To the editor:

We are pleased to inform your readers that FETCH! will cover the cost of providing trash pickup at Marguerite Brons and Patmore Pit county parks. This is in addition to the other services our volunteers and donations provide, including port-a-potties, mowing, dog- waste bags, fencing installation and repair, and trail and beach clean-up.

Unfortunately, we cannot do the same for Double Bluff. If it were possible to separate the very small amount of dog waste from the 18 cans of trash generated per week at peak times, we would certainly do so, but we cannot afford nor expect our volunteers to handle this amount.

Even if there were no off-leash area at Double Bluff, we believe it is very different from other county parks:

• It is one of the most heavily used parks on the island. Even a small percentage increase in litter from that many visitors will result in a large volume of additional trash on the beach.

• More so than other parks which are used mostly by island residents, it is a favorite destination for off-island visitors. They will come  expecting a public park to have trash cans, and will be unprepared and less inclined to “pack it out” on a long trip home.

• Many local residents, especially FETCH! members who walk their dogs daily, keep the beach clean by picking up trash on their walks. They will stop doing this rather than take other people’s trash home and have to pay for its disposal.

We think it is obvious that making trash disposal more difficult will increase littering, and that prevention of littering is more cost effective in the long run than cure.

We fully appreciate Island County’s budget constraints, which is why FETCH! and other community groups have stepped up to do so much for the parks. We hope this allows the county to look at each park individually, and frees up enough resources from other parks to cover the one park that FETCH! and other community groups cannot cover.

Ron Michelsen

President

FETCH!

(Free Exercise Time for Canines and Humans)