(Under Canvas Lake Powell-Grand Staircase) Under Canvas is a luxury camping company that currently operates three resorts in Utah. There are two more proposals.

Speculum Rock • Paying up to $600 per night to live in a tent does not sound like a typical camping experience. However, Under Canvas is a resort company based in Montana, which provides a "glamping" experience near the entrances of popular national parks in Utah and other parts of the United States, which is hardly different from Under Canvas.

Guests visiting the resort can book a king-size bed in a canvas tent located on a wooden deck with a private bathroom. They may relax on the "yoga platform" or stroll along paths that meander through peaceful natural landscapes. The resort provides guests with s'mores, organizes group events and promotes the option of renting out the entire facility for private events.

There are currently three Under Canvas resorts in Utah—near Lake Powell and the entrance to Zion and Arches National Park—that cost between $250 and $600 per night, depending on the resort and the time of year. A fourth resort is being planned near Bryce Canyon National Park.

According to critics, “luxury” companies like Under Canvas are backed by a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm, and they have found a way to sell accommodation at luxury hotel prices while bypassing what might be applicable Zoning, safety and fire mitigation standards. Hotels of the same size and price also put pressure on remote areas outside of developed cities and towns.

The latest development announced by the company, if it opens after the Bryce Canyon location, will become the state's fifth Under Canvas resort, located in a remote area of ​​San Juan County, 25 miles south of Moab near Canyonlands National Park. The proposed 220 acres, 75 tented resorts are adjacent to the famous rock climbing and recreation area called Jingjing Rock. Since its announcement last month, the area’s development plan has met with strong opposition within a few weeks, sparking a petition signed by more than 2,350 people and 650 comments.

Dailey Haren, a lifelong resident of Moab who initiated the petition, said: “The opposition comes from being angry about what is happening in our community and the land near our home.” “We have witnessed one special place after another being commercialized. Submerged."

(Zach Podmore | Salt Lake Tribune) Mirror Rock is a remote arch that has long been popular with hikers and climbers. It’s a 75-unit glamping development project in northern San Juan County. The proposed site is only a quarter mile. June 14, 2021.

Speculum Rock has a deep arch and has long attracted hikers, picnickers and climbers. Dan McBrearty, chief development officer of Under Canvas, said that since the announcement of the development plan, "major misinformation" has appeared on social media, and some commenters mistakenly believe that the entire site will be banned from public access.

"The edge of our planned site is a quarter mile away from the rock," he said, "leave a lot of public space for people to enter and continue to enjoy the rock and surrounding environment."

But Harlan worries that if a luxury camping resort is built on adjacent school trust land, the experience of visiting the impressive arch will be fundamentally changed, even if the rock itself (mostly located on the land of the Bureau of Land Management) will still be Open to the public.

“Finding Glass for many locals represents a part of the community that we can still enter, for quiet, comfort, and peace,” she said, noting that the surge in tourist traffic in Moab in recent decades has resulted in a vast developing. "Our landscape is very precious, and its intrinsic value is far greater than its economic value."

As is the case with the Under Canvas resort near Lake Powell and Bryce Canyon, the Looking Glass development will be built on land managed by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA), and the state requires as much as possible from its 3.4 million Earn income from acres of land to help fund public schools in Utah.

The terms of luxury tent rental vary by location, but the existing Under Canvas contract pays SITLA more than $100,000 per year, plus 5% of total revenue. The land near Jingyan was previously rented out to ranchers for grazing at a much lower price and has been opened to the public.

(Zach Podmore | Salt Lake City Tribune) The Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) land plan for over 70 acres was developed by Under Canvas, a "glamping" company in northern San Juan County. June 14, 2021.

McBrearty said that leasing land from SITLA rather than buying land is “a common opportunity” for companies and state agencies, noting that “the school trust land designated for development is scattered throughout the state, in some cases located in National parks and monuments that our guests are interested in visiting."

SITLA spokesperson Deena Loyola-Merrill said: "Glamping or glamping continue to be popular, but we don't know how long it will last." "Leasing allows trusts to reap great returns, and glamping is still popular and lucrative. The lease is up. After the period, the property will be repossessed. SITLA will still manage the trust land property and can sell the same property for new economic purposes."

In February of this year, SITLA announced through the state's Resource Development Coordinating Committee that a company had proposed to establish a "very low-impact commercial enterprise" near Jingjingyan, "for tourism-related purposes." No more information was disclosed until the lease was nearly finalized at the end of last month. SITLA usually retains the specific details of the lease proposal until later in the process, so competing companies will not copy the development plan proposed for a given plot during the bidding process.

