When the Swaner family ran cattle in the Syderville Basin the land was compact, arid, and for much of the year resembled a dust bowl.
But in 1993, the family began moving away from agricultural use to restore the wetlands now conserved by the Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter, providing habitat for hundreds of migrating bird and wildlife species.
The family’s commitment to conservation is a story familiar to many Park City residents and continues to ground the preserve's work decades later.
With its next strategic plan – which outlines Swaner’s goals through 2030 – the organization will continue its ecological work. But, according to Swaner’s community engagement manager Janna Coulter, it also intends to move its work beyond the preserve.
“We want to get out into the community more and more, and meet people where they're at,” preserve Community Engagement Manager Janna Coulter said. “That's definitely a goal that we have.”
Part of that outreach is a response to the community’s changing habits, Coulter said. “We want people to continue to be aware of the nature that surrounds them in this incredible community, because it really defines what Park City is and who we are. Many people enjoy outdoor recreation here, but we are – especially our children – increasingly on our phones and computers all the time.”
Coulter said the Preserve is asking how it can help people step away from technology and convene as a community.
Specific goals include connecting the public with nature through unique cultural happenings, community-building events and other targeted outreach efforts.
Swaner crafted the plan through a series of open houses, community focus groups, and Spanish-language conversations. In hearing from the community, Coulter said the preserve began to understand how it can swerve an evolving region.
“There are so many folks who have been here since before Swaner even existed as a nature preserve, and certainly before we existed as a nature center in 2010,” Coulter said, “but there are so many more people who have moved here and lived here in that time, and may not even know we exist.”
The Preserve can bridge that gap, Coulter said. “We have a real opportunity to be a hub for those folks who have been here for forever and have seen all the growth and change, as well as for new folks to really see that we exist, and understand our values of conservation.”
The preserve’s staff, programs, and initiatives have grown significantly since its last 5-year plan. Following that growth, Coulter said the 2026-30 plan provides an opportunity to refocus on their core mission.
“This really helped narrow down [our goals] and one way we did that was use a single lens as we pursued these discussions,” she said. “It comes down to using nature as common ground, where people from all walks of life come together to experience the joy of nature in community with one another. That’s really the role we want to play in this community.”
The Swaner Preserve is a financial supporter of KPCW.