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Some Backcountry Travelers At Canyonlands National Park Will Have To Pack Out Poop

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By NPT Staff - August 30th, 2013

Some backcountry travelers in Canyonlands National Park will have to carry out their human waste as the National Park Service strives to better protect resources.

Beginning September 22, overnight backcountry permit holders for Chesler Park and Elephant Canyon backpacking campsites and the Peekaboo vehicle campsite in the park's Needles District will be required to pack out their human waste.

Additionally, the park will be removing vault toilets in two of the district's backcountry locations, Paul Bunyan's Potty and the Peekaboo vehicle campsite. These toilets are being removed due to the increasing difficulty of servicing the toilets, and in an effort to return the areas to their remote backcountry condition, the park said in a release.

Use of a toilet system that is either: 1) washable and reusable, allowing for the sanitary transfer of waste to sewage treatment facilities, or 2) of the type that treats solid waste with dry chemicals and is EPA-approved for disposal in landfills (a.k.a. "wag bags") will be required.

Disposing of untreated human waste in landfills is prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency. Landfill-safe waste bags must be disposed of in a designated human waste receptacle, and portable toilet system contents must be emptied into a designated sewage treatment/dump station facility. Dumping portable toilet system contents and/or putting wag bags into vault or flush toilets are prohibited.

Human waste in the backcountry is becoming a greater resource protection and human health concern as park visitation increases. Park officials encourage all visitors coming to enjoy the region's backcountry trails and roads to plan ahead for ensuring they can properly contain and dispose of their human waste.

Comments

Submitted by Lee Dalton on September 3, 2013 - 10:09am.

Hey, I know how we can take care of ALL the challenges of the NPS through education.

I don't remember which park it was, but one of the places I visited this summer had posters of rules and some interpretive offerings posted on the walls and doors of restroom stalls.

What can be more educational than some good reading while answering nature's call? Just think of the possibilites if some pertinent messages were printed on those poopy bags for backcountry travelers.


Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on September 3, 2013 - 10:17am.

At Theodore Roosevelt NP they had signs in the restrooms warning you to keep your distance from bison....


Submitted by Lee Dalton on September 3, 2013 - 2:18pm.

Must be pretty hard to keep your distance. Those bison must pretty well fill the entire room.

Sorry . . . . . .


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