Keeping Our Trails Pet Waste Free

Over the past few weeks, two interns from the Bates Purposeful Work Internship Program have been surveying parks and trails throughout Cumberland and York County looking for pet waste. The study includes inventorying current signage and infrastructure related to pet waste, as well as geotagging the location of each piece of pet waste found, using the Litterati app. This baseline information will be used to determine if pet waste education needs to be changed, and will allow changes in behavior to be observed over time.

Using the Literatti app to tag the location of pet waste before cleaning it up!

The interns scouted some of Portland's 70+ miles of trails for pet waste, and found 13 pounds of poop between the sites visited. Most of the pet waste was concentrated around trailheads and the beginning of trails, however, some was found deeper in the woods as well. A summary of their findings can be found below:

A map with geo-tagged locations of found pet waste by Bates Purposeful Work interns, June 28, 2021.

Just a pea-sized amount of pet waste contains over 23 million coliform bacteria, as well as nutrients which cause excess algae growth in water bodies, so all this pet waste could have led to major health risks to humans and aquatic life! Not only is picking up pet waste crucial in preventing polluted rainwater runoff, it is also necessary to keep our parks, trails, and neighborhoods clean. Failing to pick up after your pet comes with a fine of $250 in Portland.

Checking trails around Evergreen Woods for pet waste.

Thank you to these Bates interns for doing the "dirty work," and keeping Portland healthy! As shown in the map, there are still many parks and trails which were not checked for pet waste. If you are interested in reducing pet waste pollution in Portland, help us by reporting pet waste sightings! Download the Litterati app and join the Portland challenge by using challenge code 582366. Other municipalities have challenges too, and you can find a full list of Southern Maine ones at the Think Blue Maine website! This data collected will be used to determine areas in Portland which need special attention to reduce pet waste to keep us healthy!

After a morning of checking Baxter Woods for pet waste, the Bates interns properly dispose of the waste!