Summit County-area trail teams are asking locals to stop leaving dog poop — bagged or otherwise — on trails.
Basin Recreation chief ranger Aaron Williams said it's courteous to other trail users to pick up after pets.
“On the basic level, you know, it affects other trail users' experience out on the trails to go by and catch that smell or that sight,” he said.
It also leaves extra work for trail maintenance crews.
“Our trails team is out there on trails every day,” Williams said. “Their responsibility is making sure that the trails are safe, not picking up after people.”
It's increasingly common for bagged dog poop to be left out, Williams said, usually from well-meaning recreators intending to pick up the bag later. He recommends tying the bags to the dog's leash instead.
But leaving dog waste on trails is more than an inconvenience: it’s bad for the environment.
Park City trails and open space specialist John Kuchar said dog poop has high amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. When it rains, those materials are carried to local streams, ponds and lakes, leading to ecological problems.
“That can lead to algal blooms that start to pop up in the lakes because of that high nitrogen and phosphorus content,” Kuchar said. “Then when you get those algal blooms in the lake, that depletes water oxygen levels and that reduces fish populations.”
Dog poop also can have dangerous parasites and bacteria, including Giardia and E. coli, which can harm local wildlife.
Some argue it's more environmentally friendly to leave the dog waste outside, rather than throwing it away in a non-biodegradable bag. But Kuchar said that’s not the case.
“It's a lot better for the environment to actually pick it up and have it properly disposed of than all of that just leaching out into our waterways,” he said.
Especially with rain in the forecast, Kuchar and Williams encourage local trail users to pick up after their dogs.
Park City Municipal and Basin Recreation are financial supporters of KPCW.
