I took a ride down East Canyon Creek recently to see the new Summit County 910 Ranch on the old Jeremy Ranch property. It is a beautiful piece of land with deep and dark conifer coverage on the north faces, the oak-aspen complex on the dry south faces and herbaceous sage, and rabbit brush in the flatlands, all in various conditions.

It was a great opportunity for Summit County, the state Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Forest Service to buy this land and inclusively ask for opinions on how best to manage it. Open space and free speech are among our favorite ideals.

I agree that this should be a conservation parcel with just enough recreation for people to really get to see it, appreciate it, and want to preserve it.

That may mean keeping cows, sheep, people and dogs out of most of it, for a while at least, because this place needs time to heal. Perhaps that means making this a ride, run and ski through park temporarily, because recovery could take many years.

The county has improved the dirt road nicely up to the Morgan County line and more access can be phased in as warranted. Remember that 2 million people live within 50 miles of this place, so the public pressure will be immense for the last wild, undeveloped acres in the Snyderville Basin.

The focal point of this 13.4-square-mile parcel is, appropriately, the East Canyon Creek, which starts at Jupiter Peak and ends in East Canyon Reservoir, the Weber River and the Great Salt Lake, with five miles of the creek on the 910 land.

The creek’s natural geomorphology has been battered by the past decades of grazing, and this is where the conservation should start.

The side banks of the creek are eroded vertically from the increased flows from the grazed slopes above and from unencumbered livestock access to the creek bed and bank. Arroyos have deepened and near-surface groundwater has drained. Meanders are entrenched or cut off with sharp sweeper turns through the willows at the corners. (A canoe trip down the creek with my daughter at high water a few years ago resulted in bloodied bodies, bruised egos, and ended when we folded the canoe in half under a low bridge.)

When determining the natural, balanced state of a stream, walk up and down it to an undisturbed spot and see what it really wants to do with sediment and erosion, meanders and rapids, width and depth.  

Limited grazing and aggressive riparian revegetation could eventually renew the natural stream by helping restore the natural geomorphology of the creek, helping the bed and banks, fish, beaver, birds, bugs and bunnies.   

Returning the entire drainage basin to the native uber species — like deer, elk, and moose, with less competition from cows or sheep for the natural protein of the basin — is paramount. This promotes natural habitat for the ubiquitous turkeys, squirrels, woodchucks and friends, along with the predators that will keep them all balanced, moving around and off the stream banks.  

It worked in Yellowstone, as an unintended consequence, where stream morphology was markedly repaired by reintroducing natural predators like wolves to move the herds around. Even the near groundwater around the floodplain was restored, improving the surrounding littoral vegetation.  

But beware of good intentions and the unintended consequences of messing with mother nature with biology or a bulldozer. Mother Nature always bats last.

The other need for the creek is water. Climate change has not helped, and our conservation efforts have not been enough. We simply use too much of the natural flow and leave nothing to dilute our wastewater, pharmaceuticals and forever chemicals. The fish are even turning mostly female from our runoff of antidepressants and birth control. If the solution to pollution is dilution, we have nothing more to give this stream. 

Even with all the new regional water being imported to the basin by Weber Basin Water Conservancy District and Mountain Regional Water Special Service District, along with subsequent increased return flows from the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District sewer treatment plant, the creek is running dry.

Ideas like recycling water from East Canyon Reservoir back up to the existing mothballed Jeremy Ranch water treatment plant have been floating for years without success due to the lack of water. There is simply less supply and more demand for the creek, the Great Salt Lake and for us.  

Instead, we should all use less water and let our lawns and golf courses go naturally brown in the summer and come back every spring. We should pay the alfalfa farmers in the basin to dry farm more or at least for that weak third crop each year.

There are still rampant flood-irrigated pasturelands by hobby farmers in our basin at 7,000 feet soaking up tons of valuable water for little economic gain. Why use 80% of our water to support 2% of our economy? 

I know the public welfare clause has recently been removed from Utah water rights in favor of data centers and a dry Salt Lake, but the free market incentive should be more efficient for the best possible beneficial use of our water, lakes and rivers. 

The 910 Cattle Ranch is our chance to unite all the stakeholders in this small basin, setting an example to the rest of the state. If we cannot solve it with all our money, effort and ability, then who can?

Let us work together on this unique community opportunity, with cooperation, foresight and forbearance. Responsible leadership helps but cannot be counted on. If the people lead, the leaders will follow. 

Matthew Lindon lives in Snyderville. See his website: Waterandwhatever.com