Dog Waste Removal in Poulsbo

The USDA keeps a soil series named Poulsbo, and it is not a novelty. Run the soil survey over the city and its edges and more ground comes back Poulsbo series than anything else, better than a third of it, with Alderwood next. Poulsbo soil is sandy glacial till over a cemented pan 20 to 40 inches down, and from December through March a perched water table sits within 12 to 30 inches of the surface. Winter rain has nowhere to go. It stalls in the root zone, and waste sitting over a water table that shallow does not dry down and crumble. It stays soft.

Eventually the water does leave, and the city is specific about where. Poulsbo's stormwater system runs about 80 miles of pipe and 5,000 catch basins to 50 discharge points, and the city names the destinations: local streams, wetlands, or Liberty Bay. It also names pet waste as one of the things riding along. Ecology's Liberty Bay study estimated Dogfish Creek and its tributaries as the largest bacteria source to the bay, 39 percent of it, and one branch stands apart. The South Fork is the fork that drains developed Poulsbo, and Ecology attributes its higher wet season counts to a denser human and pet population and more impervious surface than the rural forks carry. Wet season there runs November through May. That same cleanup plan carries a section headed pet waste and the City of Poulsbo, and Ecology's homeowner list for the watershed says to bag it and put it in the garbage, not down the toilet.

No shortage of places to walk a dog here: 16 city parks, 137 acres, more than five miles of trail. Raab Park on Caldart Avenue, up the hill from downtown, has both the off leash dog area and the community pea patches. Fish Park is 40 acres with two miles of gravel and boardwalk and six platforms over the Dogfish Creek estuary, though the city asks people to leave pets at home for the Chum and Coho run from Halloween to Thanksgiving, since salmon carcasses carry a bacteria that can make dogs sick.

Poulsbo series ground is mapped anywhere from flat to 30 percent slope, which is why two lots on one street can need different visits. One lawn holds everything where it fell. The next has walked it down to the low fence line by February. A dog going one to three times a day fills either one. Dooky Squad runs Poulsbo on a set schedule, December included, and the bags go in your bin or leave with us.