To be or not to be?

Being a resident of the Fairpark community for twenty one years, you could say that I have grown attached to the river and trail that share my name. Being a child and feeding past due bread to ducks (which probably isn't a good thing), biking the trail, sitting atop the hill behind the Northwest Multipurpose Center, or just taking a causal walk, I can safely say I know it fairly well. What draws me back each and every time is the ability to escape the crazy, fast paced streets, phone calls, and other daily distractions, if only for a few moments. To walk outside your front door and follow the steady flow of the river, where you can always hear the call of one bird or another. It is amazing to have such a sanctuary in a location just minutes from downtown Salt Lake City.

Over the years I suppose I had become unaware, or more accurately, didn't see the potential of a parcel of land located right beside the river trail. People I have talked to seem to have a hard time thinking of the location of this vast space. Over the years it has become a background to the flowing current of the Jordan River, but it is the goal of this project to let such an opportunity become an equal part of the landscape and community it encompasses.

If you walk the Jordan River trail beginning at the southern entrance of the Northwest Multipurpose Center, you will start heading west on the right hand side of the river, passing the hill and soccer field located to the right behind the newly constructed Northwest Recreation Center. The field will then begin to rise in elevation to about five feet where the boundary of five open acres begins and continues to the first street access point due west. You might know this place very well, but perhaps like myself the visual aesthetic of the land wasn't potent enough to make it stand out in your mind.

So what is this land used for? Currently, the Salt Lake City Open Space division is responsible for all five acres. Being zoned for open space protects this land from any type of structural development be commercial or residential. It acts as a buffer between the urban development of the Fairpark community and the Jordan River itself. This is great, for me personally, knowing that I will not be walking on a trail located right behind someones backdoor in the near future. But what caught my interest was the potential of this great space. The ability to allow the local residents a chance to view their natural landscape in a new light, to engage the community to see the beauty and solitude located right in their back yard. Restoration tends to be heard in a context that removes people from place. But the restoration of this land views it as just the opposite. A space large enough to allow anyone in the neighborhood a chance to participate in natures ongoing performance. To become students of the land and develop roots to the place they call home, sharing in all the joy, sorrow, and solitude that such a course offers.

We are at the very beginning stages of this project, and are currently in the process of partnering with local residents and organizations to make this project a true community effort.

Please feel free to contact us with any input you are willing to share, and please come back for more information on future meet ups and updates.

To help paint a better picture, go ahead and view the uploaded photos taken recently of the land. But we strongly encourage you to walk outside your front door and take a stroll along the river and see this great space first hand!

River Garden