Last year, the organization set a goal to raise $20 million as part of its larger Utah Headwaters initiative, which targets the Provo and Weber watersheds that feed the Great Salt Lake.
“It blew even my mind, and I tend to be pretty optimistic about things,” Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox said. “And it's really because people just came out in droves and supported the work, our efforts to save more land and save it faster.”
Over the past year, Summit Land closed on multiple conservation easements in the Kamas Valley, a key part of the Upper Weber Watershed and Upper Provo.
Those easements include the 96-acre Andrus Farm, and about 185 acres of the Ure Ranch, to be purchased by the Summit County government.
The goal was to use millions in private donations together with grant and federal funding to triple the amount of land Summit Land Conservancy has put under conservation easements, which permanently restrict development.
Fox will have more about how close the organization was to hitting that goal, or whether it exceeded it, at its annual conservation breakfast. The event is at Deer Valley Resort’s Silver Lake Lodge April 30 at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets are sold online for $15. The keynote speaker is Utah Division of Natural Resources Executive Director Joel Ferry.
“Joel's a rancher, a farmer from Corinne, and has put his own land in a conservation easement. And he’s really seen a lot of change at the state level in both the Division of Wildlife Resources and Division of Ag and Food, since Joel has been at the helm, Fox said. “It's great to have a conservationist there as a partner.”
