Group helps Antelope Island's programs

FARMINGTON — If you like the Junior Ranger program at Antelope Island and the geocache opportunities there, or the make-and-take bird feeders during the Great Salt Lake Bird Festival, there's a group of the island's supporters you ought to thank.

Every year, the Friends of Antelope Island, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and developing the state park, sends $30,000 to $40,000 in donations for amenities and programs for the Great Salt Lake.

Donations come from members themselves and people and businesses on and off the Wasatch Front who appreciate what Antelope Island offers for recreation, sightseeing, birdwatching and nature.

For the past 12 years, Friends of Antelope Island, the oldest of a handful of state-park-supporting organizations, has been helping out the island.

Of the 42 state parks in Utah, just two — Wasatch Mountain and Antelope Island — have had active Friends groups for more than a decade. Camp Floyd, a former military post 25 miles south of Lehi, and Utah State Parks recently began such groups as well, said Spence Kinard, a board member of the Antelope Island group.

"The state parks are some of Utah's great treasures," Kinard said Wednesday after the board's annual meeting in Farmington.

The group's mission is to help Antelope Island with funding issues not covered by state appropriations.

And that makes Ron Taylor, Antelope Island's manager, a grateful man.

The Friends group is small, but they're passionate and excited about Antelope Island, where Taylor has been manager nearly seven years.

"They want to help" with tangible projects that benefit visitors and are often difficult to get funding for from the Utah Legislature, he said.

Friends donations have provided matching funds that help Taylor apply and receive grants for projects.

Over the next few years, Friends of Antelope Island expects to help Taylor add picnic tables to the island's marina, pave an ADA access trail, install viewing scopes at Buffalo Point, and fund a couple of appreciation dinners for volunteers at the island.

Other projects may include renovating and expanding campsites, placing interpretive signs at key locations and the construction of an observation deck over the bison-working facilities.

Donations can be made by contacting Friends president Don Leonard at 801-560-1900.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com