'Save a Spot' gives public opportunity to help preserve Utah's wild lands


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BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON — Up in Cardiff Bowl, far away from the heat and hassle of the city, the Wasatch Canyons Foundation plans to make the area where the public can always play in.

On Tuesday, the foundation rolled out a new way we can all pitch in to preserve Utah's wild lands. It's called Save a Spot: "Where land conservation meets crowdfunding." The first spot on their list is a beautiful 14-acre parcel in Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Through saveaspot.org, people pay $25 to help save a 300-square-foot spot within the larger parcel. The idea is that it’s a price most can afford.

“This is a local effort and it's a brilliant idea,” said Wasatch Canyons Foundation adviser Sally Elliot, who is one of the founders of Utah Open Lands was the first to save a few spots.

“There is a GPS coordinate. The person will be given a certificate saying this is the spot that you saved,” said Wasatch Canyons Foundation adviser Peter Corroon.

The foundation targets privately owned islands within larger tracts of public land with public interest — lands that others might consider developing with roads and hotels.

“It could be the recreational opportunities. It could be the watershed value. It could be the habitat for various animals,” said Wasatch Canyons Foundation president John Bennett.

“This is a marvelous, inexpensive opportunity for the entire population to be involved,” Elliott said. “I wrote a check for each of my grandchildren so that they could each have a spot on this beautiful land.”

“They (the public) can buy as many spots as they want. If somebody wants to come in and buy 1,000 spots, we’d be happy with that,” Bennett said.

Save a Spot needs to come up with about $50,000 through the crowdfunding in order to buy the parcel, then they'll move onto the next parcels in order to preserve the entire area.

Contributing: Xoel Cardenas

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