Every year the CWC distributes grants for Short-Term Projects that would help further the goals of the Mountain Accord by implementing transportation and transit solutions, protecting the ecosystems that originate in the Central Wasatch, stewarding recreational access, and sustaining the economic vitality of the area. This year, the Swaner Preserve and Ecocenter applied for a grant to remove old fencing along East Canyon Creek in Kimball Junction, and in May, CWC awarded Swaner $5,000–exactly the amount they needed to pay a trained crew to remove the tangled wire and t-posts from the banks of the creek.

To kick off our first “shorts” episode of In The Wasatch, I met Rhea Cone, Swaner’s Conservation Director, at the project site to see how the work was progressing. The crew had already removed a quarter mile of fencing but had nearly three-quarters of a mile remaining. “The fencing…has just fallen into disrepair, is a barrier to wildlife passage, and prevents our staff and volunteers from moving safely though the area to do other restoration work,” Rhea said.

Once the project is complete, she told me, other restoration work can begin. They will be able to plant more narrowleaf cottonwoods and perform invasive species removal, among other needed projects.

What really stood out to me, is that in my short time on the Preserve, we saw red tailed hawks, fish, fox holes, ducks, songbirds, and a handful of riled-up and very large bees–evidence that the Swaner Preserve is an incredible bright spot of biodiversity on the edge of a bustling urban center. It’s exactly the kind of place that makes the Central Wasatch a place like no other.

⁠Swaner Preserve & Ecocenter⁠

⁠CWC Short-Term Grants Program⁠

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Chapters

00:00 Restoration Efforts at East Canyon Creek

01:51 Introduction to the Central Wasatch Commission

02:23 The Importance of Removing Exclusionary Fencing

04:31 Enhancing Wildlife Habitat and Ecosystem

06:42 The Role of Beavers in Ecosystem Engineering

08:19 Planting Native Species for Biodiversity

09:42 Challenges in Restoration Projects

11:34 The Impact of Professional Help in Conservation

12:27 Conclusion and Call to Action

Takeaways

• The removal of fencing is crucial for wildlife passage.
• Tree planting will provide shade and stabilize creek banks.
• Exclusionary fencing can hinder restoration efforts.
• Beavers play a vital role in maintaining ecosystems.
• Planting native species enhances biodiversity.
• Community involvement is essential for conservation success.
• Professional help can significantly improve project outcomes.

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02.594)
So the crew is up there. can see Margo up there. So that’s where they’re ripping out the fencing and we’ve, we’ve gotten all of this so far. So there’s no fencing here. So maybe about, I mean, with the kind of meanders a bit, maybe about a quarter mile so far in both sides of the stream in a lot of spots. So the fencing’s all wadded up, but yeah, quite a bit. I think we’ll get a weight at the end.

After all this fencing is removed, we’re hoping to do some additional tree planting here to provide some more shade to the water in East Canyon Creek, to stabilize the banks and to provide habitat for all kinds of critters from songbirds and food for deer and elk eventually once they’re a little bit big enough for that.

Welcome to In the Wasatch, a podcast created by the Central Wasatch Commission. I’m your host, Ben Kilborn. The CWC is an intergovernmental entity dedicated to protecting the Central Wasatch Mountains through canyon transportation improvements, pathways for concentrated development, environmental protections, and recreational stewardship. You can think of the CWC as the table everyone sits at, where real conversation happens so we can find real solutions to real issues.

This podcast continues those conversations and brings them to you so you can get involved. You’ll hear from stakeholders, commissioners, and others who love and want to preserve the mountains for generations to come. As we gather Wasatch stories, profiles, and expertise, we hope to establish this podcast and the CWC generally as a hub for finding belonging in the central Wasatch. After all, it’s the mountains that make this place what it is.

And we’re all part of it.

Speaker 1 (01:57.934)
My name is Rhea Cohn. I am the Director of Conservation here at the Swanner Preserve and Eco Center. Swanner is a 1200 acre nature preserve and nature center in Kimbell Junction in Park City. Today we are removing over a mile of exclusionary fencing on the banks of East Canyon Creek, which drains the Snyderville Basin and Park City area. in the upper Weber watershed and eventually goes to the Great Salt Lake.

This fencing was installed around some woody vegetation that was planted maybe 15 or 20 years ago and has just fallen into disrepair. is a barrier to wildlife passage and prevents our staff and volunteers from moving safely through the area to do other restoration work like plantings, beaver dam analogs, other stream restoration work. So Central Wasatch Commission provided us with a grant.

