Conservation Easement Program

It is the purpose of the Conservation Easements, to assure that the Property be retained forever as part of the Little Cottonwood Creek watershed and therefore in an undisturbed condition, and as a secondary objective to forever protect the natural, scenic, recreational and open space condition of the Property for conservation purposes and to prevent any uses of the Property that will impair or interfere with the Conservation Values.  

Friends of Alta maintains 23 conservation easements in Albion Basin. This amounts to 17.31 acres of conserved land in Albion Basin.

There are many ways landowners can help to conserve land; one way is through conservation easements. Conservation easements are legally binding agreements that a landowner and land trust or government agency enter into voluntarily to conserve natural areas, wildlife habitats, clean water, clean air, and scenic open spaces. In Albion Basin, the landowners who have donated or sold their undeveloped property to Friends of Alta have contributed to the public good by preserving the conservation values associated with their land for future generations.

If a landowner wants to maintain ownership of their property then a conservation easement can be individually designed to restrict real estate development, commercial and industrial uses, and other activities to a mutually agreed upon level in perpetuity. There may be income and property tax benefits in return for donating your land, donating a conservation easement, or selling the property to a land trust for below market value.

In holding conservation easements, Friends of Alta has a responsibility to monitor future uses of the land to ensure compliance with the terms of the easement and to enforce the terms if a violation occurs.

Below is a high level overview of prohibited uses. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of prohibited uses and property owners with conservation easements should review the applicable documents for a comprehensive list of prohibited uses

• Development of the property for human occupation, commercial use, industrial use, or residential use.
• Construction of buildings, residences, mobile-homes, or other structures.
• Quarrying, mining, excavation, depositing or removing of materials from the property.
• Drilling of water-wells.
• Trapping or other predatory control methods.
• Motorized vehicle use or access.
• Installation of underground storage tanks.
• Dumping or placing trash, soil, refuse, vehicle bodies, rubbish, debris, junk, waste, radioactive or hazardous waste.
• Altering the topography of the property.
• No utility right of way shall be located within the property.
• Any act or use that would impair the quality of the watershed, scenic tranquility, ecological integrity, and generally open character and Conservation Values of the Property.

Each year Friends of Alta is required to review each property and submit a report to Salt Lake City. The review of the property includes completing a report, walking the easement boundaries to verify no prohibited uses are on the property, and collecting photographs for our records of the property.

Below is an interactive map that demonstrates the 23 properties that Friends of Alta maintains. You can click on one of the numbered properties to see a photo of the property and more details about the applicable property.

To exit the enlarged map, click the two arrows on the upper right-hand corner of the map. If you are reviewing the map while in Albion Basin you can also see your location in comparison to the property.

For specific property lines, please continue down the page to "Interactive Map with Property Boundary, "Downloadable Maps", or by accessing through Salt Lake County Assessors Office by clicking  HERE .

Note: The map demonstrated below have a misspelling that staff is unable to edit. "Secret Lake" is actually spelled "Cecret Lake" if you are looking up directions.