Aug. 20 Summit County News

Homeownership, a historic cabin, and recycling how-tos

Author

Derek Siddoway
August 20, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

Inside this email:

Evacuations Lifted for Rocky Canyon Fire

As of August 17, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office announced that all residents within Summit County who were previously identified as being in a Ready, Set, or Go evacuation status for the Rocky Canyon Fire are no longer under an evacuation status.

Containment of the Rocky Canyon Fire has reached 100% within Summit County boundaries, and all official evacuation statuses have been lifted.

While evacuation statuses are no longer in effect, firefighting efforts are still underway, and some road closures remain in place. Residents should continue to maintain day-to-day awareness of conditions in areas affected by the fire, particularly as the burn scar may increase the potential for flooding. Residents are encouraged to use appropriate caution and stay aware of changing conditions as they go about their daily activities.

Follow Utah Fire Info for updates and sign up for future emergency alerts at the link in the footer.

Jeremy Ranch Cabin Receives National Historic Recognition

Latest news from our Lands & Natural Resources Department and the 910 Ranch: the Jeremy Ranch Stone Cabin has been added to the National Register of Historic Places! 

Built around 1890 on the original Jeremy Ranch, it served for decades as a seasonal shelter for ranch hands managing the Jeremy family's large sheep herds in East Canyon. The listing recognizes the cabin as a significant landmark in Utah's agricultural history, and its potential to yield important historical information about life at a 19th-century sheep camp.

Summit County is actively working to restore the structure. National Register listing opens the door to additional preservation grant funding, and, looking ahead, we hope to incorporate the cabin into a future trail system, allowing visitors to experience this landmark as part of an authentic ranching landscape that has changed little since the Jeremy family first grazed their sheep here. 

To learn more about this historic recognition, visit summitcounty.info/stonecabin.

How to Use Our New Recycling Bins

In case you missed it, Summit County opened four new drop-off locations to give residents an easy way to recycle more of their household waste closer to home. Located at the Ledges Event Center, Kamas Park & Ride, Ecker Hill Park & Ride, and Three Mile Landfill, these sites are open now and accept residential glass and mixed recyclables 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

Please remember these sites are NOT a place to dump your weekend or overflow trash. These sites are intended to make recycling easier, helping extend the life of our landfill by keeping materials out that don't need to be there!

We’ve received a few questions on what materials can go in these bins, so we’re here to clear that up.

Glass Bins

Good news: most glass in your home is recyclable!

What Can Go In ✅

  • Glass (all colors, no sorting required) 

  • Broken Glass 

  • Unwashed Glass (it is not necessary to spend time washing your glass for recycling)

    • By not washing empty recyclable containers, we can all preserve one of the most precious natural resources: water.

What CANNOT Go In ❌

  • Lids/Caps (Place lids or caps from your glass recycling into your mixed recycling) 

  • Automotive Glass (i.e. windshields)

  • Ceramics  (i.e. plates & dishes)

  • Light Bulbs

  • Mirrors

  • Porcelain  (i.e. plates & dishes)

  • Pyrex

Mixed Recycling Bins

What Can Go In ✅

  • Paper/Papel: Office paper, newspaper, and mixed paper

  • Cardboard/Cartón: Boxes (must be flattened/broken down)

  • Plastic Containers/Plástico: Bottles, tubs, and jugs (must be clean)

  • Metal Cans/Latas: Aluminum and steel food/beverage cans

What CANNOT Go In ❌

  • Glass/Vidrio: Jars and bottles (put these into the glass-specific bins)

  • Plastic Bags/Bolsas plásticas: Grocery bags, plastic film, or wrapped recyclables

  • Styrofoam/Poliestireno: Takeout containers, foam cups, and packaging materials

  • Food & Liquids/Comida y Líquidos: Residual food scraps or leftover drinks (please empty and rinse containers)

  • Wax-lined cartons/Cartones encerados: Milk, juice, or broth cartons

Reminder: do NOT bag any of your recyclables. 

For more information about waste diversion in Summit County, click here.

A Hand Up, Not a Handout

In our ongoing series diving into affordable housing challenges and solutions, we’ve defined key terms, busted common myths, and explored novel ideas to boost housing supply and meet local needs.

This month’s article from Shellie Barrus, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Summit and Wasatch Counties, outlines Habitat’s homeownership program:

The traditional rental market in Summit County can function like an economic trap. Working families pay escalating rents that capture a outsized share of their income, stripping away any capacity to save, handle emergencies, invest, or otherwise plan for the future.

Alternative models, like Habitat for Humanity’s Homeownership Program, help break the cycle. But it’s not a free pass. Habitat’s model is built on strong mutual investment:

  • Sweat Equity: Future homeowners spend hundreds of hours building homes alongside other volunteers, working in the Habitat ReStore, participating in community projects, fundraising events, and completing financial education and homeownership classes. Through this, families invest their own time and effort to earn the opportunity to purchase a home.

  • The Mortgage: Habitat homeowners buy their homes. They financially qualify, sign the same legal documents, make monthly payments, pay property taxes and insurance, and shoulder the same responsibilities as any other homeowner. 

For its part, Habitat works to make homeownership attainable by reducing construction costs through volunteer labor, donated materials, community partnerships, and charitable support to bridge the gap between what resort-town real estate demands and what local wages can actually support.

To read the article in full, go to summitcounty.info/housinghandup or click here for the Housing Authority’s full archive.

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