NACPRO News

March 15, 2022

In This Issue...

Best Practices Forum
Welcome New Member
Member News
Research and Resources
In the News
Training
Job Announcements


About NACPRO

The National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials is a non-profit professional organization that advances official policies that promote county and regional park and recreation issues while providing members with opportunities to network, exchange ideas and best practices, and enhance professional development.

Learn more about us at: www.nacpro.org

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE

The next issue of NACPRO News will be delivered on March 29, 2022.

If you have news or an article to share, please send it to the editor by March 28.

EDITOR
Brenda Adams-Weyant
(814) 927-8212
[email protected]


NACPRO's Sponsors

Pilot Rock logo

BeachTech logo


Job Announcements

Facility Supervisor
Four Rivers Environmental Education Center
Forest Preserve District of Will County
Channahon, Illinois
$57,726 Annually
Closing date: Mar 20, 2022

Membership and Annual Giving Manager
Metroparks Toledo, Ohio
Salary commensurate with experience
Closing date: Open until filled

Program Manager II - Interagency Projects
Santa Clara County
Los Gatos, California
$120,690 - $146,711 Annually
Closing Date: Mar 17, 2022

Park Heavy Equipment Operator
Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation
Los Gatos, California
$77,457 - $93,604 Annually
Closing Date: Mar 16, 2022

Superintendent of Fleet & Facilities
Lake County Forest Preserves
Lindenhurst, Illinois
$83,191 - $124,784 Annually
Closing Date: Open until filled

Got a vacancy to fill? NACPRO will post your vacancy on our website and email a copy to our mailing list of over 1100 parks and recreation professionals for a fee of $100 for NACPRO members and $200 for non-members. NACPRO membership is $90/person.

For more information:
https://nacpro.mcjobboard.net/jobs

Best Practices Forum

Outdoor recreation use in the COVID era

What trends in park visitation are you seeing in your districts during the COVID era? Many parks and trails received record visitation in 2020 and 2021. Have these trends continued? How have they changed over time?

This data could be especially helpful in justifying the need for additional funding. Help us help you by sharing your information - even if your visitation tracking is unconventional.

Could provide attendance numbers for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, the percent change for each year, and the total percent change from 2019 to 2021 that can be attributed to people participating in outdoor activities.

NACPRO will be compiling the data and sharing it with the membership in April. Send your data and questions to:

[email protected]
(814) 927-8212

Got an issue you need advice on? Or a best practice you want to share? Send us the details and we will publish it in the next NACPRO News. 

 


Welcome New Member

Ms. Joanne Veedor
Deputy Director
Orange County Parks
Irvine, California

 


Member News

New Stark Parks Leaders Bring Vast Experience, Knowledge of County
Courtesy of Stark Parks

OHIO - The Stark County Board of Park Commissioners today named Dan Moeglin the new Executive Director of Stark Parks and Derek Gordon to the newly created position of Deputy Director of Stark Parks.

“We are thrilled today to announce the leadership team that we believe will secure an incredible future for Stark Parks and will build on the legacy of service to the residents of Stark County,” said Denise Freeland, Chair of the Stark County Board of Park Commissioners.

Read more:
https://starkparks.com/new-stark-parks-leaders-bring-vast-experience-knowledge-of-county/

 

See the Vision: Improved Way-Finding Access in Broward County Parks
Courtesy of NRPA

FLORIDA - Close your eyes and imagine needing to find your way to a restroom, campsite or social gathering place with limited or no vision. Broward County Parks is the first county park and recreation system in the state of Florida to provide its patrons with Aira, a way-finding app that gives individuals who are blind or have low vision with real-time access to trained agents who can help them navigate through our parks.

The service was introduced in July 2021 through the parks division’s Special Populations Section, which regularly partners with local organizations that provide services to individuals who are blind or have low vision. Aira is another way to demonstrate the agency’s commitment to serving park visitors with disabilities of all kinds.

