There's been a lot of activity in recent months regarding changes to Tanner Park. These changes will not favor those who like to take their dog off leash along the river there and enjoy allowing their dogs to cool off in the water and shade under the trees.

While I understand there are many interests that need to be taken into consideration, it seems off-leash areas are constantly being squeezed down as areas designated for other interests tend to expand. Millcreek Canyon is another area of concern as there are forces wanting to stop off-leash access in that canyon as well.

If you value being able to take your dog to places like Tanner and feel that dogs need more space than that provided by small fenced areas, you should join forces with people like FIDOS to help protect dog-owner rights.

Below are some recent email notifications from FIDOS. I would invite you to get involved and let representatives know how you feel. I also recommend you go to the FIDOS website and sign up for email notifications.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE WHO LIKES TO WALK THEIR DOGS IN PARLEYS/TANNER/THE GULLY:

Mayor Ralph Becker will be hosting an open house in Parley's Historic Nature Park  Wednesday, April 15th at 5:30 pm.

This open house and the comments received will help shape the Mayor's management plan recommendations to the City Council. Please plan to attend and let the Mayor know how you feel about the Park and the preferred alternative plan designated by the City?s consultant. (A link to the plan can be found here: http://www.slcgov.com/publicservices/parks/Parleys/PHNP%20Open%20House%20Packet%20031810.pdf or go to www.slcgov.com and search for Parleys Historic Nature Park.)

The proposed plan seriously impacts dog use in the park.  It proposes no dogs at all on the entire south side of the park, the entire stream length will be fenced off except for a "pond" that is proposed to be dug at the very west end by the culvert - no stream access for you and your dog, off leash dog use will be limited to two small fenced-in areas at each end of the park with one connecting "off leash trail" linking them and eliminates any off leash use on the north side of (or on) the new bike trail.  The new restrictive rules will be strictly enforced by Salt Lake City "staff rangers" as well as "volunteer rangers".

Due to the short length of the meeting and potential crowd size you might want to prepare a comment or two in advance of the meeting to make the most of your opportunity with the Mayor. Meeting participants should feel free to voice any feelings about the plan or Park, but please remember to be respectful in tone and manner with all comments. Also, to allow you to focus on this event, you may want to leave your dog at home.

And this one:

Dear FIDOS:

We have heard a lot of concern from you about Representative Matheson's Wilderness Proposal and we wanted to let you know that wilderness designation does not specifically exclude animals, including dogs. Though water quality is a driving force behind this proposal, in reality Salt Lake City is the final decision-maker about water quality issues in Millcreek Canyon. The canyon is within a watershed area but at this point is not protected watershed, which would exclude dogs just as in Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons.

The proposal does remove use by any mechanized vehicle, which includes mountain bikes and Representative Matheson has been working with various biking groups as they have been drawing the maps.

But even though our ability to recreate with our dogs off leash in Millcreek Canyon is not immediately impacted by this proposal, it may be a good time for Representative Matheson to get to know us and understand the needs and size of our user group.  The ability to utilize public lands to recreate with our dogs is very important to a very large group of us who choose to do so with our dogs off leash, that we have a very small area left open to us, that we consistently work to clean-up and educate others as to their duties as responsible dog owners.  We understand water quality issues and our main goal is to be proactive in getting all of our members to keep our beautiful canyons free of dog litter.

Please review the Wilderness Proposal carefully and let Representative Matheson know about any concerns you may have.  Ask that the off leash user group be part of the conversation as the plan moves forward.  Open space is limited and shrinking daily, we need to do all we can to keep the space we are allowed to use and expand it in the future.

Thanks

Some members of the Millrace Dog Park who work in government capacities were able to convince the County to deliver mulch to the dog park. Initially, two loads were delivered, which were spread out by park members. But more mulch is on the way and there is no need for park members to worry about spreading the mulch around.

The County received positive feedback from dog park patrons regarding the mulch that was placed in the wettest areas several weeks ago. As a result of the feedback and a review of the site by Taylorsville City and the County, it was decided to provide additional mulch to cover the entire area inside the concrete walkway.

Starting immediately, as it is generated, the County's Arborist will begin delivering loads of mulch throughout February, about 20 loads. Taylorsville City has organized a scout group to spread the mulch the first week of March. Between the time of delivery and the scouts leveling the mulch, there will be "play features" of mulch for the dogs to enjoy. If the scouts fail to spread all of them, Parks will finish the leveling immediately after the volunteer scout project.

While grass is great for a park, the off-leash area at Millrace has struggled to grow grass for years, and mulch appears to be a cost effective and agreeable solution to surfacing the area that will improve conditions for the patrons who use the facility.

Those who use the park know how worn out the grass is. During the Spring and warmer Winter days, the amount of water and mud has become a real problem. A number of park members have been discussing, for a while now, about how to get mulch or other substrate to cover areas of the off-lease area.

After making contact with Salt Lake County, the entity responsible for maintenance of the park, they delivered approximately 2 tons of mulch for volunteers to spread around. The first load came last Friday and was dumped inside the off-lease area, by the entrance. People using the park helped to get it spread around Saturday around noon.

The 2nd load came in Tuesday morning (when the park was normally closed) and was dumped inside the park by the east gate.  Because of the weather, those volunteering made the decision to spread it around on the east side since it was close and a lot of people hang out by the benches, not to mention it was pretty muddy there.

After the mulch was spread, some of the poop by the east gate was cleaned up, and some of the ice was removed from the sidewalk to help with the drainage. When the volunteers left there was a steady stream going down the front gate and into the drainage.

Volunteers spent a little over 1 hour to get all of the work done. Those volunteering were the dad's of Buddy, Charlie, and Scout, and the mom's of Odie and Zeus.

We are hoping to continue to get mulch from the County. As long as the park isn't muddy they can drive in and dump the mulch where it needs to be spread. If it's wet, they don't want to bog down while making the delivery. We will continue to post notices on the website and at the park when we have opportunities to make these improvements.

(Thanks to Deborah Polak for contributing to this article.)

Welcome to the new Millrace dog park website. This site was developed in the hopes of helping to foster a sense of community among park members.

It is divided into two basic sections: An article section, where you can read news and stories related to the park, and a discussion forum where you can read the thoughts of other members and share your own thoughts about the park.

To navigate this website, use the links that appear along the left side of this page. At the very top is a search command you can use to search the blog portion of this site. Additional sections are described below.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

This section contains just one link: a link to our discussion forums. Use this link to discuss park-related issues with other members.

PAGES

The links in this section are permanent links to general information pages about Millrace dog park and this website.

CATEGORIES

This section contains links for the categories of articles on this site. You can use these links to quickly jump to a list of articles related to a particular category. The list of categories will grow as more articles are added.

TAGS

This section contains a number of keywords. Click on a keyword, or tag, to view a list of articles that discuss that keyword.

Enjoy,

Jonathan Wood and Suki