Enforcement of smoke-free campgrounds – 4/6/12

Q: The Rhode Island Department of Health is partnering with the Division of Environment Management to enforce a smoke-free policy that prohibits outdoor smoking at campgrounds. If your state limits smoking at parks or beaches, have there been compliance and enforcement challenges specific to outdoor campgrounds? (For instance, campers may complain that if they are sitting around a smoky campfire, cigarette smoke is the least of their worries.) If so, please share your experience/challenges. What strategies have been most effective for encouraging campground visitors to abide by the smoke-free policy?

A:

1. Maine: Attached is one of our program newsletters which features an article about how our law came into being. Click here for a copy of the law.  Since its passage in 2009, the law according to the (DOC) Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, has had little “push back” from park visitors.  The Maine DOC’s Bureau of Parks and Lands and Maine CDC’s Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine have collaborated in the design of and distribution of signs which have eased the effort of effective implementation.
    
   One final point is that over the years since the passage of the law, Maine DOC’s Bureau of Parks and Lands has improved their outdoor designated smoking areas and have provided rustic seating and have made an effort not to locate the areas in places adjacent to trash or maintenance, but in “nicer” locations, which has been successful.  The big plus has been a huge reduction in tobacco butt litter, which next to dog waste had been their biggest maintenance problem in the past.
    
   Editor’s note: Maine’s “The Great Outdoors. Now Even Greater.” campaign website has radio ads, rack cards, and posters available here for download.
    
2. South Dakota: We have the same problem in South Dakota.  You might get the most traction for enforcement out of whoever is tasked with compliance for littering.

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