"Under Canvas is considered to be the best partner to use these plots," Loyola-Merrill said. "This is mainly due to the company's emphasis on land protection, low-impact development methods, and focus on letting everyone enjoy the outdoors and the area as well as the economy. ."

The development plan was approved by the San Juan County Planning and Zoning Committee on June 10.

Under Canvas, in 2018, it received a “substantial investment” from private equity firm KSL Capital Partners to promote a “minimize environmental impact” and promote a “water saving” experience through zipper showers and low-flow toilets.

But Harlan, who works in hotels and restaurants in Moab, recently held an event at the Under Canvas facility north of Arches National Park, and he questioned the company’s statement on sustainability and whether the resort would indeed produce “very low Influence".

Each of the 75 tents will have bathrooms and will be individually heated (using wood stoves) and cooled. In addition to the tent, the Looking Glass proposal also includes a 4,000-square-foot central restaurant and lobby building. Before the liquid waste flows into the buried leaching site, the wastewater will flow and settle in the septic tank.

Harlan said that after serving as a caterer at a private late-night party, she was "shocked" to see many people wandering in the desert, trampling on sensitive soil crusts and vegetation.

Several current and former Under Canvas employees spoke to the Salt Lake City Tribune on condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the company. They raised similar concerns and stated that Under Canvas did not always comply with The image and brochure shown on its flashy website. They also talked about the long-term septic tank system at the Under Canvas Moab location.

(Under Canvas/San Juan County Planning and Zoning) The proposed Under Canvas development plan near the "Mirror Rock" in San Juan County submitted to San Juan County on May 27, 2021.

According to records filed by the Utah Department of Water Quality, the resort’s septic tank system failed last month, "causing a large amount of septic tank water to flow to the surface and downstream."

Several former employees said that the company has been aware of this problem for many years, but it has not been able to solve it, even if the sewage bubbling to the surface less than 100 yards from the luxury tent, it emits a strong smell of urine.

"They are not as environmentally friendly as they are trying to [seem]," one employee said.

A worker said that water pipes and sewers in Moab often rupture in winter because they are buried near the surface and gray water often leaks to the ground under the tent.

McBretti, the executive officer of Under Canvas, downplayed these concerns. “An isolated septic tank problem was discovered at our Under Canvas Moab site earlier this year,” he said. “While completing routine pipeline maintenance, it has been resolved. We immediately took corrective measures and have been working with the County cooperation. Under Canvas is committed to maintaining a commercial and code-approved system at our campsite."

Garfield County overlaps with Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument and passed a glamping ordinance in 2019 to address safety issues related to new glamping development trends. The county commissioner pointed out at the time that hotels are usually built near urban service facilities such as fire departments and municipal sewage treatment plants, even in rural areas, but the remote locations of camping resorts are not always close to these facilities.

Under Canvas is not the only glamping company with a resort in Utah. Capitol Reef Resort provides accommodation in covered wagons and tents for more than US$300 per night. Amangiri luxury hotels and resorts are built near Lake Powell on the former SITLA land and are supported by KSL Capital Partners, charging up to $3,500 per night during peak seasons to stay in canvas-ceiling pavilions.

In addition to leasing, SITLA has also sold many plots near the national park to private entities in recent years, including 391 acres of land surrounded by what is now the Bear Ear National Monument. Before 2016, Joe Hunt, an executive of a medical transportation chain store, purchased 19 state parcels across the state with a total area of ​​5,214 acres.

A few years ago, Garfield County Commissioner, Republican, and rancher Leeland Pollock (Leeland Pollock) advocated camping laws, worried about the long-term use of grazing SITLA remote land sold or leased to private developers. Pollock added that he hopes the ordinance can serve as a model for other counties. San Juan County currently has no specific glamping regulations.

As SITLA representatives have repeatedly stated, National Trust land is not public land and can be sold or rented at any time, and glamping is far more rewarding to Utah public schools than cattle herding. In a recent interview with Moab Sun News, SITLA resource expert Bryan Torgerson clearly summarized the agency's mission.

He said that SITLA manages "sacred land that must only be used to make money." And, renting land to glamping companies can do this for hundreds of dollars a night.

Zak Podmore is a report from a member of the American Legion and writes articles about conflicts and changes in San Juan County for the Salt Lake City Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant will help him keep writing this story; please consider clicking here today to make a tax-free gift of any amount.

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