Missoula’s Jacobs Island: Broken Glass, Trash

Over Labor Day weekend, a Missoula redditor "icedlemons" took these pictures of broken bottles left at Jacobs Island Dog Park beach, presumably from extended weekend partiers who decided not to clean up after themselves:

You can imagine the serious health risks that shards of glass pose for Jacobs Island visitors, no matter how many legs they have. Located just north of the University of Montana campus, Jacobs Island features swimming access on the Clark Fork river as well as plenty of room for dogs to run around.

I went to Jacobs Island on Tuesday and found more trash littered around the north beach from over Labor Day weekend:

Reckless behavior like this not only puts a black mark on our treatment of city parks, which can be enjoyed free of charge thanks to the City of Missoula's Parks and Recreation, but second-hand encourages similar behavior from future visitors.

Contrary to popular belief, there ARE laws when you're drinking Claws.

Townsquare Media spoke with the Shannon Therriault at the city's Environmental Health Department, who laid out the legal consequences for littering per Missoula Municipal Code:

The [City of Missoula] health code does have penalties; somebody could be penalized not less than $10 or more than $200 per offense, and every day in violation is a separate offense. So there is a penalty for somebody who is littering.

 

What Can We Do?

Therriault recommends that if you see someone littering, please contact the City Health Department or Missoula Police Department as soon as possible. Aside from that, it is imperative that we all do our best to keep our city parks and recreation areas clean.

Pick up after yourself & stay safe. Trash goes in the trash.