Central Wasatch Commission highlights ski-bus gains, reopens push for a conservation act; membership share for Cottonwood Heights proposed to rise

Lindsay Nielsen, executive director of the Central Wasatch Commission, made her annual visit to the council on April 7 and summarized multi-year accomplishments and next steps.

Nielsen highlighted the ski-bus priority access program and said it has reduced ski-bus travel time by roughly 34% on heavy snow days. She reviewed the CWC’s short-term project grant program (used for trailhead bathrooms, backcountry shuttle support and graffiti abatement) and described a two-year symposium series convening experts on transportation, recreation, environment and economy.

She also said the commission is re-engaging regional stakeholders about the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area (CWNC) Act, federal legislation that the Mountain Accord previously advanced and that could deliver federal protections and additional funding for the canyons.

As part of a membership-funding review, Nielsen presented a quantitative-plus-qualitative analysis that, under proposed metrics, would raise Cottonwood Heights’ jurisdictional contribution to the CWC to about $59,000 (the city historically paid about $50,000). The analysis includes population, property and sales tax metrics plus qualitative scoring tied to the region’s reliance on the Wasatch and participation in Mountain Accord work.

Council members asked about legislative appropriations to the CWC (staff said the commission received $250,000 this year, up from a lower appropriation in prior years) and how membership dues were calculated. Nielsen said the commission convened a small funding committee to standardize dues and that members will see a follow-up analysis; she offered to share the full report.