WILLARD, Utah — In the 1800s, pioneers settled in Willard to get wood and water from the canyon, Mayor Travis Mote said. People have been hiking up the gnarly rocks since then.
“It’s kind of been the pride and joy, the centerpiece of this community,” he said. “It's a beautiful canyon. There's waterfalls in the spring, and people love to go look at the waterfalls.”
Recently, residents came to the trailhead and discovered barbed wire completely fencing off access to Willard Canyon, as well as "No trespassing" signs. Technically, hiking at this trailhead has always been trespassing, but it was never enforced, Mote said. However, the property owners down on the lower part of the land are leasing to Granite Construction, which is now expanding its intensive mining.
“It's one thing Willard City wanted out of it, was legal access up the canyon, and we tried to negotiate for that, but it wasn't something that the property owners were willing to go for,” Mote said said.
Willard is negotiating with Granite so the city can at least reap the benefits of the mining.
“It's been a burden on the city for years,” Mote said. “All the gravel pits are. I mean, we're blessed with an abundance of gravel, obviously, and the growth on the Wasatch Front and within Willard itself requires gravel, but being the home of the gravel, we don't necessarily see all the benefits of that, obviously because, you know, we get to deal with the dust. We get to deal with the gravel trucks coming down the road.”
At a meeting Monday night, Mote told a room full of concerned residents that there is no guarantee of access to Willard Canyon for public hiking.
