| Dogs are wonderful pets and deserve to spend time outdoors exploring the world. The NFA welcomes your visit to our various properties throughout Newtown with your dog and hopes you enjoy the time you spend visiting one of our preserves. However, dogs can sometimes do serious damage to the natural world. Recently, off-leash dogs have become a significant problem at one of our main properties and headquarters, Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve, so we want to remind visitors of the rules regarding dog walking on this and all of our properties. Keeping your dog leashed at all times is critical. First, it is the law in Connecticut and can be enforced on our properties. At the Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve as well as many of our other meadowed properties, this law is particularly important. Off-leash dogs can harass or kill wildlife, disturb understory vegetation and degrade the banks of watercourses. This damage may seem insignificant or even unnoticeable to us, but to birds nesting in a meadow or native plants just peeking through the soil, the disturbances can be severe—even deadly. Dogs must also be leashed for the safety and comfort of other preserve visitors. Most dog owners know their animals well and trust them not to do anything inappropriate when encountering another person or pet. However, for many people and even other dogs, off- leash dogs can be truly frightening. We want all of our visitors to enjoy our preserves and feel safe while walking the trails. We all know how increasingly rare quiet moments in the outdoors have become. Dog waste left on a trail can spoil that quiet moment for other visitors, so please pick up after your dog. Waste should never be thrown into a creek, pond or wetland. This can present a health threat to aquatic life and even humans. Please bring a waste bag with you and dispose of it when you get home. BACK> |
Dog Policy (Effective September 1, 2007)
Newtown Forest Association
Connecticut's Oldest Private Land Trust
Connecticut's Oldest Private Land Trust
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