910 Ranch

 

I took a ride down East Canyon recently to see the Summit County 910 Parcel of the old Jeremy Ranch. It is a rough piece of land with steep hills on either side and good vegetation only on the north and east faces. It was a great opportunity for the county to buy this land and inclusively ask for opinions on how best to treat it.  

 

I agree that this should be a conservation parcel with just enough recreation for people to really get to see, appreciate it and preserve it. That may mean keeping cows, sheep, people, and dogs out of most of it for a while because this place needs time to heal. Perhaps that means making this a ride through park for a while, but the recovery will take many years.

 

The focal point of this 13.4 square mile parcel is East Canyon Creek which starts at Jupiter Peak and ends in East Canyon Reservoir, the Weber River and the Great Salt Lake. This Creek has been hammered from over one hundred years grazing, and this is where the conservation should start. The side banks of the stream are eroded vertically from the overgrazed slopes above and ubiquitous livestock access to The Creek. Limited grazing and aggressive riparian revegetation could eventually return the natural stream by helping to restore the natural geomorphology of the creek, helping the littoral beaver, fish, birds, bugs and bunnies. 

 

Returning the basin to the uber-species like deer, elk, and moose with less competition for the natural protein of the basin, is paramount.  Promoting natural predators like coyotes, wolves, lions and tigers and bears will keep all of them moving around and off the stream banks.  It worked in Yellowstone, as an unintended consequence, where stream morphology was markedly enhanced by introducing natural predators but beware of good intentions and unintended consequences.

 

The other need for The Creek is water. Climate Change and our conservation efforts have not helped. We simply use too much of the natural flow and leave nothing for the fish or to dilute our pharmaceuticals and Forever Chemicals. The ‘solution to pollution is dilution,’ but we have nothing else to give.  Even with all the new regional water being imported to the basin from the upper Weber River by WBWCD and subsequent increased return flows from the sewer treatment plant, The Creek is running dry. Ideas like recycling water from East Canyon Reservoir back up to the existing mothballed, Jeremy Ranch, water treatment plant have been floated for years without success, due to lack of water. There is simply less supply and more demand for The Creek, The Great Salt Lake and us.  

 

Instead, we should all use less water and let our lawns and golf courses go naturally brown in the summer and come back every spring. We could pay the Alfalfa farmers in the basin to dry farm more and not count on that weak second or third crop each year. The 910 Ranch is an opportunity to unite all the shareholders in this small basin, setting an example to the rest of the state, country, and world. If we cannot solve it with all our money and ability, then who can? Let us work together on this unique community opportunity, with foresight and forbearance. Thank you for the opportunities for free speech and open space.