Human waste dumped beside popular trail, Winooski River in Bolton
Sept. 3, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Volunteers cleaned up bags filled with human waste and rebagged them for disposal. Photo courtesy the Green Mountain Club
Town officials in Bolton and staff from the Green Mountain Club are looking to the public to help solve a vexing and unhealthy situation along a popular trail beside Duxbury Road and the Winooski River.
Early this spring before Green Up Day, a Long Trail volunteer with the Green Mountain Club looking to get a start on trail cleanup came across a dumping site near the suspension footbridge that spans the Winooski River in Bolton.
Below a guardrail along River Road and beside a trail that runs along the river, the volunteer spotted dozens of large black trash bags. Inside was human waste and toilet paper.
More help was enlisted and the site was cleaned up.
“Our thanks to the Green Mountain Club for mobilizing 10 volunteers who spent hours cleaning up the 400+ pounds of feces and toilet paper. In their words: ‘Gross,’” wrote Bolton Town Clerk Amy Grover in a social media post recently.
The Bolton Select Board, the town health officer and the Conservation Commission were made aware of the situation, Grover said, and multiple conversations ensued. Some “No Dumping” signs have since been put up.
But the problem has persisted this summer. “We all hoped that the dumping had stopped. It hasn’t,” Grover said. “Black garbage bags filled with human feces and large amounts of toilet paper continue to be dumped in the same vicinity on Duxbury Road. Some of the bags are being dragged off by animals, ripped open, and their contents spewed onto folks’ properties.”
Trash bags filled with human waste and toilet paper are dumped on a hillside along a walking trail in Bolton. Photo courtesy the Green Mountain Club
Town officials took to social media to share the information with the public, Grover explained.
The situation is a concern both environmentally and for reasons of health and safety. Town officials and trail stewards are frustrated after several cleanups have happened, only to find more waste afterward.
Keegan Tierney is director of field programs for the Green Mountain Club. He said volunteers have done at least three clean-ups so far at this site that’s near the popular pedestrian bridge. “It’s right along the road and trail,” he said.
The club maintains various privies along the Long Trail, Tierney said, so it has protective gear for handling waste. The bags are rebagged and disposed of with regular trash, he said.
Grover and Tierney stressed that neither town officials nor trail stewards are seeking to prosecute the culprit. They figure it stems from a situation where someone likely needs help.
“We don’t know how to connect with or how to stop whoever is doing the dumping,” Grover said. “We suspect it could be someone with a failed or failing septic system.”
Everyone involved wants the dumping to stop and they would like to see whomever is doing it gets assistance to address the circumstances that have led them to collect and dump the waste.
“It’s a bad situation. But someone may not want to come to the town offices,” Grover said, adding though that the town would likely be willing to help in order to get the problem solved. “I’m sure the town would find some money to rent a port-a-let for example,” she said.
“There are resources to help with septic systems,” Tierney said. “Ultimately, that’s what we’d like to see happen, not to prosecute.”
Town and trail officials ask that anyone with information contact the town offices in Bolton at 802-434-5075. Also, calling 211 connects with a statewide hotline with information on a variety of human services resources including programs that can assist with septic issues.
“Please, if you see something, or know something, say something,” Grover said.