Read more:
https://www.nrpa.org/parks-recreation-magazine/2022/march/see-the-vision-improved-way-finding-access-in-broward-county-parks/

 


Research and Resources

When cleaning does more harm than good
Courtesy of Parks and Recreation Business

By Doug Gatlin

First, let's look at the risks of using traditional (non-green) cleaning products. Studies spanning more than two decades show that these products can be harmful to cleaning workers and building users, if used frequently and—even more concerning—if not used properly.

While disinfectants have helped protect human health for decades and in many way should be viewed as similar to antibiotics in their ability to stave off an assortment of health-risking diseases—it’s the overuse and indiscriminate use of disinfectants that are raising concerns. Health experts caution that these products, when overused or improperly used repeatedly, pose grave risks to cleaning workers and vulnerable populations, such as older people and children—both of whom are frequent users of park and rec locations.

Read more:
https://www.parksandrecbusiness.com/articles/indiscriminate-disinfecting

 

Why Form Community Coalitions to Advance Legislative Priorities?
Courtesy of NRPA

By Elvis Cordova

With the congressional appropriations cycle underway, and in some areas the state appropriations cycles, it’s a good idea to keep in mind all the tools and resources that can assist you in reaching your legislative funding objectives. Say that you need federal funding for a new park along the river in your town, and you’ve decided to ask your local member of Congress for “Community Project Funding” (a modified version of congressional “earmark” funding). Your park, Silent Spring Park, is going to provide recreation and flood control. It’s also adjacent to a newly blossoming economic hub. In order to fund the park, you need to get your member of Congress to submit it as an earmark request for the fiscal year appropriations cycle. However, members of Congress have many competing priorities and a limited number of requests they are allowed to submit. How do you make sure they champion Silent Spring Park over all the other priorities in their district?

This is where coalitions come in. Loosely speaking, a coalition is a group of people who all want the same goal — sometimes, for very different reasons. Champions for inclusive communities tend to use the term “community coalition” to mean a mutually beneficial relationship between individuals, governmental agencies, private-sector organizations and/or community-based organizations that seek to achieve common goals.

Read more:
https://www.nrpa.org/parks-recreation-magazine/2022/march/why-form-community-coalitions-to-advance-legislative-priorities/

 

Revitalizing Park Infrastructure: Part 1
Courtesy of Parks and Recreation Business

By Chad Atterbury and Brandon Sobiech

For those people who work in parks, there are few things sadder than to see a run-down, forgotten park—especially knowing what a great one can do for a community. Thankfully, as cities expand and mature communities begin to reinvest in older neighborhoods, there is increasing interest in reviving aging park infrastructure.

That dynamic has only been exaggerated by the pandemic. Outdoor recreational usage increased from 30 percent to 165 percent nationwide since March 2020, according to a recent report from The Trust for Public Land.

But what people discovered is that many older parks are inadequate to support the recreational needs and interests of today’s residents. A park built in 1980 is now over 40 years old and likely in need of a serious tune-up.

Read more:
https://www.parksandrecbusiness.com/articles/revitalizing-park-infrastructure-part-1

 

Become a National Demonstration Site
Courtesy of PlayCore

High-quality play and recreation destinations are lasting evidence of a community’s dedication to supporting health and wellness and providing meaningful outdoor environments that turn research into practice. Intentionally aligning to National Demonstration Site design criteria ensures that your community can maximize the value of your investment by implementing scholarly best practice research to activate meaningful play and recreation spaces.

Read more:
https://www.playcore.com/nds-about

 

What will it take to make sure everyone can access city parks?
Courtesy of the Wilderness Society

Access to nature and the ability to safely spend time outdoors is critical to our health and well-being. Yet, many communities across the country – particularly low-income communities and communities of color – continue to face barriers to getting outside. In King County, Washington, 850,000 residents lack access to nearby parks and open space.

