Best intentions on the trail

Nature Talk
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This week I came across a new sight on my neighborhood woodland trail.

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About a dozen of these stuffed bags were clustered in one part of the trail, just hanging from low branches.

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Up close, they seemed to be old produce mesh bags filled with polyfibre fluff, odd pieces of yarn, and little sprigs of hemlock.

I have seen a lot of ‘well-intentioned’ trail things before, but never this particular one.

I didn’t have a large enough trail litter bag to handle these and before I returned with one to do that, I thought that I had better see if any birders knew more so I posted about it on a local birding FB group.

As suspected, it was identified by many others as a well-intentioned attempt to provide arriving migrating birds some easy nesting material, but because of the plastic fibre, and the possibility of entanglement in the mesh, the support from the group for removal was almost universal.

Someone even dug up this as a probable source of the idea.

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So yesterday I went in with a large trash bag and removed them all. Some had spilled onto the ground and required some extra effort, but it was actually pretty quick.

I just thought I would share this one here to see if anyone else has seen this, or other similiar ‘good intentions’ stuff out there.

It’s hard not to feel a little guilty about taking this stuff away. For all I know, it may have been some real bonding nature project between a parent and kid and I was going to be the Grinch here who ruined all that.

Are the trail use signs clear on this? Yeah, but they’re basically just a list of "no this or that’ that ironically, nobody seems to read – like the grandma and kiddies hanging out under the the ‘DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS’ sign by the park’s lakeside entrance tossing their old bread and hamburger bits into the mallard and geese crowd that I had also seen earlier.

It made me think about all the new trail users that are out there, with more every year, who don’t seem to have any clue on the basic rules of outdoor park use and trail etiquette or those others who just seem to ignore all rules in what’s often a quick quest for more online followers (okay, yes – now I’m thinking of the baby wombat kidnapper story!).

How do we start to change all that? Any thoughts on how we address this growing issue?

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My Feelz are HURT

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Thanks. I guess I only glimpsed the story. I changed my reference to baby wombat.

So other than another awful example of the Internet’s power to instantly accelerate small but emotional stories (especially those stories with animals!) to nearly instant escape velocity, is there anything that you think, a more moderated and studious look at stories like these might give us in helping to change things out there?

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My husband watched the breaking story on TV. When I google it today - I would say that the links are FOR the wombat (incidentally the baby has mange and will die if not treated) and a broad spectrum of scientists and animal welfare against the hunter / ‘environmental scientist’?!
101 do not handle wildlife

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I had an incident in a public park, signage says “please don’t feed the wildlife”… lady and child feeding the dreaded bread to swans. They spot a cygnet on shore across from them. It’s struggling, as it has a damaged foot. The child poses the what happened to it question.
I explain it looks like the foot was bitten and torn loose or off. It happens when people feed bread in one spot too often. The uneaten bits float to the bottom. The turtles spot the bread and come over, and stay right there. The feeders come back, so do the swans. Turtles see the cygnets and rise to catch the tastier-than-bread foot. This one got away before being pulled under, but it’s doubtful it will live. A coyote or such will have dinner tonight.
The lady was quite upset at that! The child seemed to quietly take it in.
I wished the sign could explain WHY not to feed, because the “general population” doesn’t see the big picture.

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My niece takes her grandkids to feed the waterbirds.
Frozen peas.
Is that better than salty doughy bread?

Better to protect habitat than feed whatever.

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I applaud you for your trail clean up work, and thank you for sharing about it. I’m adding spare trash bags to my gear so I can do the same.

Maybe contact your local paper to share your message, parks and rec department, or even better, your local schools, to get teachers involved?

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I would encourage you to not feeling guilty about cleaning this up! Definitely the right thing to do in this situation. If people feel like they have the right to put things like this out in a habitat, other people certainly have the right to take it back down.

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The putative source was called “Crafting a Green World” and the project was portrayed as “upcycling.” That is perhaps the most tragic part of this episode – people are so separated from what nature is about that they can’t see what’s wrong with this.

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I have seen rattan balls, the ones you used to see in a bowl as decorative items, on multiple websites , re-marketed as “bird nesting material holders for wild birds” and similar. I do not know which came first, these plastic ones or the rattan ball ones.

I cannot imagine any nest being more charming than this. Or this. Or this amazing one. Coming across an Observation of a nest makes me ooh and ahh.

When I find a nest on our home it feels like a special gift. They’re going to raise a family near us! It feels sacred. I keep the dogs away, having spent years losing eggs to a previous pup.

I cannot imagine any improvement being made by the insertion of our refuse.

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Thank you for removing that rubbish.

No need to feel guilty, you did a good thing

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Short of large red arrows to affix to the signs that say:

and “Do not litter” (which this is), I cannot think of a specific thing.

I would suggest a social media awareness push but that is not my forte. I think if I saw someone putting them up, I would want to have something kind (in recognition of good intentions) but clear ready to say, though. Have you considered that?

