Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher has steered the organization since its founding in 1990. In the decades since, Fisher said the state’s leaders and residents have learned a lot about open space and why its preservation matters.
“A lot of people didn’t understand what a conservation easement was,” she said on KPCW’s "Local News Hour" Sept. 2. “I can’t even tell you how people used to mispronounce the word ‘perpetuity’ at the legislature.”
Fisher said a lot of her early work was education – helping Utahns understand that once land is developed, that open space is gone forever.
She said easements aren’t just about saving farmland or making space for trails; they’re also important for ensuring native plants and animals have protected habitat.
The nonprofit’s work includes numerous open space projects in Wasatch County, like the Pear Tree Llamas farm in Midway.
“We are happy to report we’ve gone to Wasatch County, and we received a grant of $750,000,” she said. “And in the most recent Midway City Council meeting, the Midway City Council unanimously supported this project.”
She said the landowners have agreed to a public trail on the edge of the farm once the easement is in place.
Utah Open Lands also continues to work on securing easements for more of the North Fields. Fisher said there are many landowners interested in preserving their properties.
“I think that is one of those landscapes that, as you drop into the Heber Valley, you lose that and you lose a lot of the sense of place,” she said.
Wasatch County residents expect the Utah Department of Transportation to announce soon where it plans to construct a bypass to improve traffic in the valley.
The pending bypass plans have complicated open space efforts, but Fisher said communication with UDOT is improving.
“Actually, in one of the alternatives, there’s a piece of property that is close to the alternative that the landowner is interested in protecting, and UDOT felt that they could move that bypass away from that particular property,” she said. “I think that having those productive conversations [is] the way to really approach this sort of situation.”
UDOT’s right to eminent domain supersedes the protections offered by a conservation easement, but Fisher said she remains optimistic that UDOT and Utah Open Lands can work together.
Earlier this year, Fisher told Midway leaders the Trump administration’s sweeping funding cuts have made it more difficult to secure some conservation easements.
Some federal conservation grants have lost funding, while others have dealt with funding freezes.
Nevertheless, Fisher said her organization will keep working to add to the tens of thousands of acres of Utah land that are now protected forever.
Utah Open Lands is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
