Cottonwoods and other species of Populus are known colonizers.....if you plant a single tree, in a short time you will have a mini forest! At one time, the largest and oldest known living organism was a grove of quaking aspens - close cousins to cottonwoods - that occupied 106 acres in south central Utah and was genetically determined to be a single plant with a root system over 80,000 years old.

The maple should be a perfectly good substitute. Just be aware that any maple has an ability to produce a lot of surface root as they age but will not produce multiple root shoots or suckers like the Populus do. And the Utah extension service has published this listing of suitable shade trees to expand your choices: TreeBrowser.

thank you very much for this feedback!

If you are on facebook, you can join the Utah Gardeners page, there are a lot of knowledgeable nursery people in the group who know a lot about trees that do well in this area.