The project that is eligible for the Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) program is the Former Fort Douglas Impact Area, MRS, which encompasses 1,459 acres. Most of the MRS extends into the western elevations of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and the Red Butte Canyon Research Natural Area. A thin area of the MRS runs along the front of the range encompassing University of Utah buildings and private residential properties. (See map of Former Fort Douglas Impact Area MRS at right)
Camp Douglas (named after Stephen A. Douglas by Abraham Lincoln) was established in October 1862 as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, for the purpose of protecting the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. In 1878, the post was renamed Fort Douglas. In the 1960s, the mission of the installation was to support active Armed and Armed Forces Reserve component training in Utah, Idaho and Montana. The Fort Douglas Impact Area MRS included rifle ranges, skeet ranges, a pistol range, an anti-aircraft range, a shotgun range, a machine gun range, and a rifle obstacle course.
Camp Douglas, Utah, with the Wasatch Mountains in the background in 1868. Photo Courtesy of Library of Congress.