Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC Lead Earth Day River Cleanup to Protect Great Salt Lake
Authored by Real Salt Lake
Source: Real Salt Lake
Teaming up with Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC, an Earth Day cleanup tackled the Shields Lane Trailhead along the Jordan River. Players and community members, along with Seven Canyons Trust and HEAL Utah, joined forces to protect the Great Salt Lake watershed.
As part of Major League Soccer’s “Greener Goals” program and the RSL Community, Real Salt Lake and the NWSL Utah Royals FC partnered with local environmental organizations HEAL Utah and Seven Canyons Trust on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 for an important Earth Day cleanup event. Representatives from HEAL Utah and Seven Canyons Trust, alongside staff and players from both RSL and URFC, convened at the Jordan River Trailhead in suburban South Jordan to take part in the initiative aimed at preserving Utah’s streams and safeguarding the Great Salt Lake.
Among the notable attendees were Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath, accompanied by his family, along with Utah Royals FC players Lauren Flynn and Cristina Roque. MacMath expressed his enthusiasm for the initiative, highlighting its importance as well as the general importance of environmental action, explaining:
Jess [Lofland], Outreach and Communications Coordinator for Seven Canyons Trust, shed light on the goals of the initiative, emphasizing the connection between water and air quality:
The event also served as a platform for community engagement and environmental education. The collaboration between major league sports organizations and environmental nonprofits underlines a shared commitment to sustainability and community engagement. By leveraging their platforms and collective resources, Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals FC, HEAL Utah and Seven Canyons Trust illustrate the power of collective action in addressing environmental challenges. As Rachel Jaclin, the Community Relations Coordinator for Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals highlights:
Utah Royals defender Lauren Flynn echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of players and teammates using their platform for positive change:
As the event drew to a close, the collective efforts of volunteers yielded tangible results, with several bags of weeds and litter uprooted and removed from the river surroundings. The impact of the initiative extends far beyond the immediate cleanup efforts, however. It also serves as a catalyst and an inspiration for ongoing environmental advocacy and community engagement.
By uniting for the Earth Day river cleanup, Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals FC, HEAL Utah, and Seven Canyons Trust demonstrated the power of collective action in protecting Utah’s natural river resources and helping to preserve the Great Salt Lake for time to come.