City of Austin
Justin Schneider
Community Engagement Specialist
City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department
Austin
Texas
Educational or Promotional Campaign (less than $100,000)
Bark Rangers
City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department
Raquel Dadomo
Amanda Moya, Marketing Representative B
Wendi Laws, Park Range, Education & Outreach
Betty Pu, Graphic Designer
The purpose is to promote responsible use and enjoyment of parks by citizens and their pets. Core environmental concepts are introduced including Leave No Trace Principles, Outdoor Safety for Pets, and Park Stewardship for Pet Owners. This program will support park ranger’s mission of promoting responsible recreation, cultivating stewardship, and conserving natural resources. The goals are to reduce the amount of pet waste/bagged pet waste left on trails and in parks; reduce number of off-leash violations; reduce pet /pet owner injuries and deaths due to improper safety measures; and create pet owners as active and visible park stewards for outreach.
This is tailored specifically for park users and their pets, and is not currently offered elsewhere in Texas. This program provides information about responsible recreation in city parks with pets, and is a fun activity that people of all ages and diverse backgrounds can take part in with their pets.
As of the end of 2019 there have been 114 Bark Ranger graduates and 488 program participants.
The Bark Rangers program was a creative solution for addressing Austin’s dog waste problem. By targeting and training pet owners who use City trails, we created a shared awareness and etiquette standards about taking care of our common spaces. We recruited actual Bark Rangers volunteers from our service team to produce videos. This program was started by one park ranger (and dog lover) who decided to bring a little humor to an uncomfortable topic. By putting Austin’s cutest dogs in adorable vests, a social media win-win was born, and Austin got a little cleaner.
As of the end of 2019 there have been 114 Bark Ranger graduates and 488 program participants. Based on Scoop the Poop numbers, Ranger Laws estimates that the 114 Bark Ranger graduates (to date) will prevent 20,748 pounds of dog waste from ending up in our city’s parks each year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCaWIHqM5aA