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
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