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Yes, it’s really a matter of education. I actually have worked on awareness campaigns (professionally) in the past and there’s a lot of psychology and politics involved. And like so many other attempts to ‘inform’ people, there will almost always be an element who will take the best expert advice as some kind of challenge to their ‘right’ to do whatever they want to. Or worse, develop a conspiracy. (Look at vaccination rates today)

And then there’s the problem of informing someone that they are misinformed. Like the social media fads.

I’ve thought a lot about how to weave more awareness into a message for respecting natural spaces but I always seem to come up against outside influences that are real hurdles. For example, how many people look at natural spaces as places to be ‘free’ which includes behaving or doing whatever pleases them – or their pets?

Lately, when I’ve been thinking along these lines I try to think about ways to make people look at nature differently. The best model example that I can think of for a publicly shared space is still for me, one where I spent a good chunk of my formative years: the public library. Somehow, for the most part, most library patrons respect the space for what it is. A place to quietly explore, think freely, and not be attacked for being interested in exploring the treasures within.

Sounds almost like nature nerds on the trails in a park, right?

Oh, thank you for your thoughtful input and response. Yes, prepared, or even semi-prepared explanations would be great. But is there a universal explanation for every situation or every person who needs to hear it?

I’ve been lately toying with getting some t-shirts with short, informative messages made to help spread the word. That way, at least you’re spreading a message without direct interruption. Hmm. Maybe I’ll post some of my rough ideas for reaction.

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To really combat this kind of thing, a few thing need to be done on a large scale.

  1. People would have to really understand why it’s bad, not just be told facts. Like the “feed the ducks” story that Thunderhead told. I never knew it could influence that kind of ambush predator behavior (or that turtles even did that). That could be explained as just natural behavior, but if the lady knew the bread was actually nutritionally bad for the ducks, she might not do it.

  2. People would have to actually care. Like people who just dump trash in out of the way spots. They know it’s bad for the environment, but they don’t care. They just want the stuff out of their way. Not much you can do about that though.

  3. Marketing needs to be clear and honest. Just this weekend, I was looking for biodegradable weed whacker string. I came across the term “OXO biodegradable”. It sounds good, but really it just breaks down to smaller pieces faster. https://www.greendotbioplastics.com/biodegradable-vs-compostable-vs-oxo-degradable-plastics-a-straightforward-explanation/
    It sounds environmentally friendly, but it’s just turning plastic pollution into micro-plastic pollution. “Compostable” is another one of those terms that sounds good, but I think is largely useless. It’s enough to make well meaning people buy it though.

It’s a daunting task, getting people to do better, but you never know who that one person is that might change the world.

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The trash dumpers need to be prosecuted if they can be tracked down. I recall many years ago when the cops (in an unenlightened southern state!) picked through the trash and got people’s names off of discarded envelopes. Several prominent citizens were apprehended and shamed in the local paper.

There’s some hope for the people who feed the ducks and hang the net bags because, while misguided, they have good intentions. They can be reached by programs on “What you can do to help preserve our parks and our wildlife (and what you shouldn’t do).”

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If not better string. Is there a better tool?
I am haunted by those abandoned bits, where our trails have been (kindly) kept open for trail runners and mountain bikers (hikers step / leap aside)

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My college campus has some trails that are on the outer perimeter of the property. Every year without fail, art students will get projects in which I assume they need to create an outdoor art installation incorporating nature. Some of them have been kinda cool, some of them appear to have had less effort, but all of them have seemed to put random things in the woods - from laminated signs to yarn strung from branch to branch. I love creativity and the arts, don’t get me wrong, but it never sat right with me. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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You can get metal blades, but then you destroy anything you hit with them, like vinyl siding. I even saw what are basically chain saw blades for them on Amazon, which seems incredibly dangerous.

I did find something that claims to biodegrade in actual yard conditions, but I think it’s a start up company. The website says their products are for license, and they’re looking for business partners.

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Any unfortunate grasshopper / lizard will be dismembered. Either way.

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My local state park seems to have had some success with signs posted in the shallow creek itself–right where people might stand–asking that visitors not pile up rocks and explaining that fish and salamanders need places to hide and lay eggs. I haven’t seen any stone piles since these signs have gone up. I also think the signs asking people to leave the park as they find it have a certain amount of success. Some people will never listen–I think it depends on how people have been raised and taught about nature (but that’s another topic). I hate the DYI projects that look like they are “helping” the wildlife. They often involve plastic and paint and other things that might hurt rather than help. In that case, people are well intentioned when they invest in the project. My park sometimes offers programs for children and families–I wonder if a brief lesson on being cautious about these projects would help? The blasted green doggie bags drive me nuts. People KNOW they are supposed to clean up after their dogs, but then they leave the bags all over the place. WHY? Why even make the effort? It makes me wonder if the dog poop wouldn’t just be better than all that plastic. Anyway, you can only do what you can do. I suspect in the states we’re going to see an uptick in damage in the parks because of the loss of so many park rangers. I guess if you see someone doing something harmful, like these DYI projects, you can kindly explain the issues. But be careful because confronting some people might be dangerous.

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