City Cast Salt Lake podcast host Ali Vallarta here. My New Year’s resolution is to visit all 511 parks in Salt Lake County, and I’m sharing stellar finds along the way.
Daylighting, so hot right now! Seven Canyons Trust is looking to reveal some of the creeks and streams buried under our concrete jungle. Seems like a lot of work, so what’s the pitch?
🌊 7 Buried Creeks
Seven creeks flow from the seven Wasatch Mountain canyons in Salt Lake: City Creek, Red Butte Creek, Emigration Creek, Parleys Creek, Mill Creek, Big Cottonwood Creek, and Little Cottonwood Creek. They used to provide clean water in the valley, but development has buried, polluted, and rechannelled segments of them.
Is Mill Creek under your neighborhood? (Seven Canyons Trust)
🦆 Why Dig Them Up?
You know the joy you feel at the fake stream through City Creek Mall? Imagine more healthy waterways throughout our city! The benefits range from cooler bike and walking trails to resilience to flooding and better birdwatching.
Seven Canyons Trust wrote a vision plan to daylight seven different greenways over the next 100 years in the Salt Lake Valley.
The Folsom Trail plan is an example of daylighting a creek to create a new walk/bike path. (Seven Canyons Trust)
⛲ Local Daylighting Projects
At Fitts Park, Mill Creek was daylighted to create the Mill Creek Trail in South Salt Lake. Maybe you’ve had a beer at Three Creeks Confluence, where the city uncovered 200 feet of stream where Red Butte, Emigration, and Parleys creeks meet.
Projects with wheels in motion:
- Allen Park: Restoring Emigration Creek here, partially funded by the $85 million parks bond!
- Folsom Trail: Turning an abandoned railway into a walk/bike trail along City Creek.
- Herman Franks Park: Bringing Emigration Creek to the surface.
- Ballpark NEXT Proposal: Converting the parking lot across from Smith’s Ballpark into a park and partially daylighting Red Butte Creek.
🗓️ Want To Get Involved?
Sign up to walk the underground creeks with Seven Canyons Trust (spooky!) or use this cool map tool to see where the creeks currently run underneath us.
And for the adventurous: assemble a team to bike, run, and boat the Range 2 River Relay on Saturday, Sept. 20.