To better understand these disparities, The Wilderness Society, King County Parks and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) partnered with local organizations and community members to assess community needs, priorities and recommendations around increasing equitable access to transit and parks across King County. The project consisted of six community-led roundtables; an online survey that received nearly 400 responses; and the input of 11 community-based organizations serving Black, Latinx, Asian, Muslim, youth, disabled, immigrant and refugee populations.

The resulting assessment identified real day-to-day challenges that community members face in reaching parks and green spaces, and surfaced solutions based on the needs of residents. Below is a sample of recommendations and takeaways from the assessment.

Read more:
https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/what-will-it-take-make-sure-everyone-can-access-city-parks

 

Significant industry milestone in sustainable golf development
Courtesy of Parks and Recreation Business

Developed through close collaboration, both within and outside the golf industry, the release of this latest edition of the Sustainable Golf Development Standard represents another major step forward in golf’s journey to becoming a leader in sustainable sport, land use, and development.

Available to all new developments from September 2021, this simplified new edition raises the bar on sustainability expectations and focuses on the most relevant issues and challenges in the current climate. Renewed emphasis is placed on areas such as increased transparency, carbon impacts, flexible construction timelines, circular economy and the impacts of agronomic decision-making.

For more information:
https://sustainable.golf/files/Sustainable_Golf_Development_Guidelines.pdf

 

Exploring Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program
Courtesy of NRPA

By Kyle Simpson

In continuing to provide learning opportunities and resources that may be beneficial to NRPA members — including various federal resources — we wanted to share information on the Department of Defense (DoD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program.

The DoD funds the REPI Program, which reduces the potential for land-use conflict around sites of military importance. The DoD enters into partnerships with local governments, park departments, or districts and state governments to buy land that can provide mutually beneficial services to both parties. Regulations and zoning conflicts from commercial or residential land uses could limit the full capabilities of military exercises and activities; the REPI program offers the unique two-fold opportunity to preserve military capabilities and provide ample land for conservation efforts. Beyond providing a buffer zone, the program can also help provide mitigation and ecosystem banking services, helping to increase resiliency in the area and offsetting habitat alteration occurring on military sites.

Read more:
https://www.nrpa.org/blog/exploring-department-of-defenses-readiness-and-environmental-protection-integration-repi-program/

 

Digital Ethnography: Discovering Your Customer Needs in New Ways
Courtesy of CHM Government Services

Common methods to obtain feedback from your customers include comment cards, surveys and focus groups. The problem with these methods has always been that there is a good chance that you are getting jaded feedback.

CHMGS is currently helping the Department of Defense to develop innovative master planning tools that incorporate more people-centric data. For this project, the CHMGS team is employing digital ethnography to better understand the needs of the customer/community and what factors support improved quality of life on a military installation.

Ethnography is the description of the behavior and phenomenon of individuals, groups, and cultures. It is generally utilized as live observation within a subject’s chosen environment, which helps to reveal individual and organizational influences and drivers. Digital ethnography applies these same research principles to behaviors exhibited online by observing behavior and phenomenon on a variety of digital channels, such as Reddit, Facebook and Instagram.

Read more:
https://www.chmgov.com/blog/digitalethnography

 


In the News

New research outlines how recreation will shift with climate change in the west
Courtesy of phys.org

By Utah State University

Change can be hard, especially when it involves soaring summer temperatures, mega-droughts, invasive species and other items from the list of unpleasant outcomes of climate change. There are innumerable economic and social implications from a changing climate—but in the Western U.S. where skiing, hiking, biking, hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation are core to many people's lives, and where local economies rely on income generated by these activities, the impacts are already difficult to ignore.

The lesson at the heart of the review is that adaptation will be a critical skill as the new climate offers unpredictable scenarios to individuals, local economies, land-management infrastructures and long-term planners. The review, published in the Journal of Forestry, compiles the existing research that explores the ways in which climate change alters the types and timing of outdoor recreation activities, and the indirect effects of these shifts on everything from bear populations to new problems with seasonal staffing.

