Op-ed: Utah's public lands are more complicated than we think

Recognizing the unsurpassable beauty of Zion Canyon, civil engineer Leo Snow surveyed the canyon and then recommended it to the federal government to become a national monument in 1909. President William Howard Taft designated about 16,000 acres, and later that was expanded to 146,597 acres. Snow, my great-grandfather, designed and built roads, bridges and even the Mount Carmel tunnel, creating access to the scenic wonders of southwestern Utah. What he started has influenced the ecology and econ