Land conserved: Private donor helps preserve Killyon Canyon as open space

EMIGRATION CANYON — Utah Open Lands announced Tuesday that it has raised the remaining $900,000 needed to save Killyon Canyon as open space.

An anonymous donor is rescuing the mountain property after learning of the substantial gap in public funding.

The purchase price for the 265 acres of pine and aspen forest — an area that's a favorite of hikers and cyclists — was dropped to $1.8 million by the landowners to facilitate the sale.

"It takes landowners who are willing to see a vision of preserving an open-space legacy so that countless generations can view this property," said Wendy Fisher, Utah Open Lands' executive director. She said the preservation of the property will allow future generations to experience wild cutthroat trout, moose, elk and deer within minutes of downtown.

On July 14, the Salt Lake County Council gave Utah Open Lands a 90-day deadline to raise $900,000 for the property.

Killyon Canyon is about eight miles up Emigration Canyon Road, north and then east after the Pine Crest turnoff.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said he has visited Killyon Canyon and discovered it is like "experiencing all the different parts of Utah in one place," because it features red rocks, pine trees and a desert atmosphere. "This is one of the most beautiful pieces of open space I have ever seen," he said.

The landowners have been working with Utah Open Lands for three years to safeguard the property. Landowner Tracy Burton said his family started raising sheep on the land in the 1890s. They were from Austria and felt at home in the east area of the canyon. "The land is best left the way it is," Burton said.

Landowner Tom Johnson acquired part of the Killyon Canyon land and didn't want to develop the property. "That's a big game I don't want to play," he said, adding he wanted to see the land set aside for conservation. "There are very few places likes this."

Utah Open Lands — a private, nonprofit organization formed in 1990 — is Utah's oldest statewide land trust. It has preserved more than 55,000 acres in Utah. It protects a wide variety of lands, including farms, ranches, watersheds, wetlands, forests and meadows. It works as an intermediary between landowners, government agencies, residents and communities. Go to www.utahopenlands.org for more information.

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