Sheila Probst Siggard’s big, red barn on nearly 8 acres in Midway has been in her family for as long as she can remember. All that time, it has been a muse for artists across the Heber Valley. 

During the Midway Art Association’s annual plein air contest, painters flock to the public roads surrounding her property to set up easels. There seems to be at least one artistic depiction of its two silos and Park City pine logs for each of the four seasons. 

“With all the development coming in Midway, I’ve thought about leaving, but I said, ‘I can’t leave my barn,’” Siggard said. 

The 73-year-old owner even considered having the barn moved to a new location, possibly by dismantling and reconstructing it. But Siggard has found another solution to preserve her barn: by establishing a conservation easement on her and her neighbors’ properties. 

The conservation easement, referred to as the Heart of Midway Project, encompasses more than 17 acres from four neighboring properties north of 250 N. and west of N. Center St.

Siggard’s idea originated when the city passed its first $5 million open space bond in 2018. It wasn’t difficult, she said, to convince her three neighbors to collaborate on the project.

“We’ve seen so many pieces of property get developed, and then there’s all the traffic and the ugliness of houses instead of a beautiful, open field,” she said. “We’re kind of old timers. We just love agriculture and hate to see Midway be destroyed. So, we want to help preserve it.”

The combined land value is appraised at about $5 million, according to Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands. The landowners are donating a combined $1.8 million of the cost. Three landowners are donating 25% of the cost of their land. Andrew Larson is contributing the full value of his 3-plus acres. 

“We’re not in it for the money. We’re in it for the preservation of the land,” said Phyllis Shelton, one of the landowners and Siggard’s cousin.

Shelton has been on board with her cousin’s plan since the start, agreeing before she’d even told her husband. She hasn’t had to do too much work, either. The effort has been “Sheila-driven,” she joked.

Siggard said she was the first to apply for funds for Midway’s first open space bond. In 2023, the Midway City Council committed $250,000 of those funds to the project.

Since then, the community Volksmarch fundraiser in September raised an additional $85,000. 

Midway passed its second $5 million open space bond in 2024. Fisher and the landowners approached the City Council on Tuesday, seeking $750,000 more for the Heart of Midway Project. The City Council unanimously approved the funding. 

“It’s pretty outstanding for a piece like this to be contiguous through this agreement of owners,” said City Councilor JC Simonsen.

The land is being preserved for its use by livestock and as an essential winter foraging ground for wildlife like deer. It is also being preserved for its open field views and the potential establishment of a public trail easement on Siggard’s property. The mapping of that trail will occur at a later date.

The landowners, with the assistance of Utah Open Lands, have to raise funds for the remaining $2.1 million value of the conservation easement. That could come from various federal, state and local sources, as well as private foundations. 

Fisher added that Utah Open Lands recently received approval for a Regional Conservation Partnership Program through the National Resources Conservation Service, which would have provided federal funding for projects including the Heart of Midway, but “claw(ing) back of funding” by the federal government has stalled the program.

Once the Heart of Midway conservation easement is established, the landowners will have the ability to continue to occupy and farm their land. Larson was also approved to construct a new home on his property, the details of which are to be determined.

For Siggard, finally establishing the conservation easement would mean everything. 

Her family was Swiss immigrants who lived in Midway for at least four generations. Her father raised beef cattle, and she has plenty of fond memories being his assistant, filling syringes for vaccinations and keeping the fire hot for the branding irons. 

“I remember one time there was an Angus cow. They’re very good mothers. … My dad got too close to the calf, and the cow started to chase him. My sister and I were in the barn, yelling, ‘Run, Daddy! Run!’ And he made it,” she remembered with a laugh. “Lots of good memories.”

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Midway farmer Randy Lundin’s great-grandfather established himself in the Heber Valley on just 7 acres in 1892. Today, 27 head of cows and calves, a handful of horses, foxes, coyotes, raccoons and the occasional mountain lion roam the now 119-acre property, which the Lundin family has fought to preserve through a conservation easement for the past four years. 

