Utah
66

Utah State Parks

USA Parks
Utah
Northern Region
East Canyon State Park
East Canyon State Park East Canyon © hiroko primm
Early spring East Canyon reservoir
Gull © stateparks.com
Park Visitor: Comments, Memories and Reviews
July 27 Poor Experience with DNR Staff by Park
Utahs State Parks could be a whole lot better if DNR staff were trained in even the most basic skills in public relations and interaction. This past weekend my family and I set out to spend the afternoon at East Canyon res. The reservoir is a great place to boat ski and picnic with family. The staff is very undertrained in a number of important areas in my opinion. On this day 7-26 the park had a full sign and a young man was stationed at the entrance. Not an overly unusual site considering a Sat afternoon just after a holiday. I understand the need to control access for safety reasons and beyond. I am more than happy to see that take place. You expect that if this happens you are able to patiently wait until other visitors leave and space opens up which we planned to do. After waiting an honest 30 mins -still not a problem- a young woman came up to our vehicle and simply said as she past my truck -you people are going to need to leave-. An actual quote. No other explanation was offered as she simply walked past. We were one of maybe 5 vehicles waiting to enter. She came back a moment later to inform me without any other comments between us that she was going to cite me for waiting. She informed me that there is no space and that if we wanted to wait we were to drive to an area over the hill to the east and simply wait there and come back periodically to see if anything had opened. Keep in mind it was 1 pm in the afternoon approaching 100 degrees on the pavement and we had traveled over 40 miles to get there. We were provided a number to call from time to time to see if openings were available. I informed her that I wanted to speak to whom ever was her supervisor. She said they would contact them and then left. A few minutes later Elizabeth Kovacs #278 came up to me and indicated the same thing and followed it with -you will be cited if you don?t leave-. I asked (direct quotes) -do you expect us to just go away?- and her response was -Yes-. All this time I never lost my composure with any of them I treated them with every ounce of respect and simply asked questions. We however were not afforded anywhere near the same respect or consideration. We did go to the dirt parking place we were told to then called about 40 minutes later. We were told that there was an opening so we travelled back to the gate only to be turned away again. Their expectation was for us to do this all day and if we were lucky we might hit the gate just as an opening presented itself. Other than being told to go park in the dirt up over and hill threatened with being cited with the first words out of each persons mouth two times and finally being told to simply go away no other options were mentioned or offered. The DNR staff were only interested in park levels and turning people away with little to no courtesy at all. Keep in mind that people spend a lot of time and money preparing for even a small day trip. There is no way to know if a park is closed and when they are there are no options given (in this case) in the event it is. Citizens do pay all costs for the DNR including salaries etc.. And though that does not mean anyone gets special treatment it should in all cases mean you are treated respectfully. And I do believe that the DNR has a responsibility to determine options for when those instances happen.
Reviews by Park Visitors

Utah
66

Utah State Parks

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