We’re so excited to get to be able to fund this work. So we have hired Utah Conservation Corps to help us remove this fencing this week. So far we’ve removed about a quarter mile of it and we’ve got a few more days to go. So I anticipate we’ll get a lot of it done.

Speaker 1 (03:23.342)
So these are some narrow leaf cottonwoods that were planted, I’m assuming at the time when all of this fencing was put up to prevent beavers, elk and deer from eating these woody plantings. So now that a lot of them are established and the fencing isn’t really working anymore, it’s not needed in this area. When we do woody plantings like single trees or things like that, we do fence a lot of those with individual fencing, but that requires

maintenance, checking up on them to make sure they’re still working, make sure they still fit the tree. The tree’s not growing faster and it’s not causing any harm to the tree. So there’s a lot of willows kind of filling in behind me that were part of this planting or some of these other kind of single stems and choke cherries and river birch, dogwood looks like we’re all part of this planting. So after all this fencing is removed, we’re hoping to do some additional tree planting here.

to provide some more shade to the water in East Canyon Creek, to stabilize the banks and to provide habitat for all kinds of critters from songbirds and food for deer and elk eventually once they’re a little bit big enough for that. Yep, yeah, more narrowleaf cottonwoods. lot of those, those will get big, provide shade.

It’s more narrow leaf cotton.

Speaker 2 (04:45.25)
Will you put any fencing around the trunk?

We’ll do like individual fencing versus what what was done here is like large swaths of fencing kind of in a whole area. So I think just the pressure on it or just it not being so structured and tight maybe caused it to to bend down deer and elk can just get through there. Beavers have have munched on some of these. Same with muskrats. So some additional plantings. We’re always trying to do a lot of plantings each year. Willow stakes.

which we can just harvest on site and replant or potted plants like individual plants like cottonwoods and things like that. So now that this fencing is out.

So there’s a lot of work you can do once it’s on to the next one.

Yep. Yep. Yeah, exactly. So we’ve done some other planting while the fencing has been here, but it’s kind of like working around it. It’s not really great for volunteers or staff safety. So just making sure that people are safe when they’re working out here. Fencing is not working anyways. There’s been a couple of areas like we left a little bit right there around that cottonwood section because it’s still in good shape and it’s still protecting those trees.

Speaker 1 (06:02.422)
over there but a lot of it needs to be removed. We’ll reuse a lot of the T-posts that we’re pulling out. We’ve gotten hundreds of T-posts so far so we’ll use those for future restoration. Luckily this is all smooth wire fencing so no barbed wire for wildlife and for our safety as we’re removing it but keeps some of the herbivores out so these trees can get established.

They love hanging out over here. And if they chew on these a little bit, that’s okay. And that is like what the purpose of the plantings are for us at least is definitely to provide some food source, trying to keep beavers out. love beavers. They’re ecosystem engineers. Obviously got one on my hat here. Our restoration partners. But if we can keep beavers away from those kind of single stem plantings like the cottonwoods.

more established.

Yep, until they get more established and I mean once they cut those down if it’s a larger established tree It will send up some shoots, but it’s gonna take a while to get to get big enough Where the willows that are coming in behind me over here? Yeah, there’s like a nest over here I think there’s one more maybe up there the willows and things that are kind of coming up all over the place versus like a single stem when beavers or other things to on them that just kind of stimulates more growth and

Look at those two red tail hawks.

Speaker 1 (07:25.418)
is good for the plant in a lot of ways.

So you’re saying when they’re chewing on them, actually stimulates a…

Yep. Yeah. I didn’t know that. Yeah. So I mean, if, if someone comes in and just clear cuts them all or a beaver clear cuts them on, as soon as they grow up, they clear kind of again. And then that’s harder for those plants to establish, but they tend to, if there’s enough food, at least, like there’s some coming up right here. If there’s enough food for them, it’ll send up a lot of these shoots kind of all over the place. Interesting here. So these are growing up versus like, yeah, that a single kind of stem tree.

Okay, what kind of willows are mostly…

We mostly see coyote willows. We do have some yellow willow out here which is from some plantings. There’s Guyer’s willows, Drummond’s willows, a couple different species but mostly we see coyote willows and those turn kind of that reddish orange in the fall winter. I think really pretty color against the landscape and the snow especially. That’s mostly what we see and what we’re planting here as well.

