Toll Canyon, a bit of open space sandwiched between the Summit Park, Timberline and Pinebrook developments in Summit County, is on the verge of becoming public land. According to UtahOpenLands.org, the owners of the land, RE Investment Holdings LLC, are offering 781 acres in the hopes of keeping it as open space. But while the price of the land will be relatively low, it still ain’t cheap.
In total, the price tag is 6.1 million dollars, and much of that money has already been raised by Summit County, Park City, and the Snyderville Basin Recreation District. But $200,000 dollars still needs to be raised, and that’s where you come in. At this point, they’re asking for private donations, and they need it fast as the deadline is December 31st. This is important to note, because if Utah Open Lands isn’t successful in community fundraising, the landowners plan on developing the whole plot.
Where it stands now is that Utah Open Lands received approval of their pending grant for Toll Canyon. The LeRay McAllister Fund, Utah’s only statewide open space fund, approved $62,500 towards the protection of Toll Canyon. In addition, at a fundraiser at the New Park Resort and Hotel Sky Bridge event, community members stepped forward and raised even more money, including the LeRay McAllister Grant of $178,200.
Toll Canyon is a pristine area filled with aspen and pine trees that would be a wonderful place for the public to hike, bike and backcountry ski in. Really, thanks to the massive delevopments along the Park City ridgeline, there is no good backcountry access in the area, to having Toll Canyon as an option would be huge.
To donate and make this a reality, visit the Utah Open Lands website. Once there, you can go to their donations page to pledge.