To celebrate 50,000 acres of protected open space, Utah Open Lands will host a party today at one of the conservation group's flagship properties.

The "Portraits of Preservation" party will be held at the Hi Ute Ranch near Kimball Junction in Summit County. In 2004, Utah Open Lands secured 200 acres of the property — including the eye-catching Hi Ute barn that is visible from nearby I-80.

Tickets can be purchased by contacting Utah Open Lands at 801-463-6156.

This week, Utah Open Lands announced the the protection of 50,000 acres — representing more than 85 square miles of Utah land — over the past 18 years. The group works by working to negotiate conservation easements with private landowners and city, county, state and federal land managers to protect open space for future generations.

"Working with farmers and ranchers to save a piece of their heritage has been a real joy," said director Wendy Fisher. "It's been an honor to represent Utah Open Lands."

When the group formalized the details of Hi Ute's conservation easement three years ago, Fisher called the property "one of the crown-jewel ranches of Summit County."

The easement allowed the ranch to be used for ranching, farming and other historic uses but prevented the designated portion of the land from being developed. At the time, it was easy to see development around the ranch encroaching.

Next door to the west, workers hammered away on a new Ecker Hill Middle School. Trucks bustled in and out of condominiums under construction up Kilby Road. A pickup dropped a load of boulders being used in a massive landscaping nearby.

The Hi Ute Ranch was originally homesteaded in 1876, and the famous barn was built in 1926. Located on the south side of I-80 just west of Kimball Junction, the property is one of Summit County's most widely known and historic ranches.

Fisher and other board members founded Utah Open Lands in 1990 and first sought to protect land near the ski towns of Summit County, where they said farms, ranches and other priceless open space were disappearing with Utah's booming population.

"Back then we just wanted to save what we loved; to retain a sense of place and why we wanted to live, work and play nearby," said Desmond C. Barker, a founding board member of Utah Open Lands.

"But we also knew our work was vital for wildlife, maintaining property values, preserving our agricultural heritage and our economic future."

Fisher agrees. "When we started we had to educate people not just about why open space was important but all the complicated nuts and bolts about conservation easements."

Another important project for the group was the Perkins Flat, a 190-acre meadow purchased for $1.4 million with money from Salt Lake County, the LeRay McAllister Critical Lands Funds, Envirocare Environmental Foundation, the Willard L. Eccles Foundation, the R. Harold Burton Foundation and some anonymous donors.

The land was set aside both for its historic nature and to protect the watershed in Emigration Canyon. At the time Utah Open Lands turned its attention to the project, proposals for its development ranged from an eight-lot subdivision and commercial site to a 36-unit condominium and commercial project.

"There were some tough fights along the way," Fisher said of the past 18 years of open space protection. "But I visited some incredible places and became friends with some amazing folks."

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