niquette bay state park: management

i don't know who the ranger at niquette bay state park is; it is one of the state parks with a residential ranger station. the regional manager is rob peterson, but chances are the ranger is someone with less seniority.

but there are some things being done right here.

aside from the place being clean and well-maintained, someone (probably the ranger) has put some thought into it.

for instance, the outhouse down by the beach. anyone who is a frequent user of outhouses knows that people are slobs. and that land managers and park rangers are always trying to get people not to throw their trash in outhouses because it's a real son-of-a-bear to get out. everywhere you go, you see signs asking you not to throw your trash in the outhouse, but people throw their trash in there anyway, even if there's a trash can RIGHT NEXT TO IT.

because people are slobs.

so this ranger, putting on his thinking cap, has thoughtfully provided a little trash receptacle IN THE OUTHOUSE so that if people can't be bothered to take care of their own trash, at least nobody has to fish that trash out of the pit.

it's annoying to have to haul other people's trash, but it's annoying and disgusting to have to haul other people's latrine soaked trash.


glass isn't allowed on the beach, because glass breaks. but even if people aren't slobs (see above) and don't bring in glass and don't break glass, beaches on large bodies of water tend to get glass washed up anyway.

and people who are not slobs (yes, we exist) might pick up the broken glass when we see it, but many of us are not prepared to carry the broken glass out.

because broken glass.

so the ranger has thoughtfully provided a little receptacle into which people might put the broken glass they find. mostly people are using it for that purpose and not as a regular trash can. mostly.

still, it's a good idea.

and then we get to the thing about the dogs.

niquette bay state park used to have a large area in which dogs were allowed off leash, but they had to disallow it due to the large number of boneheads showing up with aggressive untrained dogs.

this is not my rant about people who can't be bothered to train their dogs, though.

this is my post about what's right in park management.

instead of just putting up new signs saying dogs aren't allowed off-leash, the ranger posted the letter from the regional manager explaining WHY.

that's a very good first step.

the ranger also goes on to post that dogs are still allowed to swim at the cove and THEN GIVES DIRECTIONS TO GET THERE.

so good job, mr. ranger.