There's garbage under them thar hills, but that old dump is as good as gold to wildlife and migrating waterfowl.
During most of the past decade, the alkaline flats north of the Lee Kay Center for Hunter Safety were inhabited only by front-end loaders, dump trucks and seagulls.But today, the former section of the Salt Lake Valley landfill is evolving into what county and state officials are calling a showcase wildlife conservation zone.
"This may sound strange, but having the county landfill out there has been a real boon for us," said Lenny Rees, hunter education coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. "The transformation has been incredible."
In a lease arrangement with the state, Salt Lake County used about 300 acres of the 1,200-acre site west of 5600 West from 1300 South to 2100 South for its landfill operations. Now, the landfill is moving on to different pastures and leaving the old site "in better shape than we found it," according to Romney Stewart, the county's solid-waste management director.
"In exchange for the use of the land, we built shooting berms for the Lee Kay center, excavated ponds for waterfowl habitat and covered the refuse mounds with topsoil," Stewart said. "It's been a mutually beneficial relationship."
The "flats" are not flat anymore, Stewart said, pointing to the hills that harbor thousands of tons of Salt Lake Valley garbage. After it stopped dumping waste on the site about six weeks ago, the county began sealing off the mounds, adding topsoil and reseeding the land.
The garbage modules were covered with an unusual blend of soils and nonhazardous waste materials that accelerate plant growth, Stewart said. He also noted that subterranean cut-off walls and water-monitoring wells were installed around the modules to protect the environment.
The only hint that the land was ever a landfill is the profuse windblown litter, and Stewart said volunteers are being enlisted to clean it up Aug. 26-28.
With tall weeds, bushes and grasses spreading over the garbage hills and water filling the man-made ponds, waterfowl, upland game and wildlife are already making an appearance.
"We've seen two clutches of geese and four or five of ducks," Rees said.
Stewart said five pelicans, a pair of great blue herons and Canadian geese also have been seen. "And the other day, I saw a red fox. It's a neat thing to have something like this so close to town."
Plans call for construction of a wildlife-observation pavilion and trails to promote public use of the conservation area, Rees said.