(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Snowbird ski resort is photographed Nov. 12, 2018. Snowbird and other ski resorts in Utah's Cottonwood Canyons are pulling proposed land swaps from landmark conservation legislation for the Central Wasatch. They would like to trade public land at their bases for private holdings on high rocky slopes, like those pictured here under Mount Superior across Little Cottonwood Canyon from Snowbird. The ski areas' former mining claims hold very little value compared with the lands they hope to acquire, creating complications that threatened to drag down a bill establishing the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area.
Brian Maffly has worked for The Tribune off and on since 1994. Maffly roams Utah, covering public land and environment.