Dog Owners Upset by Proposed Parley’s Management Plan

03.19.2010 by Whittney Evans

(KCPW News) People who walk their dogs in Parley’s Historic Nature Park are frustrated over the city’s proposed management plan for it. It would limit off-leash dog walking to about 2 miles of trail and two fenced-in enclosures within the 88-acre park. According to the city, the purpose of the plan is to cater to diverse visitors while protecting natural resources threatened by overuse.  But Salt Lake City resident Steve Edwards says the plan doesn’t seem to meet people’s needs or further conservation efforts.

“I could understand if the whole idea was, well we need to protect this resource, and it’s all about protecting the resource, sorry the dogs have to go somewhere else, sorry you people have to go somewhere else,” he said.  “But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. They’re not doing anything for conservation. They’re going to make it worse. They’re going to cause more erosion. They’re going to put more pavement in. And pavement causes more environmental problems than the walking around people and certainly dogs do.”

Edwards believes the city is trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

Sharen Hauri is a member of the city’s Open Space Lands Advisory Board.   She says the management plan has plenty to offer dog owners.

“The difference now is that it’s in a plan saying there are certain areas that we aren’t going to encourage this and there are certain expectations of the people who are down there,” said Hauri.

Public comments were taken at an open house yesterday at the City-County building.  Those will be passed along to the mayor and city council.