Salt Lake County Mayor Gets Pfeifferhorn Award

Green Groups Award Pfeifferhorn to Mayor Corroon
by Mark Clemens
Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club

Several leading environmental organizations in Utah awarded the annual Pfeifferhorn Award to Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon for 2007.  The Pfeifferhorn, named for a prominent peak in southeastern Salt Lake County, is awarded to a citizen or government official who has made extraordinary contributions to protecting the Wasatch Range and the environment in Utah generally.  “Corroon has been refreshing as a leader who brings together stakeholders to have open and candid discussions about positive problem solving,” said Lisa Schmidt, executive director of Save Our Canyons, one of the organizations that present the Pfeifferhorn.

The list of Corroon’s environmental good works is already long, despite the fact that he’s still in his first term, and includes significant victories for open space preservation, trails, watershed preservation and promotion of new wilderness.

Perkins Flat, 190 acres of open space in Emigration Canyon, was purchased by Utah Open Lands in 2005 with substantial support from Salt Lake County and Mayor Peter Corroon.  Of the total purchase price of $1.4 million, Salt Lake County provided $485,000.  Corroon also strongly supported another project involving Utah Open Lands and Save Our Canyons on the west flank of Grandeur Peak.  Fourteen acres formerly owned by Utah Power were acquired by Salt Lake County with a conservation easement conveyed to Utah Open Lands.  This acreage is crucial for trail access and protection of views from around the valley.

By seeking a $1,000,000 appropriation for further open space funding in fiscal year 2006, Corroon helped insure that Salt Lake County will have the means to continue the current pace of open space acquisition.

Working closely with Public Works Director Linda Hamilton and environmental groups, Mayor Corroon identified the county’s transportation needs in canyons and watershed and discovered numerous errors and problems in the so-called highway claims made by vote of an earlier county commission under the now-repealed, 19th century law called RS 2477.  At least one of the claims—Mill Creek Canyon—was made for a road alignment on which the county already had a legally enforceable right of way.  Other claims were made on narrow trails in sensitive watershed lands.  After careful review, Corroon issued an order vacating the previously-lodged RS 2477 claims.  “Our collaboration on the highway claims set a positive precedent for the rest of state to deal with the RS 2477 issue,” observed Schmidt.

Corroon has also endorsed the Wasatch Wilderness Proposal to protect the remaining roadless lands in the Tri-Canyons Area with congressional wilderness designation.  This move is more evidence of his profound commitment to protecting the sources of clean water on which we all rely.

The county council and Mayor Corroon stuck their necks out to support an important new mountain bike/hiking trail system to be built in Emigration Canyon that will improve access to public land and link together a number of existing trails such as the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and the Great Western Trail.  Although opposed by a vocal minority of homeowners in the canyon, county leaders realized that most of the arguments made against pedestrian trails; eg, trails encourage crime, decrease property values and make wildfires more likely, are specious.

With the mayor’s support and invaluable contributions from staff, Salt Lake County has implemented a new landscaping ordinance.  The new ordinance establishes water allowances and professional standards for new or upgraded developments that will hold down water usage and promote native and drought tolerant species.

As the name suggests, most of the recipients of the Pfeifferhorn Award have made significant contributions to the protection of the Wasatch Range.  A little-understood aspect of protecting our wild and open spaces is the promotion of good urban design.  Walkable, mixed-use developments help create an attractive urban environment that makes new construction on open land less necessary.  Corroon understood this before becoming mayor.  One of the best examples of pedestrian-friendly, mixed income housing was built near the 900 South Trax Station by Green Street Development of which Corroon was a partner.

The Pfeifferhorn Award was inaugurated in 1995 and has been presented over the years to Gale Dick, George Hansen, LeRoy Hooten and Dianna Lehmann Smith, among others. 
Great Salt Lake Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, Save Our Canyons, the Utah Chapter of Sierra Club and Wasatch Mountain Club jointly select the winner and present the award.  Each year the award honors an individual whom these organizations believe should be recognized for serving the public interest by helping to preserve and protect some aspect of the natural environment of the State of Utah.  This year the award was presented on Monday, October 8th at Vienna Bistro restaurant in Salt Lake City.