Dog Park Battle Over Parleys Gulch
August 17th, 2009
How dog advocacy groups are fighting to save popular dog park
by Richard Markosian
Around Salt Lake City there are many parks where dog owners can let their dogs run off leash. In the two years since we adopted our dog Kiki we have experienced about five.
We first discovered the park on 800 East 1300 South. . At 7 months-old our dog Kiki was still unfamiliar with her own species. She was immediately fascinated with a place full of friends who enjoyed the smell of crotch as much as her. We regularly returned but eventually had give up walking to the dog park and instead drive, because Keeks would pull us in tow with extreme enthusiasm when she assumed that our destination would be the dog park.
The dog park at the mouth of Emigration canyon was an immediate favorite of Keeks where she discovered the wonders of mud. She rolled around in the filthy muck the returned to our picnic to share the sweet mud glory with everyone -- jumping on us and shaking out. We haven't gone back there since.
But the seventh heaven of dog parks is Tanner Park, also known as "Parleys Gulch trail". This is more of a wilderness area than a park. There are no manicured lawns or carefully pruned hedges, but acres of wooded areas and stream beds for dogs to get wet and wild. At the end of the trail, Parleys Creek gushes from a giant water pipe into a pool, where Kiki -- in her desire to steal balls from other dogs -- learned to swim.
Due to the area's beauty and huge expanse, Parleys Gulch has been under almost constant scrutiny by government planners and folks who have better ideas. According to Rita Lund of FIDOS -- (Friends Interested in Dogs and Open Space) -- Mayor Ralph Becker has his sights on Parleys Gulch to close access to dogs. Lund says that Becker's idea is attached to the master plan to offer a bike trail that would finally make use of the bridge over I-80 to connect the Parleys Bonneville Shoreline trail to Sleepy Hollow in Sugar House. Bike trails are nice, but not at the expense of the best dog park in Utah.
According to Lund, FIDOS has done more to beautify Parlyes Gulch than any other group by far. They have organized efforts to remove harmful foreign species of tamarisk; they routinely clean the park from any dog droppings; cut out dead wood; and Lund says they will fight and organize to make sure to keep the dog park in their plans.
Can't Both Dogs & Bikers Be Satisfied?
Rita Lund was on vacation for additional discussion of this controversy. But Utah Stories will offer an additional on-line follow up article to Utah Stories subscribers. (subscription to Utah Stories is offered free-of-charge.)
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