The 200-acre chunk of land southwest of the airport is barren save for wisps of grass and dried-out thistle. And due to recent snow, it's boggy, too.

But give it some attention, and around July it will burst with bright oranges, yellows and reds as soon-to-be-planted safflower blooms. Soon after, the plants' seeds will become fuel to power local government fleets hungry for homegrown biodiesel.

Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City Public Utilities, the South Davis Sewer District, Utah State University and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all are lending a hand for a pilot project to showcase the use of this publicly owned land to grow the feedstock for biodiesel fuel.

And it's a recycling project, as well. Biosolids generated by the wastewater treatment process will be spread over the land to fertilize the drought-tolerant safflower.