Southern Utah groups form committee to protect open spaces

ST. GEORGE — Supe Lillywhite grew up climbing, hiking, running and biking in the St. George area, and still finds solace in doing all of those things. When he looks at his kids and the generations to come, however, he worries that it will all be gone.

And with the rapid growth in St. George, that worry has intensified.

"I grew up here climbing and mountain biking," Lillywhite told KSL. "It's just really good for my peace of mind to be able to get out to a natural place within a few minutes. I could drive five minutes right now and get to a beautiful natural place with no one around and go hiking, climbing or trail running, and I really want my kids to be able to enjoy it, too.

"That's why we enjoy living here. That's what brings tourism here. We have the responsibility to try and help maintain that. So that's what we've been working on."

Lillywhite and many others in the area have formed a committee to not only protect open space but also to work directly with St. George to raise greater awareness of what is present on those lands.

The group Lillywhite and others have formed is a 501(c)(3) service organization called the Open Space and Recreation Preservation Committee. The committee is made up of several local groups, including representatives from Backcountry Horseman, Southern Utah Climbers Alliance, Trails Alliance of Southern Utah and Conserve Southwest Utah.

"The thing that we recognize that makes St. George unique is how accessible recreation is out here," Lillywhite said. "We are looking at the greater Moe's Valley area and encouraging the city, county, SITLA (State Trust Lands Administration) — everybody that could have some sort of impact on it to do everything that they can to protect the area.

"We also care deeply about the other open space and recreation areas in our area," he continued. "The threats to the greater Moe's Valley area have made us realize that as St. George continues to grow, access to, and in preservation of other beloved areas will be threatened as well."

Southern Utah Climber's Alliance President Tyler Webb spoke about some of those areas in need of protection.

"In Moe's Valley, there's actually an ancient sundial that forms a certain shape between the shadow and some petroglyphs," he said. "That's just recently been privatized and is owned by a development company. I don't know if they even know it's there.

"People take for granted that we'll always have these areas, and suddenly, within the last few years, they've been privatized with no trespassing signs. That's part of why we want to form this committee to be able to make people aware so that maybe they could make it into a public park or something to be able to maintain and not just bulldoze those petroglyphs and make them accessible."

Members of the committee have attended many St. George City Council meetings over the past several months, asking for support. In fact, Mayor Jimmie Hues told KSL that the city "always values hearing from the public."

"We feel this is a great avenue to receive this type of useful feedback," Hughes added.

Lillywhite said they have appreciated the city's proactivity in protecting the Greater Moe's Valley area, which is popular with climbers and home to the protected Mojave Desert tortoise. He also said that they are hoping to gain more public voices as access to open spaces depends on those voices being heard.

"A lot of the land is contingent on the Northern Corridor Highway land swap going through," Lillywhite said. "(There are) 3,000 acres of land that comprises the best recreational assets out there. If STLA takes their land back out, they would start with Moe's Valley. Zen Trail, Super Mario Land and all the other notable places out there are also on STLA land and would be at risk of development as well.

"As crazy as St. George has been growing, they would get developed eventually if something else isn't done to protect those areas."

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