Thanks, Jason, for the clarification.

There certainly were off-leash dogs at Battery Kemble Park, DC, when 
I was there on Monday.  Jason is right on when he says Battery Kemble 
is a de facto dog park.

And the last time I was at Dumbarton Oaks Park in Georgetown, also 
administered by the NPS and full of "no dogs off leash" notices, the 
place was full of roaming dogs.

We Bethesdans have the same situation in Norwood Park in Chevy Chase, 
MD, a Montgomery County/MNCPPC park.  I bird there frequently and 
despite the notices, 90% of the many dogs that are almost always 
present run around unrestrained.

I like dogs as much as the next birder, and I appreciate that all 
dogs (like people) need exercise, but the flagrant disregard of the 
postings (and of other park users) by so many dog owners is a 
favorite complaint of mine. I particularly dislike to see dogs 
paddling through clean creeks and swimming in ponds that attract 
water birds.  When I have complained to authorities about the lack of 
policing, the universal response from park employees is "We just 
don't have the personnel to enforce the prohibition."

Mike Bowen
Bethesda, MD



At 03:44 PM 10/27/2009 -0400, Jason Waanders wrote:
>I generally avoid mixing my work (as an Interior Department lawyer) 
>with birding, but I'll make an exception to correct one point in Mike's post.
>
>Battery Kemble is administered by the National Park Service, and 
>dogs off-leash are prohibited, as they are at all local NPS parks. 
>Some NPS parks, like Battery Kemble and Ft. Bayard Park (where I 
>regularly bird), have become de facto dog parks--I suspect this 
>occurs because NPS does not enforce its regulation as frequently as 
>DC does for DC city parks. But the off-leash dogs are still not legal.
>
>Jason Waanders
>NW DC
>jwaandersATstarpower.net

D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD  20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail:  dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom

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