Speaker 2 (08:33.442)
you

Speaker 2 (08:37.004)
Do you want to show me where there’s some existing fence still?

Yeah, let’s go take a look.

Speaker 1 (08:46.21)
Watch, there’s a log right there.

Speaker 1 (08:58.19)
It’s a little thistle-y, but let’s go through here.

Speaker 1 (09:10.904)
So here’s some golden currents that are coming in nicely and they have a ton of fruit on them right now that’s ripe. So we can eat those. They’re a little tart, but especially the Sandhill cranes love to eat those and tons of birds. Yeah, they’re pretty good. They’re a little tart, but it’s something. So really great woody plant provides habitat once they get a little bit bigger food.

you

Speaker 1 (09:40.28)
for all kinds of fruit eating critters.

Speaker 1 (09:50.478)
Just watch a little slanted here. So there’s some fencing on the other side of the stream still. So getting those T posts out, a lot of that smooth wire has kind of been like eaten up by the grass. So getting that out has been a project.

So it’s kind of in these little islands almost. There’s some people biking up there. Yeah, so people can see this project area from the Stealth Trail, from the Spring Creek Trailhead, Glenweald Trail System. Wow, these bees are crazy. These big bumblebees.

Speaker 1 (10:35.404)
Yeah, they should leave us alone, but there’s a lot of them. I wonder if they’re like, we’re nesting in the ground over there or something.

Get away! There’s a hole right there. A hole. Don’t step in that. That’d be bad. Yeah, somebody might live there or has lived there. So here’s a spot. We’ll just like watch for more holes and stuff.

Speaker 1 (11:12.078)
So the crew is up there. I can see Margo up there. So that’s where they’re ripping out the fencing and we’ve, we’ve gotten all of this so far. So there’s no fencing here. So maybe about, I mean, with the kind of meanders a bit, maybe about a quarter mile so far in both sides of the stream in a lot of spots. So the fencing’s all wadded up, but yeah, quite a bit.

I think we’ll get a weight at the end of all of the middle fencing. So the smooth wire has been kind of pulled down, but there’s been snow, vegetation. There’s some wire that’s up, but in most places it’s useless. It’s not doing its job. And if we leave it, it’s just going to become trash. It is a big project. So it kind of ends maybe around the next bend.

But then we’ve got another big section of it, so we’re gonna see how far we can get. But this is something that I’ve been doing. I’ve had a few volunteer groups that have helped with this, and it’s just not a great volunteer project. It’s difficult, it’s strenuous. And for my staff, we have a small staff, so we’ve done bit by bit, but it’s just taken a long time to get.

far on it at all.

It’s essential to hire the UC.

Speaker 1 (12:42.67)
Yeah, hire a trained crew that does this kind of work. Has been a game changer. This is my first time hiring the UCC and they’ve been awesome. just super hardworking, knowledgeable, working safely is wonderful.

Thanks for going walking with me and Rhea Cohn in the Wasatch. The In the Wasatch podcast was created by the Central Wasatch Commission. Learn more about us at cwc.utah.gov. And if you would like to donate to our project work, go to cwc.utah.gov slash contribute. Please also follow us on Instagram, Twitter, threads, Facebook, and TikTok at Central Wasatch Commission and hashtag we are the Wasatch.

While you’re on our website, check out the Central Wasatch Dashboard, a tool for the public, land managers, and policymakers to explore the historic and current environmental conditions of the Central Wasatch, including air quality, climate, geology and soils, vegetation communities, water, wildlife, and humans in the Wasatch. Also, if you haven’t already, learn about the Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act, emerging from the Mountain Accord

The CWNCRA is a locally driven consensus-based bill aimed at protecting the sources of our drinking water, preserving recreational access for the future, and ensuring enjoyment of the central Wasatch Mountains in the face of pressures from a growing population. This podcast was envisioned by Lindsay Nielsen and evolved by Mia McNeil. This episode was recorded, edited, and produced by me, Ben Kilborn, intro music by Andy Knobloch, cover art by Madeleine Pettit and Mia McNeil,

Thank you to all of the commissioners, the stakeholders, and the Youth Council for your continued support in implementing the Mountain Accord and working toward getting the CWNCRA across the finish line. We can’t thank you enough.