Beaver County suffers from loss of tourism due to Cottonwood Fire

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BEAVER — The Cottonwood Fire is ruining summer tourism in Beaver County, as businesses and county leaders grapple with the lost income.

The Cottonwood Fire has burned 97,458 acres in Beaver and Piute counties since it started June 22. Beaver County Commission Chair Wade Hollingshead said even though it was 90% contained as of Friday, a lot of people had changed their summer plans.

“There are some cabins that aren’t damaged. They’re not burnt, but there’s no accessibility,” Hollingshead said. “And there’s probably no accessibility for the foreseeable future. There’s no power up on the mountain.”

Fire’s far-reaching impact

Hotels and recreation companies have been feeling the sting, but so has every other business that counts on money from tourists.

“Within town, many of the businesses have been impacted because of the lack of people in town,” Hollingshead said. “The mountain is generally impacted with lots of campers and dispersed camping, and they go to the grocery store and they buy groceries. They utilize the restaurants in town. All those places have been impacted.”

Major events were also canceled or relocated, including the Crusher in the Tushar, a nationally-known gravel bike race that was scheduled for July 11. It normally starts in downtown Beaver and finishes at Eagle Point Resort. However, because of the damage at the resort all of Eagle Point’s summer activities have been halted, and several large events the resort hosts each year have been either canceled or moved.

Hollingshead said the fire did not just affect businesses, but also the county itself, which relies on transient room taxes.

“This is a small county that works on a relatively small budget, and to have this kind of economic injury to our county is going to be a huge task to overcome,” Hollingshead said.

The status of fishing and hunting in Beaver County

He said it was going to take years to recover from the Cottonwood Fire. And with fall not far away, Hollingshead said he had not heard from state or federal officials whether hunting, fishing and camping would be allowed this season in the mountains. All are activities that bring another wave of tourism dollars to the county each year.

But he wanted people to know that even though there are currently road closures and power outages in the Tushar Mountains, affecting some of their prime camping locations — there is still a lot to do and see in Beaver County.

“Don’t cancel yet,” Hollingshead said. “There’s still areas to go explore if you want to get outdoors.”

He pointed to the Mineral Mountains on the west side of the county, where visitors go for rock hunting and stargazing, and said some roads on the north and south ends of the Tushar Mountains could reopen within weeks.