The process has been about as strenuous as the backbreaking labor the Lundins have performed for generations. But the project achieved a significant milestone on July 1, when the Wasatch County Council unanimously finalized a purchase agreement funding $2 million of the land’s purchase price from the county open space bond fund.

The Midway City Council in December also voted for funding its portion of the conservation easement, $1 million, coming from its open space bond fund.

The purchase can now go forward as soon as all conditions of the agreement are met.

The final condition is that the Lundin siblings settle a struggle over the property that has been in litigation since 2021. The siblings entered into a settlement agreement in May 2024 and have since been in negotiations to finalize it.

The next status hearing on the case overseen by a Fourth District judge is scheduled for Aug. 14.

The exact terms of the settlement agreement do not matter as long as they protect Wasatch County, Midway and Utah Open Lands, allowing the purchase agreement to go forward, said Wasatch County Deputy Attorney Jon Woodard.

As soon as the purchase agreement goes into effect, the Lundins will have three years to secure funding of the $4.5 million that constitutes the rest of the purchase price. They will be assisted by Utah Open Lands. 

Executive Director Wendy Fisher expected most of that funding to come from the National Resource Conservation Service. Utah Open Lands is also looking at other federal, state and local sources and private foundations, and is accepting donations.

“This was the first hurdle in what is still a long journey, so it’s been amazing to see the Lundins stay at the table,” Fisher said. “We’ll need every oar in the river to get this one done.”

If the Lundins cannot raise the $4.5 million after the three-year period ends, Wasatch County and Midway’s combined $3 million will be returned with interest, Woodard said. 

If established, the conservation easement would allow the Lundin family to continue farming the land while preserving it for future generations. 

“Development’s going on all around this, so there is a threat of imminent loss of the existing open space,” Woodard said.

The land is visible from Main Street in Heber City, Wasatch Mountain State Park and much of Midway, justifying its aesthetic importance, Woodard said.

Midway would transform a ditch running across the Lundin property into a public trail that would also serve as an emergency access and wildfire evacuation route.

Public access would also be allowed for educational tours, allowing residents to take in the echoes of the past found on the Lundin property, from a plum orchard the siblings’ great-grandfather planted over a century ago to the 10-by-10-foot brick homestead the siblings were raised in.

“It was warm in the winter. Cozy,” Randy joked.

He said establishing the conservation easement has taken longer than expected, but that he will be happy when it is finally established.

“This has been a long process. It has been emotional, and it has been trying, I think, for everyone involved,” Fisher said.

She added that the Lundin family is selling the land for less than it has been appraised for.

“This isn’t something they’re doing to make money. They’re actually going to be making a sizable contribution to the value of the conservation easement,” she said. “I think that needs to be recognized. All of these projects that we work on, really, they don’t happen unless the landowners love their land, and the Lundins love their land.”

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Park City leaders are preparing to possibly permanently protect from development a large swath of city-owned land near Quinn’s Junction, a conservation effort notable for a development dispute unfolding on adjacent acreage and with talks ongoing about the prospects of creating an aerial transit system in that area.

Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council on Thursday are scheduled to consider placing a conservation easement on most of the 344 acres making up Clark Ranch. The municipal government would retain ownership of the land under a conservation easement, but development rights would be stripped and only certain activities would be allowed. A third party — Utah Open Lands — would hold and enforce a conservation easement.

Fifteen of the acres would be kept out of a conservation easement, following a recommendation of a citizen advisory committee in 2016. The 15 acres are next to Park City Heights and where a significant workforce or otherwise restricted affordable housing concept involving City Hall is under consideration.

The Clark Ranch housing concept has stirred controversy and became an issue in the municipal election. Undeveloped land within the 15 acres, if there is any, could be set aside as open space, according to a city staff report drafted in anticipation of the meeting Thursday.

The efforts to protect Clark Ranch with a conservation easement also are of consequence to the discussions in the community about aerial transit. There are talks about creating an aerial transit system in the Park City area as a traffic-fighting measure. The S.R. 248 corridor is seen as having potential, but decisions have not been made about eventual routes.

