In a maneuver Salt Lake City attorney George Haley likens to “developing the Garden of Eden,” a local guide service is bidding to lease 352 state-owned acres along the Green River near Dutch John, Utah, for the purpose of building an exclusive lodge.
Spinner Fall Guide Service, which has operated on the Green River since 1980, is a proponent in the project, along with Flint Timber, a Georgia-based lumber operator and land developer.
The site, on land controlled by State Utah Lands Administration, is located on the west side of the river opposite the popular Little Hole Recreation Area, approximately 8 miles below Flaming Gorge Dam. The site, where Gorge Creek enters the Green, is used extensively by public anglers who pause while floating the most popular section of a river that is part of the National Wild and Scenic River System.
Haley, who often visits the river, joined other local anglers and guides in opposing a project that marks the first commercial intrusion onto what has been a pristine and public parcel. But Dudley Campbell, one of three partners in Spinner Fall, deflected criticism with assurances that a public easement to the river would be maintained 100 linear feet above the high-water mark. Campbell further said the lodge would be constructed away from the river about a mile upstream from the U.S. Forest Service-operated Little Hole site.
“Visual impact will be minimal to none,” he said.
A public comment period on the action ends Nov. 14. aps should be delivered to Trust Lands Administration, 217 E. Center St., Moab, Utah, 84532 or by phone, 435-259-7417.
