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New Director Announced For Swaner Preserve And EcoCenter

Nell Larsen on a field

Utah State University has announced a new director to oversee a nature preserve in Summit County.  

Nell Larson will oversee operations at the 1,200-acre Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter in the Snyderville Basin near Park City.

The center was given as a gift to USU in 2010 and has an ongoing partnership with USU Extension.  Larson has been working as the center's conservation director. She will add to that responsibility, supervising staff and working with the advisory board and USU administration to develop Swaner's strategic plan.

Jon Paulding has been named as Swaner's director of development. He will work to secure financial support for the non-profit center which also serves as a youth center hosting summer camps, school field trips, and little naturalists.  

Located at the Swaner Preserve is an historic farm and 800 acres of wetlands, streams, and wildlife habitat used to help educate families and adults through monthly lectures, weekly snowshoe and Preserve tours, as well as college courses and degrees through USU's Regional Campuses and Distance Education program.

At 14-years-old, Kerry began working as a reporter for KVEL “The Hot One” in Vernal, Utah. Her radio news interests led her to Logan where she became news director for KBLQ while attending Utah State University. She graduated USU with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and spent the next few years working for Utah Public Radio. Leaving UPR in 1993 she spent the next 14 years as the full time mother of four boys before returning in 2007. Kerry and her husband Boyd reside in Nibley.