It’s not just Utah’s national parks and ski areas breaking visitation records.
As those destinations become increasingly overrun, Utahns are flocking to their state parks.
And state officials are responding by adding to Utah’s smorgasbord of parks, now numbering 45. The latest addition could be a snowmobile hotspot in the Monte Cristo Range northeast of Huntsville.
Introduced Monday, HB381 would appropriate $20 million to install the infrastructure, such as paved parking and a campground, on 188 acres of state-owned land in Weber County on State Road 39.
“There’s already a huge trail system that connects to Forest Service land, summer and winter trails,” said bill sponsor Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy. “It’s basically a jumping-off point to what’s already exists and being used by the public.”
The bill also seeks to appropriate $450,000 a year to cover operational costs of the proposed Monte Cristo State Parks. The state already collects a $10 fee in winter to park at the site.
The number of people paying this fee has more than doubled over the past two years, reaching 21,000 last year, according to the Division of Recreation.
“They’re spending the funds to plow the area because there’s such heavy demand. They are trying to reduce their costs,” Eliason said, adding that he expects that park would ultimately be revenue-neutral or revenue-generating.
In 1997, the Utah Department of Natural Resources acquired the land which is mostly surrounded by Uinta-Cache-National Forest, according to Devan Chavez, a spokesman with the division of State Parks
“That area is beautiful,” he said. “Our rangers have actively patrolled it for years.”
The site has some vault toilets, a snowmobile concession, an unpaved parking lot, a portable fee collection station and not much else.
“This would make the area more of a state park, provide infrastructure to support a campground and restrooms. It’s a huge snowmobile hotspot that connects to Ant Flat and Curtis Creek,” Chavez said. “People go up there and access these trail systems that go onto public land. With this being a state park, it would allow multiple use. It wouldn’t just be snowmobile use.”
Also pending in the Legislature’s general session is HCR13, a resolution calling for the establishment of a state monument on land owned by Utah County at Bridal Veil Falls, a popular sightseeing spot in Provo Canyon.
State park visitation climbed by nearly 40% last year to 12 million. Across the state, the parks division has invested heavily in amenities at numerous parks thanks to $120 million in new appropriations.
“We have seen an explosion in use at the state parks,” Chavez said. “These hidden gems have become crown jewels.”
Last year, the Legislature — under Eliason’s HB257 — established Utahraptor and Lost Creek state parks, in Grand and Morgan counties respectively, on publicly owned lands that were already seeing heavy, but unregulated recreational use. The same would be true with the Monte Cristo site.
“The cost in there is simply to construct a state park, bringing utilities, water, build a campground, entrance station and other amenities,” Eliason said. “We can kid ourselves and say that people aren’t going to use restrooms when they go to a place like Monte Cristo, but we know otherwise.”
The division was split last year into separate divisions for parks and for recreation. The new Division of Recreation is responsible for collecting the parking fee and maintaining the network of snowmobile trails beyond the proposed park.
