Summit County’s sign tells us 910 Ranch is “Forever Protected!” The sign is large, proud and impossible to miss. Right at the makeshift entrance sits construction debris and broken glass dumped there recently to also be forever protected with plans that look a lot less like preservation and a lot more like a very expensive way to pave paradise. If “Forever Protected!” means 240 new parking spaces, constant dump trucks, torn-up open space, and another recreation corridor designed for more traffic and less actual quiet, then my garage is a wildlife preserve. Residents were sold a vision of conservation: open land, wildlife habitat, trails, and watershed protection. What many are seeing instead is a project that feels increasingly designed around golf, cars, congestion, and managed recreation rather than true preservation.  Dog walkers, meanwhile, are treated like the primary environmental threat to civilization. In fairness, some walkers put inactive e-collars on their dogs just so they can be off leash and that is no good. There has been an animal control truck patrolling the area to cleanse the area of its iniquities so we have to avoid the area altogether.  The contradiction is hard to ignore. We are told to stay on the trail, pick up after our dogs, and admire the protected landscape while heavy equipment reshapes it under his tender paws. Noise pollution, air pollution, golf balls in the already polluted river don’t seem to be the concern next to my dog’s tasty tootsie rolls. I’d think it could be a nutritious snack for a woodland creature, but instead we are wrapping it up in expensive two-color, multi-ply bags that are so high-quality that they are apparently being hoarded by locals for food storage and keepsake bags. What happens is the luxurious “mutt mitts” that they say are “better than a bag” are most always gone, so a bag is better. Pet owners need the bags, not the sign. They shame the bikers on the other side. But seriously, This is not an argument against access. It is a question of honesty, ethics and common sense.  If the goal is conservation, say that. If the goal is development with better branding, say that too. But “Forever Protected!” next to a pile road debris, tire tracks and “DON’T POO-LUTE” signs? I take it personally. People in Summit County are not opposed to stewardship. They are opposed to being marketed to while watching the opposite happen.Open space should remain open space. If we are seriously putting up a parking lot, China Bridge 2, why not just give 910 back to the true stewards, the Native Americans? Gibson and Beau Berry Park City The post Forever protected? appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less