National Public Lands Day offers a chance to explore and give back

PARK CITY, Utah — From the 910 Ranch to the shoreline of Pineview Reservoir, volunteers are spending Saturday giving back to the public lands that provide a backdrop for so much of life in the Wasatch Back.

Saturday marks National Public Lands Day, the nation’s largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands. The annual event brings hundreds of thousands of volunteers together for projects ranging from trail maintenance and habitat restoration to trash removal and other conservation work.

For Utah residents, the day also offers an opportunity to simply get outside. The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is waiving most recreation fees at participating day-use sites Saturday.

But visitors heading to National Park Service sites should take note that National Public Lands Day is not an NPS fee-free day in 2026.

Around the Wasatch Back, the day is being marked through several restoration and cleanup efforts.

At 910 Ranch, Summit County’s Lands and Natural Resources Department is hosting a restoration project from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are working on beaver dam analogs, pulling weeds, repairing fences, and restoring a riparian corridor along a tributary of East Canyon Creek. The work is intended to improve wildlife habitat and restore the creek corridor.

Farther north, the U.S. Forest Service’s Ogden Ranger District is hosting a Pineview Reservoir cleanup from 9 a.m. to noon.

With the reservoir’s water level drawn down, normally submerged portions of the shoreline are accessible, giving volunteers a chance to remove trash and debris. Volunteers are meeting at Pelican Beach, where the Forest Service is providing cleanup equipment.

The projects are part of a much larger national effort.

A day to use — and care for — public lands.