Summit County to acquire largest open space in its history for $55 million

PARK CITY — The 910 Cattle Ranch could have been developed into 116 luxury houses. The lush valley could have been clear cut to make room for a golf course, winding canyon roads, and even a small ski resort. After over a decade of negotiation, however, Summit County has received the funding it needed to purchase the land outright for $55 million.

This is the largest open space purchase in county history, and it will connect a 52,000-acre corridor of conservation easements, state parks, National Forest and other protected land.

“It’s the most impactful thing I will probably ever do in my career,” Jess Kirby said. She’s the Summit County lands and natural resources director and played a role in the acquisition.

Twenty years ago, the sprawling 8,588-acre property in the western part of the county — one of the last contiguous single-owner mountain ranches in the Snyderville Basin — was in the beginning stages of large-scale development.