Locals share love for Wasatch County farms as leaders pledge conservation funding

Midway’s Pear Tree Llama Farm was one of two properties to get conservation funding Wednesday night, Feb. 5. It’s 40 acres southeast of downtown Midway.

Cathleen White is one of the owners. She said she’s eager to see the property preserved because it will protect native plants and animals.

“I’ve watched sandhill cranes mate on our property and hunt on our property; I’ve watched baby red foxes play in our front yard,” she said. “That’s the kind of thing I want to see continue happening on Pear Tree Llamas.”

She said she and her husband will keep the farm open and keep producing llama wool as long as they’re able.

“We are two old people running a ranch, and two old people with a bunch of old llamas,” she said. “We’ll run it as long as we can, with your help.”

The council dedicated $750,000 toward placing the farm under an easement.

And it pledged $1 million in funding to the Holmes family dairy farm, which is 52 acres east of Heber.

Heidi Franco, the mayor of Heber and chair of the Wasatch Open Lands Board, said it was a fitting way to spend the last of the $10 million open space bond passed in 2018.

“Remember, our first project on the open space bond money was the Kohler dairy farm,” she said. “Now, here’s our last project coming to you for the open space bond money. It is so fitting that it is now another dairy farm.”

She said the farm was a key piece of Wasatch County’s agricultural history.

A neighbor of the Pear Tree Llama Farm, Jonathan Hughes, thanked both families and the Wasatch County Council for working with Utah Open Lands to preserve the farms.

“As a neighbor, I just want to thank the Whites and the Holmes for being generous, and you for being far-sighted,” he said.

Both properties received unanimous support from the Wasatch County Council.

That money will be combined with land value donations from the property owners, as well as state and federal funding, to secure the conservation easements.