Over the weekend, Gail and I visited some of the mountains that surround our home of Salt Lake City. Struck by the stunning beauty of what we saw, I’ve been reflecting on the implications of natural beauty.
Frankly, this nearly unprecedented draught year, following several years of below-average precipitation, I was stunned by the spectacular fall colors. They are the best I ever remember. Perhaps heavy August rain brightened the foliage.
Gail and I were not alone in our scenic leaf-peeping drive. Traffic for most of our 30-mile trip through the mountains was bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go. Every parking lot was overflowing.
With the roads operating above reasonable capacity, it begs difficult-to-answer questions about the future. Utah’s population is expected nearly to double over the next 30 years. How will all those people have the opportunity to see and enjoy the vistas? How will those priceless views of nature b…