The Summit County government started what will likely be a multi-year process to restore wetland habitats on a portion of the 835-acre Ure Ranch property known as “The Swamp,” which was previously drained to accommodate grazing cattle.
“The beauty of wetlands are that they’re natural recharge areas for groundwater,” explained County Lands and Natural Resources Director Jess Kirby. “From the wildlife perspective, thousands and thousands of birds use wetlands every year as migrating stopover spots. We have the sandhill cranes that come through every year and so many other species that utilize these spots as they migrate.”
The Swamp covers approximately 20 acres of the overall Ure Ranch site, but only 3.5 acres are involved in the restoration process. Kirby said the Ure family, who owned the property before the county purchased it in an open space acquisition last year, built ditches to drain the area so it would be usable for grazing cattle.
“There is still a portion of that property that is ungrazable because cows just sink into the ground,” Kirby said. “When we took ownership, (the family) told us about The Swamp and the issues that we were going to have keeping it dry, so that caught our attention. It’s a wet meadow, so why would we want to keep it dry?”
Ecological studies of the property showed the presence of an unusual soil type called histosol, which contains 20% to 30% more organic matter than regular soil and is often found in wet or cold conditions. Histosols are commonly found in Canada, Russia and northern Europe, with the Florida Everglades serving as the best example of the soil type in the United States.
“We started thinking, ‘Well, wouldn’t it be great if we could bring this back as a native landscape?’” Kirby said. “What’s happened over time is a particular grass, which is not noxious but is not native, took over the entire Kamas Meadows. It’s called reed canary grass … and it does choke out a lot of the native species because it covers everything.”
Kirby said the restoration efforts could look concerning to those unfamiliar with the project because trucks and other equipment are on site. However, she reaffirmed the equipment is being used to remove reed canary grass, plant native species and fill ditches that were previously draining the wetlands.
She said there are currently no development projects on the Ure Ranch property, and the purchasing agreement only allows for the construction of a single-family home, an educational center and recreational trails.
“There’s a possibility we can still flash graze it once it’s established, but we need to take a couple years off to let everything get established,” Kirby said. “We haven’t done anything like this that’s so visual, and it’s a big project. It’s going to be over the next five years. It’s not instant, and stuff like this takes time to grow.”
The county hired water consultants to help with the project and protect neighboring properties’ water rights as the restoration progresses. But Kirby said restoring the wetlands should increase the area’s overall water quality.
“It’s counterintuitive because it seems like we’re holding back water, but we’re holding it longer in the system so that it slowly trickles out,” Kirby said. “Wetlands are also great for cleaning water because they let water trickle through different sediments in the ground, so they can really purify (it). It’s not only water quantity but water quality that they enhance.”
Bio-West, a Logan-based environmental planning and consulting firm, and WestWater Research, an Idaho-based economic firm focused on the water market, are also partnering with Summit County on the project, Kirby said.
Summit County acquired the Ure Ranch property in December 2025 for $25 million. The area is divided into five separate pieces, each with its own conservation easement: Ure North Meadows, Ure Homestead, Ure Recreation, Ure South Meadow and The Swamp.
Kirby previously said she expects the Ure Ranch to open to the public by the summer of 2027.