OCR Text |
Show 9C Recreation a. General Utah has been blessed with a substantial and varied array of outdoor recreation potential. Recreational opportunities are available in settings ranging from high forested mountains to the canyons, buttes and mesas of the desert. UtahTs outdoors is already being extensively utilized„ Reports prepared by the Institute for the Study of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, Utah State University, » -* show that during the 1970- 71 fall- through- summer season, residents expended about 5 million, 12- hour " recreation days" while non- resident tourists accounted for approximately 904 million recreation days. The reports also state that Utahns have ranked the following activities in order of preference: fishing, camping, hunting, skiing, sight- seeing, golfing, hiking} and swimming. 86 Non- resident use and demand is most significant for sightseeing, picnicking, camping, and hiking,, Currently about 700,000 hunters and anglers are annually spending about six million hunter and fisherman days occupied at these pastimes. ' The hunting is distributed among big game, upland game and waterfowl. The fishing recreation can be separated into warm water and cold water phases either in lakes and reservoirs or in streams. About 70 percent of the demand for fishing recreation in the state is supplied by lakes and reservoirs. ' The proposed Bonneville Unit area supports a recreational potential smaller in magnitude but similar in diversity and quality to that of the state. Some recreation sites found within the Unit area are unique and provide experiences that are not available in other portions of the state. Examples of such amentities are Utah Lake, the High Uintas Primitive Area, relatively undisturbed streams such as Rock Creek, and the " Quality Fishing" section of the Strawberry River; and the excellent trout fishing of the existing Strawberry Reservoir. According to an analysis of recreational river boating on the south slopes of the Uinta Mountains, 184 the kayak and canoe river running sport in Utah is fairly old and well established but only beginning to reach its full potential in numbers of people participating and numbers of rivers being utilized. This sport is expected to grow from a present Statewide participation level of about 100 individuals on about 12 river runs to more than 1,000 persons with 40 to 50 new river runs in the next 10 years. Within the Bonneville Unit, river boating potential is greatest for approximately 65 miles of the Provo River, 10 miles of the West 147 |