing, or dry. Note the time.
  4. 04Photograph any fish, fish sign, or aquatic life you can see. Don’t enter the water to chase it.
  5. 05Write down what you saw and how the crossing looked to you.
What would count
  • The drop from the pipe to the water, with something for scale. A pipe left hanging above the water is one a fish cannot swim up, and that is a fact on its own.
  • Up and downstream, dated. Flow is the claim most often wrong.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.