Swaner Nature Preserve is no exception. The early ranching days meant the wetlands on the south side of the freeway were drained and filled. The preserve is in its third year of restoring them, a process that includes filling farming ditches and redirecting creeks.

"Managing our resources is half of what we do, and the other half is connecting the people to it," Rush said.

"Once we restore this, the potential for migrating birds is huge," she added.

Expansion plans include conservation research and an inventory of the preserve's plants and animals. Educational programming is also expected to grow, and the preserve is working with the Norwegian Outdoor Exploration Center, a Park City-based nonprofit group that provides leisure programs for adults and summer programs for low-income youths.

The biggest addition to the preserve will be a world-class nature center, expected to be completed in 2008. Currently, the preserve's staff is housed in a small trailer on the east end of the property. The 10,000-square-foot center will be a new office for staff and provide exhibit space, a theater, observation tower and pier. Rush envisions the Nature Center as a museum-quality building with lots of exhibit space for touring artists and authors.

Park City manager Tom Bakaly, who is a member of the preserve's board, is leading a $10 million capital campaign to raise money for the center.

"It's an incredible asset there in the entry corridor to town," Bakaly said. "As you're coming into town, you see where the Olympics were to your right, then all this open space on your left. It's a neat thing to have."

The goal for the new center is a building constructed according to environmental-conservation standards, designed with the help of consultants from across the nation. Preserve leaders hope that groundbreaking will take place in the next few months.

"Our message is not this tiny little local message. It's national," Rush said. "Our educational message is why this wetland in the middle of the mountains is so important."

---

E-mail: astowell@desnews.com