The proposed conservation easement presented to the elected officials includes a section addressing aerial transportation, identifying that category of transit as something that would be allowed on the Clark Ranch acreage under certain circumstances.

The passage reads: “An aerial transportation corridor for use specific to public recreational and alternative transportation for adjacent park and ride facilities, provided impacts to the scenic and wildlife habitat values are minimized to the extent possible is permitted.”

Wendy Fisher, the executive director of Utah Open Lands, said in an interview the organization would have the authority to review a proposal for aerial transit against the language of the conservation easement, if a route involved the Clark Ranch acreage that would be protected. Fisher said city staffers suggested the inclusion of aerial transit in the conservation easement with, as she understands the discussions, the possibility of a route involving a small portion of the land.

Fisher described issues like the visuals of aerial transit and the impact on wildlife of the aerial towers would need to be studied as a system is reviewed for compliance with a conservation easement. She acknowledged that an aerial transit system would be “very localized” on the acreage.

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Park City is expected to allow certain activities on the Clark Ranch land.

And prohibit other sorts of activities.

Leaders are considering the details of a conservation easement that would protect nearly all the acreage at Clark Ranch from development. The city-owned land is in the area of Quinn’s Junction and in recent months has become pivotal with the municipal government considering a development on 10 to 15 acres of the 344-acre Clark Ranch with a large number of workforce or otherwise income-restricted housing units. A conservation easement would cover the land outside the location of a potential development, with the possibility ground within a development that is not built upon could also be left as open space.

Under a conservation easement, City Hall would retain ownership of the land but agree to strip away the right to develop the ground. An easement would detail what sorts of activities are prohibited and those that are allowed. A third party — Utah Open Lands — would hold and enforce the easement.

Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council are scheduled to consider a conservation easement and possibly vote on Thursday. A draft of an easement was included in the materials compiled for the meeting, saying the purpose of a Clark Ranch conservation easement “is to forever protect and preserve the conservation values of the property by prohibiting any use of the property that may materially impair or interfere with such protection and preservation.”

The draft includes lists of uses that would be permitted under a conservation easement and those that would be prohibited.

Some of the uses that would be permitted:

• Activities related to access by the public, recreation and educational opportunities, such as the construction of trailheads and grooming a track for Nordic skiing.
• Maintaining and restoring the ecosystem, such as controlling invasive weeds and restoration of the forest.
• Managing the vegetation and taking steps to prevent a wildfire, such as by removing “brush and vegetation necessary to minimize the risk of wildfire on the Property.”

Some of the uses that would be prohibited:

• The “harassment of wildlife on the property by people, vehicles or domestic animals” as well as the “taking, removal, translocation or captivation of wildlife by the public.” The clause effectively curtails hunting on the land.
• The creation of “new roads over, through, or across” the land that would be protected through a conservation easement.
• The use of motorized vehicles other than those driven by emergency responders and vehicles that are driven “for routine maintenance of the property and for construction and maintenance of the recreational amenities located on the property, provided these vehicles are in sound working order.”

Camping and human-made fires would also be prohibited under most circumstances. There has long been concern in the community about a campfire starting a blaze that could spread through open space like the Clark Ranch land, which is mostly sage brush.

The meeting on Thursday is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building and will be broadcast online on the municipal website, parkcity.org. The elected officials are scheduled to take input from the public before a possible vote on the conservation easement.

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The Lundin family, who have been working toward preserving their Midway property since 2023, might be abandoning their bid to establish 119 acres of land west of the city as a conservation easement.

“It is with a heavy heart that I write this. For the first time since my wife passed away, I have tears in my eyes — not just for my family, but for the future of our community,” Randy Lundin wrote in an Ask Midway Facebook group on Jan. 6. 

Lundin wrote about legal hurdles pertaining to water rights and the process of committing their land to open space efforts. The post does not specifically state that the family will not be moving forward with a conservation easement, but Lundin expressly warns against pursuing open space agreements in Midway.

