Dear Action Line: Realizing you’ve touched on “dog poop” a few times over the years, it’s been a while. Are you ready to dig back into this tasty topic? We live close to the Animas River Trail and use it often. My kids really want to know, what’s more prevalent on Durango hiking and biking trails: dog poop or deer poop? Don’t get me wrong – the endless poop piles have myriad uses, including obstacle course markers, shoe decorations, counting aides and sources for contemplative exploration (does that one look more like the Virgin Mary or SpongeBob?). But we’d love it if you could help us determine once and for all who wins in the dog poop vs. deer poop battle? – Kip Patrick
Dear Kip: First off, my friend, let’s make clear that Action Line does not “touch on” things like dog poop – at least not before putting on gloves or using a plastic bag.
Second off, to answer your execrable question about excrement. It’s dog poop! It’s always dog poop. Dog poop on the trail. Dog poop off the trail. Dog poop in the yard. The street. The driveway. The snowshoe track. Dog poop mysteriously ingrained into the fine treads of my running shoes. Ergo, dog poop on the carpet.
Dog poop everywhere!!
Durango is covered in dog poop. One can believe we are single-handedly supporting the plastic-bag-poop-picker-upper industry. Yay for us.
Dog poop isn’t good for a whole lot. You can maybe burn it for cooking purposes, but even then it’s not very efficient. Deer poop isn’t that fun either, but does have an advantage, which we’re about to get to.
Action Line couldn’t contact all Durango-area dog owners to see what was up with all the scattered dog poop and why so many leave it lying about. But it is possible to contact the entity that looks after all the state’s deer, and that is Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Why are you allowing deer to poop on our trails?
John Livingston, Parks and Wildlife’s public information officer for the Southwest region, refused to take responsibility for picking up all the deer doo-doo. His answer was interesting, albeit noncommittal.
“There should be more deer poop out there than dog poop because dog owners should be picking up after their dogs,” he said.
One of his main points was that no one should have to pick up deer dung at all.
“Deer poop is part of the natural order of the world. Dog waste is not,” Livingston said. “A natural deer diet consists of all-natural forage, meaning it will decompose on its own in a more natural way than dog food that has meat products as well as preservatives that do not allow it to degrade as fast. Now if people are illegally feeding deer, then the contents of their waste may be unnatural and also not decompose as quickly.”
If there is a problem with deer poop on the trails, it has to do with people feeding deer – whether directly or unknowingly via bird seed or such, he said.
“Deer will congregate in areas where they are being fed, and people can help get rid of deer poop in their neighborhood by making sure those food sources aren’t prevalent around their homes and attracting more deer.”
Livingston concluded:
“At least nobody is picking up deer poop, that will naturally decompose, and leaving it in plastic bags, that will not decompose, along trails. Or at least I hope nobody is doing that.”
Dear Action Line: I read your column about the Durango-La Plata Airport repaving project. The intriguing part was about replacing the runway lights with LEDs. I remember when the city of Durango replaced some traffic lights with LEDs. I personally sat in traffic by north City Market while an apple-picker type truck (taxpayer funded) hoisted a worker to remove snow from the stoplights. The reason? LEDs don’t create enough heat to melt off the snow, so the lights were covered, invisible. I’m having visions of someone having to go down the runway (all 1.75 miles) to remove the snow after every storm. Any ideas? Has anyone looked at unintended consequences of this action? – Jess Wonderin
Dear Jess: We’ve got ’em this time, eh Jess? Action Line dropped this bombshell on Durango-La Plata. As good as it feels to be helpful, there’s still some sympathy pain when you point out someone’s faults. Action Line hit “send” on the email and cringed. Someone, somewhere, was going to have hell to pay.
Better now than later, right?
Airport Director Tony Vicari replied back quickly, assuring this is not an issue.
“The new LED light fixtures specified in our upcoming runway rehabilitation project include heating elements to prevent snow accumulation,” he said. “These are a standard FAA specification for LED airfield lighting in climates that experience snowfall. No manual light clearing required.”
That’s what he said anyway. So either it’s true, or he’s just betting that it’ll never snow again deeply enough for us to ever find out the real truth.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Remember to set your clocks back an hour; but you should probably wait until Nov. 6.
