USU hosts Pack It Out Utah event to clear trails and waterways

Authored by Brielle Carr

During the second-annual Pack it Out Utah event, hosted by Utah State University, more than 6,000 pounds of trash were removed from local trails and waterways.

USU Water Quality Extension hosted a meet up and clean up called Pack It Out Utah at Adams Park on Sept. 11.

This is Pack It Out Utah’s second annual cleanup event, and there will be more to come. According to a Facebook post from USU Water Extensions, this year more than 6,000 pounds of trash were collected.

This statewide event is designed to bring volunteers in to clean up trash on the trails and waterways in Utah. They provided all the gear to collect trash.

Last year the event was started by Sydney Southers, a senior at Utah State University graduating with a degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Southers started this project while doing an internship with USU Water Extensions during the pandemic to get people outside and help the community, while still staying socially distanced.

“I always pick up litter on the trails when I’m hiking,” Southers said, “and I just thought that could be a really good thing and I’d heard about coastal cleanups but never a ton of inland.”

Southers reached out to other organizations that did the same thing. They helped the Pack It Out Utah team get the project off the ground.

Hope Braithwaite, an assistant professor of Watershed Sciences at USU said anybody in the community can participate by simply picking up trash around their neighborhoods or their local trails and submitting how much trash they collect on the Pack It Out Utah website.

She said anywhere or anytime you collect trash will end up having a positive impact on the waterways and local wildlife.

The goal is to keep trash out of the water ways to ensure no wildlife or habitats are harmed, as well as keeping water in Utah clean.

“Trash can also be problematic for wildlife,” Braithwaite said, “I mean we’ve all seen images of things where it’s like trapping an animal or causing it to get tangled up in plastic.”

Braithwaite said UV radiation releases chemical properties in plastic and other trash. Those chemicals can make it into the water local wildlife live in or drink out of.

Braithwaite explained that heavy rainfall water will wash trash into storm drains and the trash will eventually end up in our waterways.

Last year this project was done mainly on an individual level in neighborhoods due to social distancing, but this year they were able to do in-person events and in-person clean ups. Areas targeted for the project were Blacksmith Fork Canyon, Green Canyon and parks all around Cache Valley.

Pack It Out Utah worked with partners such as Tracy Aviary, Friends of Great Salt Lake and Seven Canyons Trust to host clean up events all over Utah.

“For students at the start of the year, it’s kind of a fun thing to do to get to know people too,” Braithwaite said. “It’s nice to be outside. It’s nice to chat with people or get to know other USU students and you are still doing something good.”

Last year they estimated more than 870 pounds of trash were collected and around 350 signed up for the project. This year they have collected around 6,000 pounds of trash and more than 400 people participated.

Braithwaite said they hope to have a bigger turnout every year and hope to collect over 10,000 pounds of trash next year.

Once volunteers were done cleaning up trash, they simply had to weigh the trash they collected and fill out a form on the Pack It Out Utah website. They add all that together to estimate how much trash is collected each year.

Some of their partners had weighing stations at the events to collect accurate data.

According to the Utah Water Watch, a citizen science water quality monitoring program, the spring is the primetime when things start to really pick up.

Volunteers across the state collect water quality data. Not only is it a great way to get involved, but Braithwaite added it’s a fantastic resume builder too.

“I have really loved the experience of environmental outreach, that was something you definitely don’t learn in a classroom,” Southers said.

She said they have many volunteers who have covered ground in northern Utah and would love to expand this effort in southern Utah.

“There are 10 major watersheds in Utah, and we hit seven of the 10,” Braithwaite said. She hopes to hit all of them in the future.