Both the Lundin’s legal counsel, Brandon Mark, and Midway City Mayor Celeste Johnson, have responded in regard to Lundin’s social media post.

Johnson said she was surprised to see the Lundin family is “abandoning their pursuit.”

“I thought this may be a good opportunity to clarify some apparent misunderstandings, particularly in light of Randy Lundin’s broad statement warning against pursuing a conservation easement in Midway,” Johnson wrote on the Midway City news page. 

Johnson addressed Lundin’s concerns regarding water shares as collateral for the $3 million advance open space bond funds payment requested by the Lundin family from the city and the county. This, she said, made it easier to work around the family’s legal battles. 

Johnson said that the Lundin land itself could not have been used as collateral due to the ongoing lawsuit against the property. 

“Midway City remains committed to working toward a conservation easement on the Lundin property if the family wishes to proceed, with the understanding that the city simply cannot put taxpayer money at risk,” Johnson wrote. 

Mark said that it was not so simple. 

“We had been discussing a deed of trust mechanism,” Mark said. “I was in the trenches negotiating that.”

While a deed of trust is used as a tool to protect client funds, escrow accounts are normally effective in holding and disbursing funds as specified in the purchase agreement. Mark said, for the Lundins, a trust deed is preferable. 

According to Mark, the Lundin family would like to enter into a conservation agreement if possible, but that the family was unsure if they would be able to move forward in the process. 

“Right now we’re in Limbo,” Mark said. 

The Lundin family has been in the process of turning their 119 acres into conservation easement since 2023. In November, 2024, Wasatch County Council voted to approve $2 million toward purchasing the Lundin family’s easement against the advice of Deputy County Attorney Jon Woodard. 

At the time, siblings Michael Lundin and Nora Lundin were in the midst of settling a legal struggle with their brother regarding the property. Another lawsuit, one filed in July, 2024, by Robert Fuller against the Lundin family farm, land and mobile home companies, further complicated the matter. 

At the request of Utah Open Lands, Heber City granted an extension to seek more time for the conservation agreement to be initiated. 

Midway City Planner Katie Villani said that $1 million has been committed by the city with the remaining Open Space Bond Funds voted in after the 2018 election. 

Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands, has been working with the Lundins since the start of their bid two years ago. In 2024, she supported the Lundin’s efforts to secure Open Space Bond funding from Midway City Council and Wasatch County Council.

In December, Fisher said that the process had been “more than complex” and required “patience as well as a bit of faith.”

Fisher said that no official decision has been made at this point. 

“As far as I understand, and I’ve had continual meetings, everybody is still hopeful that we can come to a solution,” Fisher said. 

At a Wasatch County Open Lands board meeting Monday, Fisher gave an update. 

“Whether or not there’s time to move forward and save that, it still remains a possibility. Part of what we’ve done is a deep dive into some of the water share collateral issues that everybody talked about,” Fisher said. “But we have full funding for that, we believe, or are close to full funding for that. But there’s a lot of things that would need to be dealt with.”

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Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands, said she met Steve Farrell in 1994, after the nonprofit succeeded in preserving 1,000 acres of land known as Snake Creek Canyon. That open space, now part of Wasatch Mountain State Park, was one of Utah Open Lands’ first big wins, and Fisher said Farrell was a big part of the process.

“I have known Councilor Farrell to be one of those leaders who sought out a way to protect landowners’ ability to exercise their private property rights to preserve their land,” Fisher said. 

After decades of work, Farrell is stepping out of the spotlight in Wasatch County. As a farewell gift, Mountainside Resort Foundation is donating $1 million to Utah Open Lands in honor of Farrell’s years of public service. 

Since Farrell’s first years on the Wasatch County Council and the start of Utah Open Lands, thousands of acres have been preserved as open space in Wasatch County. 

“Giving the landowner options is key to land preservation, in my mind,” Farrell said. “The partnership with Utah Open Lands has allowed landowners who want to protect this rural heritage and the agricultural nature of our county with an option to leave that legacy.” 