The study is published in the Journal of Forestry.

Read more:
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-scenery-outlines-recreation-shift-climate.html

 

Developing a New Information Agenda for Parks and Open Space
Courtesy of GP RED

Dr. Teresa Horton hosts a discussion at GP RED’s Think Tank on developing the new information agenda for parks and open space in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, greater structural racism, and intersectionality between multiple identities. The discussion focuses on what kinds of research are needed to address these and other contemporary issues.

Watch here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD7rJiuS0iM

 

Nominations Open For The Legends of Parks And Recreation

In 1981, the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration began the Legends of Parks and Recreation Program. The Program creates and shares one-on-one video interviews of distinguished administrators, educators, citizen advocates, and policymakers who have made outstanding contributions to the field of Parks and Recreation.

We are seeking nominations to honor individuals for the 2022 Legends Program. Due date June 4, 2022

For more information:
https://aapra.org/Programs/Legends

 


Training

Parks and Recreation Emerging Professionals Program
Courtesy of the University of Colorado Denver

The Parks and Recreation Emerging Professionals Program (PREPP) is a unique program for people who want to move ahead into upper levels of supervision and administration, need an education in management and planning, and are interested in a flexible, yet rigorous, program developed for working professionals.

The online program includes live class time (on Zoom) as well as an online course system for ongoing learning and study. Participants complete 12 courses over 15 months – for a total of 180 hours of class time. Each set of 3 courses ends in a student portfolio, and the final series is capped with a self-directed project that incorporates the learning across the entire program.

Cohort 2 is set to begin in October 2022.

For more information:
https://publicaffairs.ucdenver.edu/programs/professional-development/leadership-training/parks-and-recreation-emerging-professionals-program

 

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design
Courtesy of NICP

CPTED strategies are ideal for Law Enforcement Officers, City Planners, City Managers, City Council Members, Architects, Security Consultants, Educators or anyone involved in designing neighborhoods, schools, downtowns, buildings, or revitalization efforts. It is an effective way of fighting crime and promoting business. The NICP Specializes in CPTED Training and offers the NICP’s CPTED Professional Designation (CPD).

Our mission is to provide you with the best and most current training possible. With a hands-on approach we will help you gain the knowledge and confidence you need in order for you to implement CPTED in your city, neighborhood, park, downtown, school, or building.

The NICP, Inc. holds several Basic and Advanced CPTED Training courses during the year in many locations throughout the United States.

For more information:
https://www.cptedtraining.net/

 

2022 NACo Annual Conference

July 21-24 | Adams County, Colorado

The National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Conference & Exposition is the largest meeting of county elected and appointed officials from across the country. Participants from counties of all sizes come together to shape NACo's federal policy agenda, share proven practices and strengthen knowledge networks to help improve residents’ lives and the efficiency of county government.

For more information:
https://www.naco.org/events/2022-naco-annual-conference

 

Webinar Series: A Roadmap to Successfully Accessing Funding through the Land & Water Conservation Fund
Courtesy of PlayCore

March 24: LWCF 101
April 21: Concept to Application
May 12: Celebrating Your Community's LWCF Award and Completion

In August of 2020, via the Great American Outdoor Act, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was permanently funded at $900 million annually, offering funding opportunities for eligible projects to support land acquisition, recreational facility improvements and park planning projects. The National Association of State Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers (NASORLO) have developed a roadmap and a variety of resources to help you navigate the requirements and outline the process for submitting a standout project application for your state’s LWCF State Assistance Program. Every project starts with a great idea! Case examples will offer a step-by-step roadmap through the planning process, project completion, and sustainability phases and arm you for success.

Registration Code: COMMUNITY

Read more:
https://education.playcore.com/p/lwcf

NACPRO | PO Box 74, Marienville, PA 16239 | (814) 927-8212