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Salt Lake City will pay $1.5 million to help buy a Wasatch County parcel that it says is critical to protecting its watershed.

With that, a collection of local governments, private entities and concerned residents are $3.5 million shy of saving Bonanza Flats — 1,350 acres of alpine meadows and forest along Guardsman Pass near Brighton — from a future as a gated resort.

Salt Lake City's predominant interests are the Big Cottonwood Canyon and Provo River watersheds, which provide about 50 percent of drinking water to its service area.

"This piece of property is such a large property, right at the headwaters of both of those watersheds," said Laura Briefer, the city's director of public utilities. "We just felt like our contribution to the preservation project would be very worthwhile."

Of particular importance to Salt Lake City are about 55 acres along the ridgeline that leads to Big Cottonwood Canyon.

It's no accident that Salt Lake City's $1.5 million donation represents the same portion of the total $38 million purchase price — about 1⁄25 — those 55 acres do to the total acreage of 1,350.

Briefer said the city is in conversations with Park City about management options that include Salt Lake City purchasing those 55 acres.

"Those are still things that we have to work through," Briefer said. "I think the most important thing right now is that we make up that gap for that purchase price. It's getting really close."

About $25 million of the $38 million would be covered by a bond approved by Park City.

Park City already made a $1.5 million down payment to Wells Fargo, which owns the land after a luxury golf and ski resort was foreclosed upon, and paid another $1.5 million earlier this month for a three-month extension on its deadline to raise the full $38 million.

It now has until June 15 to bridge the gap.

Summit County has set aside $5.75 million, and about 2,000 private donors have contributed some $2 million, said Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands.

Add in Salt Lake City's $1.5 million and another as-yet-unnamed source of about $250,000 and the total raised is $34.5 million.

The Salt Lake County Council voted 5-4 last week to reject a $3 million funding request that had the backing of Mayor Ben McAdams and area residents.

Salt Lake City's portion comes from its watershed protection fund, which generates about $1.5 million each year by charging $1.50 per month to users in the water service area — which includes the east bench all the way south to Sandy and totals about 340,000 users.

The city's watershed protection fund has conserved more than 3,000 acres since it was created in 1989. Most recently, the city purchased 160 acres on City Creek Ridge.

Fisher said she's "optimistic" that other entities will recognize, as Salt Lake City did, "that the jurisdictional boundaries are not the same as quality of life boundaries."

Fisher said Utah Open Lands continues to accept donations at http://www.savebonanzaflats.org.

mpiper@sltrib.com Twitter: @matthew_piper