Farrell’s legacy on the Wasatch County Council includes strides to preserve the North Fields near Heber City — an effort echoed by Heber City Council. The entities have pushed to keep that open space in mind while discussing topics like the proposed U.S. 40 bypass route with the Utah Department of Transportation, which has featured options through the North Fields area. 

“Back in 1994, after we did that celebration, Steve turned to me and said, ‘Well, what about the North Fields?” Fisher said. “I think he’s always recognized that that pastoral land that everybody sees as you drop into the Heber Valley is something that has necessarily been important.” 

Fisher said that “back in the day,” conservation easements were not as common as they are now. 

“Not everybody got it,” Fisher said. “But Steve did.” 

In 2018, the County Council added an open space bond on the ballot, allowing voters to opt for a tax increase in exchange for open land preservation. 

Since then, the County Council and Utah Open Lands have preserved hundreds of acres of open space.

Most recently, the nonprofit secured protection for 102 acres known as the Albert Kohler Legacy Farm along Midway’s entry corridor. That project used funds from both Wasatch County and Midway City open space bonds, plus funding secured from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. To date, the nonprofit has protected over 18,000 acres in Wasatch County. 

In 2023, landowner Gary Barnett worked with the nonprofit and county to protect more than 3,100 acres of his land under a conservation easement known as the Forty Fifth Star preserve.

With Mountainside Resort Foundation’s $1 million donation to Utah Open Lands, Fisher said that total amount will be donated over multiple years. The community foundation, which Barnett implemented, is primarily funded by community reinvestment fees.

“With Extell’s and Reef Capital’s ongoing sales, the foundation is pleased to be able to provide the multiyear donation to Utah Open Lands for such purposes in honor of councilman Farrell,” a Utah Open Lands press release read.

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The Lundin family, working alongside Utah Open Lands, have moved one step closer to establishing a conservation easement on 119 acres of land in Midway. 

On behalf of Lundin Farms, Utah Open Lands applied for up to $1 million in funding from the 2018 Midway Open Space Bond Funds for this project. While approval for the use of these funds passed in June 2023, the Lundin family needed to meet certain requirements.

Extensions for meeting such conditions were approved in January and May of 2024. On Tuesday, Dec. 3, Midway City Council unanimously approved an additional extension to Dec. 31. 

“This has been a very long process, especially probably for the Lundin family,” Midway City Planner Katie Villani said at the Dec. 3 meeting. 

The concept of a conservation easement on the Lundin family’s land has been well-received and approved by Wasatch County and Midway City Council. The main hurdle revolves around the establishment of an emergency wildfire access route on the land. 

While all parties, including the Lundin family, Midway City Council, and Utah Open Lands, agree that an emergency access route is necessary, the trouble lies in where to break ground. 

According to Villani, the preferred route would enter the property from the south and continue north across the Lundin property in the vicinity of the Probst ditch. With the Dec. 31 deadline in mind, Villani also discussed a contingency plan to enter from Lucerne Drive and travel northeast to intersect the Probst Ditch.

“We believe the latest proposal is fair to all sides,” Randy Lundin said in a press release prior to the Dec. 3 meeting. “Not only will the community forever gain open space, which is what the taxpayer’s money is dedicated to, but Midway City will also benefit from a new emergency wildfire route and possibly a public trail.”

Villani said that, while there is no Dec. 31 deadline for working with landowners, the Lundin family and Utah Open Lands would prefer to define these routes before the actual conservation easement is filed. 

“The Lundins have been in agreement from the beginning that this was a need in Midway,” Villani said. 

Midway City Council authorized Mayor Celeste Johnson to disburse the funds as soon as the city, Wasatch County, Utah Open Lands and the Lundin family all sign the purchase and sale agreement.

The city council also recognized that, while the final routes would not be specified, the agreement would contain preferred and default outcomes. 

“A complicated solution motivated by the fact that all sides were trying to make this work,” Villani said. 

Wendy Fisher, Utah Open Lands executive director, has been working with the Lundin family since they proposed establishing their 119 acres as a conservation easement. She said, in some ways, they are “simply turning the page in a long story,” with Tuesday’s vote. 

