Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)

A dog-gone answer

December 11, 2001
Section: Editorials
Page: A4
Column: Editorial

If Boulder resident Patrick Murphy is to be believed, there are at least 1,492 piles of canine excrement in the immediate vicinity of the Sanitas Valley Trail, which runs just behind Dakota Ridge.

Murphy, a local plant ecologist, says that in the same vicinity one year ago, there were only 702 deposits. But, he notes, that measurement was taken just after a group of dog lovers cleaned up the area.

Murphy uses a global-positioning device to track and map the location of each domesticated-animal remnant. (You can download his maps and observations from www.myxyz.org/phmurphy.)

Last week, Murphy implored the Boulder City Council to ban dogs in the Mount Sanitas area for one year. Murphy characterized the problem as serious: "What if there were 1,492 piles of human excrement in this area? Would this be tolerable?"

Few things polarize people as much as dogs. Murphy may seem fixated on the dog issue, but he represents concerns that should be addressed. Murphy says he loves dogs (and has had three of them) but believes that the negative effects of dogs on public open space can`t be ignored.

Unleashed dogs damage native vegetation, promote noxious weed growth, and sometimes disturb wildlife and domestic humans, Murphy contends. For all those reasons, he says, unleashed dogs shouldn`t be allowed in high-traffic open space areas such as Sanitas.

Murphy proposes that dogs be banned for a year, during which the vegetation might recover. After that, he says, perhaps leashed dogs could return to the area.

The City Council did not act on the suggestion, but asked that the open space department verify Murphy`s claims and assess the extent of the fecal threat. If the idea were to be considered officially, it would probably be entertained first by the city`s Open Space Board of Trustees.

The city of Boulder has about 120 miles of trails in its open space and mountain park land. All but 5 percent of those trails are open to dogs on leashes, but a much smaller portion is open to dogs under a human`s "voice and sight control."

There is no question that the Sanitas area is heavily used. Its southern trailhead lies just west of Mapleton Avenue and Fourth Street, and the main trail is more crowded than many Boulder sidewalks. The main "trail," in fact, is a fat gravel road.

If we are going to draw a line in the sand over conservation, this is an odd place to do it.

Murphy himself admits that dog waste is only part of the problem. Another aspect of the problem is general overuse, the perennial pummeling of the vegetation around the trail. Dogs aren`t the only offenders. If we`re to ban dogs in high-use areas, we should also ban 8-year-old boys.

It`s not that Murphy doesn`t have a point about trail etiquette. Dogs` human companions are required by city ordinance to clean up after their pets. Plastic bags are provided for this purpose. Signs spell out the regulations, and rangers offer helpful instructions to the users of open space.

Yet even with all this prodding, many dog-loving Boulderites remain incredibly inconsiderate. New Yorkers take better care of their sidewalks than we do of our trails.

The city could curb such louts by throwing the ticket book at them. That avenue of redress makes the most sense. Sanitas Valley is not, after all, wilderness. It is an open-space preserve on the edge of a crowded city. Like much of the open space owned by the city, it was bought and is maintained for people and the dogs who love them.

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