After an extra-toasty summer, Utah is now in prime time for cool weather hiking and fall colors. But views of red, orange, and yellow might be marred by food wrappers, plastic water bottles, and dog poop bags.
Trail trash is a growing problem in Utah, fueled by more visitors. The state's outdoor recreation economy has increased to $9.75 billion. Visitation to U.S. outdoor recreation sites is up 10-30%, depending on where and how you measure, said CJ Blye, a University of Utah parks, recreation, and tourism professor.
"That's a really big increase," she said. "So when you have a rise in visitation, sometimes we're also going to see those negative impacts. Litter being one of them."
Utah's Pliking nonprofit is here to stem the tide. No, that's not a typo. It rhymes with hiking and is short for "picking up litter while hiking." They also do "playaking" — picking up litter while kayaking.
Director Lyndsey Sorrentino gets out as often as she can, and nothing surprises her anymore. The weirdest piece of trash they've found is an old Kirby vacuum she thinks had probably been there for 40 years because it was rusted out.
"We're all kind of going, 'What are they doing up here? Vacuuming the trail or something?'" she laughed.
At their most recent cleanup event, around 50 volunteers collected about 20 bags of trash at an Ogden pond. There's no shortage of projects for them in Utah, but they can't get everywhere.
In the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, garbage has gotten worse over the past two or three years, said South Zone Recreation Staff Officer Sarah Flinders. The uptick is especially visible around bathrooms and parking lots.
Litter isn't just an eyesore. She said it can also be dangerous.
"Wildlife is attracted to any food smell, any wrapper that has anything like that attached to it," she said. "So then you'll bring in unwanted animal interactions with humans."
It's not just the big critters — trash can hurt little animals like chipmunks and squirrels that pack it off and eat it. Even the citric acid in an orange peel can do more harm than you might think.
"It actually takes the organic part of the soil out of the soil, so nothing can grow there until the organic material builds back up."
People in online hiking groups have been frustrated by the growing trash problem, especially on Mount Timpanogos in Utah County. At a loss for what else to do, some have suggested shaming anyone they see litter.
"That is unlikely going to motivate people and might actually end up in a pretty bad interaction," said Blye, who is also a science advisor with the nonprofit Leave No Trace.
It's important to remember that more hikers means more newbies, she said, and they simply might not know about best practices such as pack it in, pack it out. Social media drives a lot of the increased visitation, so people coming from online might not get the traditional litter messaging.
Here's what research does show. The most powerful thing individuals can do is set a good example — when you pick up any trash you see, people behind you will probably notice.
And there are positive ways to interact with litterers.
Blye suggested saying something along the lines of: "Hey, I noticed that you dropped that. Did you know that there's, you know, sensitive wildlife in the area that might actually ingest that, and they could get really sick. It'd be great if you just tried to remember to pick up your trash."
Or: "Hey, I don't know if you saw that your kid dropped that Ziploc bag. It's really important that we keep this place clean. These are our public lands."
Reminding people that these lands are ours is an important part, Blye said — it can give them a sense of ownership and pride.
On a larger level, lots of signage reminding people to pick up after themselves can help. It's most effective when it's clear, image-based, and says something that might resonate. For example, Timpanogos has amazing wildflowers, so a sign there could appeal to keeping the wildflower meadows beautiful.
People shouldn't go vigilante and put out their own signs, though, unless they're working with the land agency.
The U.S. Forest Service said they're already doing just that. They have signs up wherever they're allowed, and they pass out garbage bags. And at the Timpooneke trailhead, the Timpanogos Emergency Response Team reminds people about trash as they sign the hiking register.
Flinders is not sure what else they can do. The Forest Service can't hire more workers just to pick up trash, and employees have other work they need to do.
"It has to be a personal change," she said with an unsure exhale.
"I think we've tried everything. So honestly, I don't know what else we can do except for try to appeal to people's personal ethics," Flinders added. "Don't we want these places to be around looking so nice for your grandkids, your kids, and future generations?"
The Pliking group has found setting an example really does work.
"Once you clean up an area, it stays clean a lot longer," said Cherie Malone, another one of the nonprofit's directors. "So I think that people just see, well, somebody worked hard on this trail. I'm not going to throw trash down."
And people who catch the group at work are often grateful and curious. They hope that will get others to start "pliking" too.
Pliking does events in northern Utah, but they can also set up cleanups in Salt Lake and Utah counties if contacted. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some other groups that do cleanup events in Utah:
Northern Utah:
Southern Utah:
All the state:
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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