“There is more to do and I expect that the same care, consideration and painstaking hard work will continue from all of the parties involved,” Fisher said. “The journey in working toward the protection of the Lundin property has been more than complex and definitely an exercise in patience as well as a bit of faith.”

Fisher said that every land preservation project “has its ups and downs,” but working toward establishing a conservation easement is worth it to further protect the land in Midway. 

“All of those at the meeting will no doubt look back on that day as one where we created a legacy that could have been lost to the typical development scenarios that lessen what we love about our communities and the place we call home,” Fisher said. “I am extremely grateful that there is a family out there named the Lundins who have a love of their land and a love of their community. That is the only reason we are at this point today.”

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Students in Park City are getting behind the effort to purchase Bonanza Flats.

Members of the Treasure Mountain Junior High School National Junior Honor Society recently raised more than $1,500 that will be donated to Utah Open Lands for the effort. The nonprofit Utah Open Lands is working with Park City and other entities to secure enough money for the city to buy Bonanza Flats, a parcel of prized open space in Wasatch County that could be slated for development if the effort fails.

Megan McKenna, adviser for the National Junior Honor Society, said the students were eager to get involved. They understand the significance of preserving Bonanza Flats, which is a popular spot for recreation is vital as a watershed and habitat for wildlife.

“For a lot of them, they were surprised that it wouldn’t always be there,” she said. “For a lot of us in Park City, that’s such a special place, and this is the first time we realized it might not always be there. I think it’s an important lesson for the students, that we need to work to protect the places that we love.”

Added student Hanna Wiczek: “There are a lot of people that would like to build on that land, but it’s important the land stays recreational. That’s the purpose of this.”

McKenna said that the students chose to get involved because it was an opportunity to make a difference in their own backyard.

“This year, the kids wanted to do something that directly impacted their community,” she said. “Last year, we did the American Cancer Association, which was really great, but the kids felt strongly that they could leave their mark here and show that we helped save this important part of our community.”

The students raised most of the money through events like bake sales. One student, Eli Kimche, said participating proved rewarding. He was particularly excited to see the community rally to help.

“The experience was really cool, being able to raise your own money for a greater cause than just yourself,” he said. “People were a lot more enthusiastic about the bake sale because it wasn’t just us trying to raise money for ourselves. We’re trying to help out to save the land. You can tell there was kind of a different vibe because of that.”

The students are partnering with Andrew Muse, a local blogger and athlete, for their donation. On Monday, they presented a check to Muse, who is organizing an auction and raffle Saturday at Rock & Reilly’s pub on Main Street to fundraise for Utah Open Lands. The money from the students and Saturday’s event will be pooled into one donation to the nonprofit.

Muse, for one, said the students’ dedication has been impressive.

“It’s cool to see kids this young being aware of things that are happening and the exploitation of the place we live in,” she said. “To be able to protect that is really cool. … When I was their age, I had no clue about anything like this. Obviously the Park City community is pretty aware and conscious, and that gives me hope.”

McKenna said it’s important to get students engaged in the community when they’re young. The hope is they’ll continue to be involved as they grow older because they’ve seen how hard work and determination can change the places they live.

If the effort to purchase Bonanza Flats succeeds — the deadline for Park City and the other entities involved is June 15 — the students will always be proud of the part they played in securing the land, she said.

“I think it will be so special for the students, and it will be something they’ll never forget,” she said. “They’ll always be able to remember it. When I went to Treasure Mountain years ago, we helped protect the wetlands. It still feels like such a special place to me to feel like I was part of that with my teachers then. Our students today will have the same feeling about Bonanza Flats.”

Muse’s event to raise money for the effort to purchase Bonanza Flats was scheduled for Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at Rock & Reilly’s. Attendees must RSVP at facebook.com/events/1402884763108862/.

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Erika Keffer loves to visit Bonanza Flats in the fall when the area’s aspens change color.

The Park City native said the viewing experience is stunning, since every aspen shares a root system with other trees of its kind.

