The Saturday, June 1, event will provide 15 members of the public with a first look at the 910 Cattle Ranch—a sprawling and mostly-untouched property between Jeremy Ranch and Morgan County.
Summit County entered into an option to purchase it for $55 million last year, and recently secured a $40 million federal grant to seal the deal.
While the deal’s been in the works, the 910 Ranch has been closed to the public, except to a group of volunteer ambassadors and authorized county officials.
It will remain closed until further notice, so the general public should stay on East Canyon Road as the county develops a land management plan.
Saturday’s roughly 2-mile guided birding walk is an exception. The 15 participating residents signed up on a first-come-first-served basis, and the event reached capacity May 23.
The county has said it will hold more events this summer, which will be posted at summitcounty.org’s calendar.
Although the walk itself is full, anyone may attend a virtual introduction to birding online Wednesday, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Volunteer and local bird enthusiast Kimberly Roush is hosting the “crash course,” and she wants to equip her neighbors with the skills to bird on their own.
“If somebody just points out the bird, you learn a few field marks, and you see it that one time,” she said. “But that doesn't give you the background to go out on your own to identify birds.”
Roush has walked East Canyon Road for years and says the land is home to kingfishers, bald eagles, golden eagles and small, fast birds called “dippers.”
The online session will be recorded and posted to the county lands and natural resources website.
