Don’t be a Party Pooper

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager

What’s worse than finding a huge pile of dog poop in the middle of a trail when hiking at a preserve? The same pile with a shoe print in it.

Don’t ruin someone’s day. (You know the feeling, you’re back in your car, and wondering, what is that awful smell? By then it’s all over the pedals and the mat.)

Most trails on our preserves are open to dog walking on leash. (Some trails are closed at certain times of year, even to leashed dogs, because their presence can cause nesting failure for some species of ground nesting birds.) And hunting season will begin soon, and dogs should be leashed for that anyway. But our preserves are places set aside for people as well as wildlife, and the people who visit our preserves have the expectation that they will not have to confront a dog off-leash.

So please come and enjoy the property with your leashed, well-behaved and picked-up-after dog. Natural Lands Trust even has a dog-friendly membership level (which includes a Natural Lands Trust six-foot leash!).