More than two decades ago, a Utah State University horticulture researcher set aside 11 acres of green space in Nibley, determined to protect the land from development and preserve it for people and wildlife.
The plot was gifted in 2003 to the Allen and Alice Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon, and sat fenced and largely untouched for years, as the small Cache Valley town grew steadily around it.
The donor, Alice Denney, once tended an orchard there and later placed the land under a conservation easement before leaving it to the nonprofit in her will, according to the center’s executive director, Kendra Penry.
“She wanted to make sure that it went some place that would fulfill her intention of providing nature for both people and wild animals,” Penry said.
For years, the center envisioned transforming the property at 100 W. 2600 S. into a community nature park but lacked the funding to move the costly project forward.
That changed in 2022, Penry said, when the center secured a $1.9 million federal grant — clearing the way for plans to turn the site into a hub for education, gathering and outdoor access.
“This property opens the door for a whole new suite of programming, from dark skies to gardening to things we just cannot do in the canyon," she said, "but that we feel are really important for people here in the valley to participate in.”
Penry said volunteers recently helped complete two yurts — one for the center’s outdoors-focused nature preschool and another for field trips and community programs.
Crews have also finished a raised walkway around an expanded, revitalized pond, along with a covered pavilion featuring picnic tables, rooftop solar panels, and public restrooms.
“We are still fundraising to be sure that we can keep this project going and really complete everything but we had enough to make something impactful," she said, "so we started it, and here we are.”
Penry said the center plans to open the nature park in the spring, with only minor work left such as putting up signs and finishing an irrigation system for the gardens.
Aside from the yurts and pavilion, most of the property will remain open space, preserved as wetlands and meadows threaded with a trail system. Early plans included a few play areas, but the center ultimately decided against it.
“We don’t necessarily need to create structured play," Penry said, "so much as offering an opportunity for people to interact in their own ways.”
One parcel initially set aside for a play area was instead converted into an Indigenous garden — which features native plants valued for their cultural, ecological and medicinal importance.
It was planted by students in the Indigenous Land Stewardship course taught by Darren Parry at Utah State University and the University of Utah.
Parry, former chair of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, told UPR during the summer planting that the garden is intended to honor the land’s original stewards while giving students a chance to apply what they learn in the classroom to a real-world project.
The garden produced its first harvest in the fall, which Parry marked with a celebration and a meal prepared entirely from what his students had grown. That first season yielded vegetables such as squash, corn, and five heirloom bean varieties tied to several Indigenous nations, with plans to expand the range of plants in coming years.
For Parry, the growing season was memorable.
“I've never grown anything in my life, and when that first little squash plant started growing, one day, I was there watering, nothing was there," Parry said. "The next day, I went back and it was an inch tall. I just about lost my mind.”
Penry said deer reached the garden first before the harvest.
“48 hours ahead of time the deer came and took everything they wanted," she said, "which was both frustrating, but also the intention of our property is to be a wildlife habitat, so we couldn’t be too upset about feeding deer.”
Students in Parry’s spring class will take on responsibility for tending the garden with hopes to double its size.
“I just want to show the community the possibilities going forward," Parry said. "Here are these food systems that have been around thousands of years. They don't require much water, and so indigenous people have been using them for that long, and we're introducing them to the locals here.”
Denney’s fruit trees continue to be harvested each year and donated to a food pantry. Penry said it’s a way to honor the donor’s intentions for the land and the center plans to plant more fruit-bearing trees native to the area.
“We’re just hoping that this property can show that you can both have human interaction with the land and still have healthy land," Penry said. "Both are possible simultaneously.”