“When you look at the different aspens changing colors in the fall, you can see which ones share which root system,” Keffer said. “There will be a little nugget of red from one isolated root system and massive fields of golden or yellow from other colonies.”

Like the aspens that grow on the plot of land she visits high in the Wasatch County mountains, Keffer wants to become one member who is part of a bigger system. She wants to be one more person raising money to help Park City purchase and preserve Bonanza Flats.

Keffer is hosting a Bonanza Flats silent auction and opportunity drive at the Notch Pub in Samak, which will start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. The cover charge is $10, which includes one raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets are $5 each.

“I have never been much of an activist,” Keffer said. “I’ve been supportive of a lot of things, but never a primary supporter.

“With this, it just hit close to home. Not only is this place geographically close to my home, but I have spent a lot of time up there. I didn’t feel like I could sit and do nothing.”

Bonanza Flats — owned by Redus, LLC — is a 1,400-acre piece of land located downhill from Guardsman Pass that could potentially be sold for development. In November, Park City residents voted in favor of a $25 million bond to help pay for and conserve the area.

In January, City Hall reached a deal with the landowner to purchase Bonanza Flats for $38 million.

Since then, many efforts have been launched to make up for the $13 million gap: A nonprofit coalition, headed by Utah Open Lands, was created in order to obtain private funding. It has raised $1.4 million. Summit County also pledged to chip in, agreeing to put $5.75 million in the pile.

Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands, said that while past fundraisers have been successful, the coalition still needs to close the rest of the $13 million gap before March 15, which is when the city is required to make a $1.5 million payment toward the purchase.

Fisher said the fast-approaching timeline is why it’s important for events such as Keffer’s and others’ to do well.

A fundraiser at the Notch

Keffer said she had no clue how to plan a fundraiser when she decided to help save Bonanza Flats. But after contacting local businesses and reaching out to the Notch, she now has a place for the event and several items — donated by places such as Skullcandy and Black Diamond — for the drawing and auction.

“I started pretty much from zero and now it’s a full-fledged event,” Keffer said.

The fundraiser’s bigger items, from skis to ski passes, will be part of the silent auction. Smaller items, from t-shirts to headphones, will be in the drawing.

Keffer said she’s happy the event will be at the Notch.

“It’s definitely out of the way of Park City,” she said. “But it’s a great venue with parking and drinks and fun bartenders. The Notch was also willing to pay for the band and contribute 20 percent of its profits from that night toward the fundraiser.”

Keffer said the event will have music provided by local band Telluride Meltdown. And while she doesn’t plan on raising a large amount of money, she hopes the little bit she brings in will help.

“My dad always said — when I was growing up — the crumbs add up to a slice,” she said. “I guess I’m collecting crumbs.”

Taking the bus can also help

Since the coalition’s campaign to save Bonanza Flats is in crunch time, other nonprofits and individuals are also hoping to bring in money within the next week.

For instance, Fisher mentioned a Wasatch Backcountry Alliance pledge that impressed her.

“They will be giving all of the donations from the ski shuttles going up Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons this Saturday to the effort,” Fisher said. “You’ll get a great ride. You’ll cut down on traffic congestion, and you’ll get to help save Bonanza Flats.”

Artists want to do their part, too

Like Keffer and those at Wasatch Backcountry Alliance, many local artists feel Bonanza Flats inspires them, which is why the Park City Professional Artists’ Association and Summit Land Conservancy partnered with Whole Foods in Park City for an art show that is currently on display at the grocery store.

Jane Riley, along with nine other artists, contributed pieces to the exhibit, which is also a silent auction. The group will donate proceeds to the conservancy for the cause. Those who would like to bid on the pieces can visit wesaveland.org/auctions.

Future plans

Fisher said Utah Open Lands is also planning on launching one more initiative before the March 15 deadline. She said it most likely will be some sort of challenge grant, but is still not sure.

She added that information about the campaign and its future plans can be found at http://www.savebonanzaflats.org. People can also visit the website to make individual donations, she said.

