Narrative:

Aircraft X was landing jac from the east; and routed ZZZ...jac. I had previously told the aircraft to depart ZZZ heading 255 vector for lower terrain. When he reached the appropriate mia; I descended him to FL120. There was VFR traffic heading toward him northeast bound slowly climbing through about 112. I was very diligent about updating aircraft X on the traffic. As they got closer; I told aircraft X the traffic would come pretty close to him. I basically said that the traffic did not appear to be climbing fast enough to be a collision hazard; but just in case to turn 20 degrees right. After he started turning; the traffic was going to go behind him; but not by much. There was also a few hundred feet of separation. It was not a collision hazard; but close enough to get everyone's attention. Aircraft X then said he had the traffic in sight; but was still responding to an RA. Although the pilot didn't say; I was virtually certain the RA would have been a climb instruction; because a descent would have made no sense. I figured no problem. He sees the traffic; weather is beautiful; and he's about 16 miles from the airport. I asked him if he had the field in sight. To this he said no. When he didn't; I felt like I needed to take assertive action. If I turned him to the left; it would be toward the traffic; and even though he was likely past the traffic at this point; a climb would likely put him too high for final. I told him to make a right 360; and climb to 130. I had time to keep him in the 120 mia; and it would climb him above the traffic on the next pass. The pilot acknowledged; and started climbing; but did not turn. I thought he was just turning slowly; and I was getting ready to tell him to expedite when he asked again if I wanted him to turn right. He hadn't started the turn yet. Due to the weather; and my knowledge of where the terrain actually was; I wasn't concerned about his safety. The wind was reported very light across the peaks; so I wasn't concerned about any significant turbulence either. In other words; I was concerned about clipping the mia; but knew the pilot wasn't going to actually hit anything. I barely clipped the corner of the mia; and missed it by a few hundred feet while the aircraft was climbing. Looking back; I feel like I took a legitimate course of action. I was using a routine vector; and was not expecting the RA. I recovered in what I believe was the safest manner practical. Just one of those things based on VFR traffic that is not in communication with the sector.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZLC Controller described a momentary MVA infraction when issuing turn instructions to avoid a developing conflict with VFR traffic.

Narrative: Aircraft X was landing JAC from the east; and routed ZZZ...JAC. I had previously told the aircraft to depart ZZZ heading 255 vector for lower terrain. When he reached the appropriate MIA; I descended him to FL120. There was VFR traffic heading toward him northeast bound slowly climbing through about 112. I was very diligent about updating Aircraft X on the traffic. As they got closer; I told Aircraft X the traffic would come pretty close to him. I basically said that the traffic did not appear to be climbing fast enough to be a collision hazard; but just in case to turn 20 degrees right. After he started turning; the traffic was going to go behind him; but not by much. There was also a few hundred feet of separation. It was not a collision hazard; but close enough to get everyone's attention. Aircraft X then said he had the traffic in sight; but was still responding to an RA. Although the pilot didn't say; I was virtually certain the RA would have been a climb instruction; because a descent would have made no sense. I figured no problem. He sees the traffic; weather is beautiful; and he's about 16 miles from the airport. I asked him if he had the field in sight. To this he said no. When he didn't; I felt like I needed to take assertive action. If I turned him to the left; it would be toward the traffic; and even though he was likely past the traffic at this point; a climb would likely put him too high for final. I told him to make a right 360; and climb to 130. I had time to keep him in the 120 MIA; and it would climb him above the traffic on the next pass. The pilot acknowledged; and started climbing; but did not turn. I thought he was just turning slowly; and I was getting ready to tell him to expedite when he asked again if I wanted him to turn right. He hadn't started the turn yet. Due to the weather; and my knowledge of where the terrain actually was; I wasn't concerned about his safety. The wind was reported very light across the peaks; so I wasn't concerned about any significant turbulence either. In other words; I was concerned about clipping the MIA; but knew the pilot wasn't going to actually hit anything. I barely clipped the corner of the MIA; and missed it by a few hundred feet while the aircraft was climbing. Looking back; I feel like I took a legitimate course of action. I was using a routine vector; and was not expecting the RA. I recovered in what I believe was the safest manner practical. Just one of those things based on VFR traffic that is not in communication with the sector.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.