Experts say the Great Salt Lake could disappear as we know it in five years thanks to climate change and the ongoing drought. Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox said the conservancy is in a special position to help solve the problem through voluntary land preservation.
Because water flows through land, under land and over land, Fox said by actively working to protect the mountains and meadows across the Wasatch Back, it also protects the watershed for the Great Salt Lake. By doing that, Fox said, the conservancy can help solve the water crisis.
The “For the Future” campaign is part of the conservancy’s larger $100 million Utah Headwaters Initiative, but this goal Fox said is to leverage donations from individuals with government funds to save even more land.
Over the next five years, every dollar donated to Summit Land Conservancy will go to the For the Future Fund. The goal is to raise $20 million, money that will be leveraged with landowner donations, foundations and county and state open space dollars.
**A correction was made on 5/17/23: An earlier version of this article said the conservancy could "triple the 36,000 acres," it's already protected as open space. The For the Future Fund will give the conservancy the opportunity to save approximately 36,000 acres, tripling the 13,000 acres it has protected already.