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to reflect the new price for raffle tickets for Keffer’s fundraiser. Tickets are now $5 each.

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A delegation from Park City spoke to the Wasatch County Council on Wednesday about City Hall’s anticipated acquisition of Bonanza Flats acreage for conservation purposes, a cordial meeting that was the first in what will likely be a series of gatherings between the two jurisdictions centered on the land.

Three Park City officials – Mayor Jack Thomas, Tom Daley, who is a City Hall attorney, and Heinrich Deters, the trails and open space manager – appeared before Wasatch County’s elected leadership with a map of the high-altitude Bonanza Flats on display in the background. Wendy Fisher, the executive director of Utah Open Lands, accompanied the Park City officials to Heber City.

Bonanza Flats is a long-prized tract of land covering 1,350 acres in Wasatch County downhill from Guardsman Pass just south of the Park City limits. Developers and conservationists have coveted the land for years. City Hall in January reached a $38 million agreement with the landowner, a firm called Redus, LLC, to acquire Bonanza Flats. Park City voters authorized $25 million for the acquisition and supporters of the deal are attempting to raise the rest of the money. Summit County leaders recently pledged $5.75 million.

The Park City delegation used the meeting on Wednesday to introduce the planned acquisition of Bonanza Flats to the Wasatch County leadership. The Wasatch County officials hold an important role in oversight of the land in zoning and other matters that will be of importance to City Hall as the eventual landowner.

“We want to be good neighbors,” the mayor told the County Council, describing City Hall as “charging forward” with the acquisition and that the fundraising efforts are going well.

Thomas also described that a conservation acquisition of Bonanza Flats would be environmentally significant in Wasatch County since it would provide protection for the watershed. City Hall will be expected to craft a set of restrictions on the land meant to ensure that it remains undeveloped. The document, known as a conservation easement, has not been finalized, Thomas said.

In her comments to the County Council, Fisher noted there have been numerous residents of Wasatch County contributing to the fundraising efforts.

The Wasatch County officials asked a series of what appeared to be preliminary questions after the Park City-side presentations. The leaders in Wasatch County – elected officials and staffers – will likely make more detailed inquiries later, as Park City completes the conservation easement.

One of the County Councilors, Mike Petersen, asked the Park City officials about the possibilities of City Hall restricting access as well as whether vehicles will be able to use the roads in Bonanza Flats. The mayor said Park City will defer to Wasatch County.

“We have no intention of jumping into the role you all have with regard to that,” Thomas said, adding, “It is indeed a county road, and we respect that.”

Deters told the County Council Park City’s goal is to keep Bonanza Flats as it is now. He said an environmental study will be conducted after the acquisition is finalized, though.

Kendall Crittenden, another County Councilor, also pressed the Park City officials about ensuring Bonanza Flats is public acreage.

“Access needs to be open to everybody,” he said.

Mike Davis, who is the Wasatch County manager, also mentioned the presence of roads in Bonanza Flats and said parking will be of interest. He noted Wasatch County agencies are responsible for providing emergency services in Bonanza Flats and said that county will seek assistance from Park City. He explained that tax revenues will not be raised to fund emergency services as a result of City Hall acquiring the land for conservation purposes instead the acreage being developed.

Davis said there is sensitivity in Wasatch County about City Hall acquiring Bonanza Flats since 70 percent of the land in the county is already under public ownership. Land that is owned by a government does not generate tax revenues.

There was also a brief discussion about the prospects of Wasatch County assisting financially with the acquisition. It was in response to a question by Petersen. Fisher told him there are a number of jurisdictions that use Bonanza Flats and there is an effort to raise funds in those places. She said the fundraising does not anticipate requesting monies from Wasatch County.

City Hall has long coveted Bonanza Flats for conservation purposes. The acquisition will be one of the crowning achievements of the municipal government’s open space program. But developers have also prized the acreage for years, seeing the possibility of a golf-and-ski project on the land. Park City officials see the acquisition as something that will advance the conservation efforts in addition to checking a major development at the municipal borders.

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