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This year marks Summit Land Conservancy’s 20th Anniversary as Park City’s local land trust–- 20 years of saving the landscapes that are the heart of our community. The first 20 years of forever…
To honor the places we have protected, we will highlight and share some of the stories about these precious lands and how the Conservancy has grown over the years.
The Kings Crown property boasts views of a steep and forested hillside covered in Bigtooth Maple, Quaking Aspen, and Conifer trees. The unobstructed ridgeline is visible from Highway 224, Park Avenue, Park Meadows, Prospector Park, and the Thaynes neighborhoods, and it is particularly striking in the fall when tree foliage changes color. The undeveloped open space is located adjacent to a densely built residential and commercial neighborhood, however it provides natural habitat for a variety of wildlife including large game (deer, elk, moose), ground mammals (marmot, squirrel, ermine) and birds (ruffed grouse). Kings Crown is contiguous to a greater wildlife habitat area comprised of mountainous ski resort and National Forest lands. The 11 acres serve as a buffer between the Park City Mountain ski resort and the residences of Lowell Avenue and Old Town, and the undeveloped land acts as a natural filter mitigating flooding and maintaining the quality of water in the East Canyon watershed.
"The folks who laid out the streets in Old Town Park City might have been somewhere in the Midwest, or they might have been in the Salt Lake Valley, but it’s pretty clear that they weren’t actually here. With no regard to steep slopes, those 19th century city planners placed roads on a flat piece of paper without realizing that there was a pretty steep hillside rising up from Main Street. Never mind that, the planners went on to draw hundreds of lot lines on both sides of the hypothetical streets, creating paper density.
Nothing got built for over a hundred years because the physical reality of the hillside was insurmountable, but those lots were platted and that created vested density.
A few years ago, a group of local developers acquired 13 acres of this land between the Kings Crown ski run and Lowell Avenue. This land is covered mostly in maples that glow bright red this time of year. These 13 acres were platted for over 200 units. The local developers decided to cluster about half of the vested units and forgo the rest. They went on to place 11 acres in a conservation easement, protecting most of what I think of as that glorious autumn colored hillside.
The Kings Crown easement was donated to the Summit Land Conservancy in 2018. The land is adjacent to the Treasure Hill property that the City purchased with Treasure Hill Bond funds in 2019. The Conservancy is now working with Park City Municipal to finalize an easement on that land too.
Land conservation is inherently local. It’s important to know the places we are protecting: where mountains rise or rivers bend. Without such local knowledge, we end up with maps or other solutions that might make sense in the flat lands, but just won’t work here. Since 2002, the Summit Land Conservancy has been based here in the Wasatch Back, saving hillsides for all the autumns to come."
Learn more about the Conservancy’s work and how you can save the lands and waters you cherish at www.wesaveland.org.
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