Where the Wild Things Are
Photography: David Whitten
If Henry Thoreau was right, if wildness is the key to preserving the world, then the outlook for Summit County’s tiny corner of the world is brighter because of a piece of farmland that’s being intentionally turned back to the wild.
The Swaner Nature Preserve began as one family’s desire to set aside a few acres in memory of their deceased husband and father, Leland S. Swaner. The Swaner family’s example and hard work caught on with other landowners, community leaders and hundreds of residents who have donated time and money, and the preserve has burgeoned into nearly 1,200 acres of protected land near Kimball Junction.
With approximately 700 acres on the south side of Interstate 80 and 500 acres on the north side, the Preserve contains meadows, wetlands, hillsides, uplands and riparian (or shore side) habitat. Kimball Creek and Spring Creek run through the south property and East Canyon Creek flows through the north section.
More than simply protecting the land as open space, the philosophy behind the Preserve is to restore the land and habitat to its wild state. And that, as it turns out, is more complicated than you might think. “This land has really been changed by 150 years of agriculture and cattle grazing,” says Preserve Executive Director Tina Quayle. “Our goal is to take the land back to a pristine state, but that effort is a puzzle at times because no one knows exactly what it looked like before people and cattle moved in.”
On the south portion, seven miles of ditches were filled in and leveled, allowing the area’s natural springs to percolate and flow evenly in order to restore prime wetland habitat. The Natural Resources Conservation District and Ducks Unlimited helped engineer and build six ponds, and Preserve staff and volunteers planted more than 4,500 native plants around the ponds. The ponds now host hundreds of migrating waterfowl and provide safe nesting areas for blue herons, Sandhill cranes and others. In the three smaller ponds, Brigham Young University biologists, with the help of Preserve staff and volunteers, initiated the first-ever reintroduction project for the Columbia spotted frog last summer.
The mile-and-a-half of East Canyon Creek flowing through the north section of the Preserve is literally being transformed through a community effort. The Upper Weber Watershed District provided funding and expertise to develop a comprehensive stream restoration plan that began last summer and will continue for the next five years. The Park City LaCrosse Organization gathered nearly 200 discarded Christmas trees which are being used to reinforce 3,000 feet of eroding stream banks. Northern Arizona University provided 600 cottonwood seedlings and is using the stream corridor as a staging ground for cutting-edge ecological research. Preserve staff and volunteers planted willow cuttings and additional shrubs. The project, which will eventually include planting 1,400 riparian trees and shrubs and as many as 20,000 willow cuttings, will help reestablish East Canyon Creek -- currently on Utah’s list of Impaired Waterbodies -- as a productive fishery and an ecological treasure for the community.
In the 13 years since it was established, the Swaner Nature Preserve has become Park City’s focal point for nature education, hosting weekly nature walks, field trips for local schools, and dozens of volunteer projects, but Quayle and the Preserve board see far greater things in store. In addition to continuing the restoration and conservation projects, Swaner Nature Preserve is about to embark on a major fundraising campaign to build a nature center and observation area at the edge of the Preserve near Newpark Town Center. The nature center will be used to educate residents and visitors on the unique aspects of the surrounding ecosystem and will allow easier viewing of Sandhill cranes, foxes and other wild creatures who call the Preserve home.
In the end, our world will be a better place by the simple fact that a bit of wildness remains in our midst. www.swanernaturepreserve.org.
Mark Menlove and David Whitten are collaborating on a coffee table book about Swaner Nature Preserve.
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