Framing the Salt Lake Valley’s west side, the Oquirrh Mountains often take a back seat to the more famous Wasatch peaks on the east. Steeped in a rich history of industry, most people associate the 30-mile-long mountain range with the Bingham Canyon Mine, the deepest open-pit mine on the planet.

As development approaches the Oquirrhs (a Goshute word meaning “wooded mountain,”) more people are discovering the recreation opportunities in those canyons, which some say creates an urgent need to address growth and preservation. A group of University of Utah researchers studied the history, environmental challenges and future of the Oquirrh Mountains, and presented their findings on Earth Day.

Cait Quirk moved to Utah from the Pacific Northwest, where she worked as a mountaineering instructor. While studying at the U, she was excited to explore the Wasatch range but wanted to learn more about the mountains to the west. She was surprised by how little the Oquirrhs were understood by the valley’s residents.

“I talked to people who had lived in the Salt Lake Valley for 20 years and didn’t even know the name of the Oquirrhs,” Quirk said. “How can that be? As soon as I moved here, I wanted to run and explore and ski in them.”

She approached Dr. Jessica DiCarlo, a human geographer and political ecologist at the university, to see if she could spend a semester studying the Oquirrhs and why the range doesn’t receive the same interest as the Wasatch.

Mara Scallon and Maddie Hill joined the project that attempted to answer the questions: why do the Oquirrhs seem inaccessible, how can we understand the land and what role does industry and history play in the public’s perception of the mountains?

When researchers asked the public to define the Oquirrh Mountains, they used words like “underrated,” “exploited,” “stepchild,” “surprising,” “beautiful” and “Oquirrific.”

“We realized there was a disjointed perspective between how people thought about and perceived the Wasatch. They’d go out there every day for runs, but they had never once been out to the Oquirrhs to experience that,” Scallon said. “We were curious about how that shaped different perceptions, this whole idea of things hiding in plain sight. There was a mountain range, but people didn’t know the name of that range. That was interesting.”

They talked to residents, federal employees, state and county officials, historians and nonprofit groups like The Oquirrh Foundation. They hiked and ran on the trails, did some backcountry skiing and participated in several events held on the mountain. 

By studying archival photos and local histories, the researchers found virtually no information about Indigenous tribes who had lived there, and no information about women who had helped settle the area. However, there was vast information about the mining industry in the Oquirrh Mountains.

Scallon said they discovered there are nearly 300 archaeological resources in the range, but because most of those sites are on private property, no guidelines have been set for preservation. 

“It goes to show that visibility in history depends on land ownership and depends on industry,” she said. “That led us to ask, if there are hundreds [of archaeological resources] that the state knows about, what else is there that is not known?”

The Oquirrhs are a mash-up of private ownership, federal and public lands, and military properties, with Camp Williams and the Tooele Army Depot located on its east and west sides. Property owners don’t seem to welcome the public accessing the area, as demonstrated by the numerous “No Trespassing” signs.

In 2023, Salt Lake County opened Herriman’s Butterfield Trailhead Regional Park. It includes 13 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians and runners. As a competitive mountain biker, off-road trails are one thing that enticed Hill to move to Utah from California. She said the Oquirrhs offer a dynamic recreational landscape that seems to be underutilized.

“These trails have become more than just an outdoor outlet. They are something that promotes health, environmental stewardship and community pride,” Hill said. “I also view these trail systems as a place for growth, connection and mentorship. These trail systems serve as a way to keep [people] engaged in the outdoors for many years…People of any age or any demographic can come together and embrace the beauty of these mountains.”

As sprawl inches toward the Oquirrhs, Quirk expressed the necessity for stewardship and environmental protection. She noted the EPA has still not designated the Kennecott Superfund sites in Magna and Copperton as safe for soil or water. Quirk applauded the Oquirrh Foundation’s efforts to preserve lands and facilitate community engagement through events and clean-up activities.

“Most people we talked to really want to develop safe and healthy places for generations to come,” she said. “Conservation goals will take a lot of different stances, but people noted that some habitats should not have more human impacts. To limit disputes, there needs to be preservation that spans different mindsets.”

Scallon said the big question for the Oquirrhs is, how will human and environmental health be prioritized over profit? As more communities are built near the range, what is the impact on water resources and air pollution? How does the increase in wildfires and the possibility of toxic chemical exposure change the way cities expand in that area?

“Whose voices are being left out of these conversations about development and about the growth that’s happening in the region?” Scallon asked. “As humans change how the land is being used and accessed, that can cause some significant challenges.” λ