Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Provo, Utah May 16, 2024

Contacts:
Colton Burr 801-722-4777
John Bennion 801-318-9521
Kaye Nelson 801-822-2443

Saturday, June 15, 2024, 10a-4p

3777 W. Boat Harbor Drive, Provo

Join us for a fun-filled, informative day at Colton and Alicia Burr’s farm, a 20-acre property in west Provo along the Provo River near Utah Lake. To gain support for and educate the public on the planned conservation easement for the farm, the Burrs will host family-friendly, farm-related activities (horse and pony rides, a wagon ride, petting zoo, roping practice, horseshoes) and a BBQ lunch. Representative John Curtis and Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi will speak, and conservation experts will also report on important work happening in the area. Admission is free to the activities. The cost of the BBQ is $5 per person or $10 per family. All proceeds go toward the conservation easement. See the Conserve Utah Valley website (https://conserveutahvalley.org) for registration information.

Cascade Farms is one of the final puzzle pieces necessary to protect all the historic farmland between the old bed of the Provo River and the new Delta Restoration Project. The result will be about 750 acres of contiguous farm and wetlands for Utah residents to enjoy.

The Burrs are working with Utah Agricultural Land Trust (https://utahaglandtrust.org) to place a conservation easement on their property and have been tentatively selected for a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (part of the USDA). As they move through the federal grant process, they continue to work to raise the remaining funding. Conserve Utah Valley has partnered with the Burrs to help gain support from local residents, Provo City, Utah County, the State of Utah, and private donors.

“We are thrilled to help protect this critical area along Utah Lake, the Provo River, and the Delta,” said Kaye Nelson, CUV Executive Director. “Through these efforts this land can be preserved forever, protecting open and green space, and benefiting the public.”

We hope you’ll join us for A Summer Afternoon at Cascade Farm and help conserve this precious land.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-April 25, 2023  Logan, Utah — Utah Agricultural Land Trust has opened its doors for business in the state of Utah to serve private ag landowners throughout the state in their efforts to conserve their ag lands.  “Development pressures are intense these days and many family farms and ranches are threatened, “ said Deborah Van Noy, founder and board member of UALT.  “We will educate and participate with Utah ag property owners in preserving their family farming and ranching operations,” she added.   Conservation easements are a primary tool for private ag land- owners to protect their land from development – residential or commercial.  This tool is being used widely throughout the western states and has resulted in preservation of thousands of acres of farming and ranching lands.   The process involves placing easements on ag landowners’ property that restricts certain uses (specifically development of the land) thereby causing this property to be passed over when developers are seeking new areas for expansion.  “Conservation easements not only protect ag lands but by the very nature of this type of land protection, wildlife habitat and aquifers, air quality and open space benefit as well,“ said Van Noy.   Agricultural land trusts focus exclusively on helping property owners who own and manage working ranches and farms in Utah and are different from other conservation entities whose attention tends toward wetlands, waterways and other riparian areas.  “The ag landowner has improvements on their property and may further expand those improvements as  their farming or ranching operation grows,”, said Van Noy.  “A conservation easement simply limits the creation of subdivisions and commercial development on that property,” she added.  Utah Agricultural Land Trust is a member of American Farmland Trust’s National Agricultural Land Network.  More information on UALT is available at www.utahaglandtrust.org

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Contact:
Deborah Van Noy
435-770-7095