The Harvard Board of Health has become involved in the recent controversy over unleashed dogs and charges of accumulating feces and dogs fighting and jumping on small children at the Delaney Wildlife Management Area. The dust-up now includes Harvard because the area overlaps sections of Harvard, Bolton, Stow, and Boxborough, and residents of surrounding communities are affected by any change to the status quo.
After hearing the chronology of events, e-mails, and complaints, the BOH decided to contact the health boards of the other three towns “to try to resolve the situation by correspondence or a common meeting,” to use Chairman Tom Philippou’s words. A copy will go to the Board of Selectmen.
At the Sept. 23 health board meeting Philippou said, “The problem is, one town should not have a supervisory role over the rights of the other towns,” referring to Stow’s health board, which met Sept. 18 to discuss requirements recently implemented by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for walkers to leash all dogs and clean up after them. That board also asked Fisheries and Wildlife for a two-year moratorium on dog-walking at Delaney.
“My sense is this particular board of health [Harvard’s] is not particularly pleased with the restrictions on access, but is more open to reasonable controls,” said Philippou.
Nashoba Associated Boards of Health sanitarian Ira Grossman, who serves as consultant to the board in all matters regulatory, pointed out, “It’s the state’s decision. They’re managing it.”
“It’s our land. We should try to influence them,” responded member Lorin Johnson, who urged the board to involve the selectmen. “Towns do have a say,” he said, “or else there wouldn’t be this big correspondence going on.” Alternatives exist, he suggested.
“Designate areas for dogs to relieve themselves, and owners must clean up—and still allow people.
Chairman Tom Philippou read from a Jan. 8 letter of complaint from Stow resident Mark Flinkstrom to state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) Director Wayne MacCallum. Referring to a “marked change” at the property, where “the feces problem is out of control” and a mess is found “every few feet,” the writer makes a more serious allegation about dogs jumping on small children and fighting.
As a result, a member of the Stow health board walked the land and now wants dogs allowed only for hunting.
MacCallum responded to Flinkstrom’s letter by saying his office had been contacted before. He told Flinkstrom that he has observed that in towns where space is closed to dog walking, people turn to the wildlife management areas (WMAs). Metal signs are posted asking people to clean up after their pets, he said in his response, emphasizing the importance of individual responsibility. In any case, leashes are required per 321 CMR 6.01 of the WMA regulations, titled “Dog Restraining Order.” (The law has been on the books since as recently as 1976, when it was revised to its present form.)
Harvard resident Laurie Johnson joined the fray when she e-mailed the Harvard BOH on Sept. 17 to say that her property backs up on Delaney, and that she purchased the property 17 years ago specifically for the ability to walk dogs there. She was “dismayed” to see the signs at two of the entrances and to hear of the letter from DFW District Manager Patricia Huckery about a possible moratorium on all dogs. Johnson points out the presence of horse manure in the area, and asks for equal treatment of horses. Decrying the “rapidly disappearing open sites” in the area, she wants “to encourage use and good stewardship” of it.
One solution, Johnson proposed in her e-mail, is that followed by The Trustees of Reservations, which provides bags for disposal of feces and schedules dog-free times on its lands.
Huckery told the Press that Fisheries and Wildlife will decide on Nov. 1 if further regulations are needed for a moratorium on dogs at Delaney. If the state decides to pursue such regulations, public hearings will be conducted, and the DFW board will consider opinions in addition to data on dog complaints and incidents at Delaney.
Following the Johnson e-mail, Selectman Ron Ricci contacted BOH member Johnson to inquire if Harvard’s health board had met with the other towns’ health boards. He described the dog banning as “Draconian,” and told Johnson that other towns should be heard from in the matter. Look for other alternatives to a moratorium, he suggested.