Paid training program helps staff a county park system
Courtesy of NACo
By Meredith Moran
NEW YORK - Erie County, NY has launched the Workforce Buffalo Erie Corps, a paid training and internship program designed to build a stronger pipeline of staff for the county park system.
The program provides six weeks of paid, hands-on training in park operations such as facility and grounds maintenance. It is open to residents ages 18–22 living under 200% of the poverty level. After completing the training, participants transition into paid internships with the parks department, with many moving on to permanent jobs in the field.
The initiative helps the county fill staffing gaps with better-prepared employees while offering young adults valuable job skills and pathways to stable employment. It’s a win-win for both the parks system and the community.
Read more:
https://www.naco.org/news/paid-training-program-helps-staff-county-park-system
How a small North Carolina city transformed its downtown into one of the country’s best parks
Courtesy Fast Company
NORTH CAROLINA - After more than 20 years of patient planning, Cary, North Carolina, has turned a 7-acre section of its downtown into one of the country’s most multifaceted public parks. OJB Landscape Architecture designed a mix of active recreation areas, botanical gardens, pavilions, event spaces, cafés, bars, and cleverly camouflaged floodwater retention basins. Those basins—including several rain gardens and a central pond—play one of the park’s more important roles by holding back flooding that regularly ravaged neighborhoods to the south.
Read more:
https://www.fastcompany.com/91388795/ojb-landscape-architecture-innovation-by-design-2025
From mowers to line painters, robotic technology goes to work in city parks
Courtesy of pigeon605.com
By Jodi Schwan
SOUTH DAKOTA - It used to take a team of five people multiple days to determine how to line athletic fields in city parks. They would stake out where a line would be, run string across, draw the length and width and midline, and then draw a circle with a stake in the middle holding out a string to get the perfect circumference. For the past two seasons, the Sioux Falls Parks & Recreation team has been using a robotic field painter called Turf Tank. The city now owns two of the robotic painters. Conservatively, Kollars estimates that they paid for themselves in one season.
Read more:
https://pigeon605.com/from-mowers-to-line-painters-robotic-technology-goes-to-work-in-city-parks/
How rural communities can ensure development projects deliver local benefits
Courtesy of Headwaters Economics
In recent years, rural regions have become a focal point for new development projects tied to national priorities, from critical mineral mining to renewable energy, tourism, and data centers. While these projects promise jobs and local investment, they frequently fail to provide long-term benefits that could be included in business recruitment strategies such as improved education, job training, affordable housing, or childcare.
One promising tool is a community benefits agreement (CBA), a legal contract that can help communities capture long-term benefits from development to build local wealth and enhance community assets. CBAs show potential across a range of emerging rural development needs. For example, a rural community struggling with workforce housing shortages might negotiate with a tourist resort developer to secure new funding for affordable housing.
Read more:
https://headwaterseconomics.org/economic-development/how-rural-communities-can-ensure-development-projects-deliver-local-benefits/
TRAILS: Advancing Sustainable and User-focused Trail Planning
Courtesy of American Trails
The Trail Routing, Analysis, and Information Linkage System (TRAILS) is a geospatial trail planning tool that helps land managers identify and prioritize route connections using customizable criteria, including slope, transportation, water features, and waypoints.
Read more:
https://www.usgs.gov/national-geospatial-technical-operations-center/trails-advancing-sustainable-and-user-focused-trail
New Dashboard Highlights Outdoor Recreation Trends Across Regions
Courtesy of SORP
Using data from the regional household survey conducted by the North Central, Northeast, and Southern Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs), the University of Minnesota Tourism Center has created a new interactive dashboard that highlights outdoor recreation trends across these regions of the U.S. The tool offers rare opportunities for state- and region-level comparisons on participation, access, motivations, and barriers to outdoor recreation, thanks to the demographically representative samples. With over 14,000 respondents, the dashboard provides valuable insights for professionals, researchers, and communities invested in outdoor recreation. Explore the dashboard to see how your state or region compares.
Read more:
https://prayash106.shinyapps.io/dashboard/
Detroit’s Belle Isle Park Is Thriving Again. Will All Residents Share in It?
Courtesy of Next City
By Dustin Blitchok
MICHIGAN - Detroit's Belle Isle Park has received approximately $144 million in investment since state management began in 2014, funding infrastructure repairs, new gardens, and bike lanes. Despite these improvements, questions remain regarding equitable access for all Detroit residents due to concerns about stricter enforcement, fees, and the perception of unequal rules compared to the private Yacht Club on the island. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Belle Isle Conservancy are seeking public input to address these issues and guide future investments.
Read more:
https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/detroits-belle-isle-park-is-thriving-again-will-all-residents-share-in-it
How Trump’s Latest Multimodal Clawbacks Are Different — And How They Could Devastate Communities
Courtesy of Streetsblog
By Kea Wilson
The Trump administration is canceling federal grants for multimodal projects like trails, sidewalks, and bike paths, marking a sharp shift toward car-focused spending. Unlike past delays or reviews, these cancellations are abrupt and apply even to off-road projects that don’t affect traffic.
Communities now face higher safety risks for walkers and cyclists, sunk planning costs, and missed opportunities for economic and environmental benefits. Restarting projects later could be far more expensive. Advocates are urging local and state leaders to demand transparency and defend funding for safer, more sustainable transportation options.
Read more:
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2025/09/22/how-trumps-latest-multimodal-clawbacks-are-different-but-they-could-still-devastate-communities
Trump Administration Wants to Remove Conservation From Approved 'Uses' of Public Land
Courtesy of Planetizen
By Diana Ionescu
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the department will seek to reverse a public lands management rule that added conservation as a use of public lands on par with development and extraction, according to reporting by Matthew Brown for the Associated Press.
Read more:
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2025/09/135967-trump-administration-wants-remove-conservation-approved-uses-public-land
Forest Service announces recission of Roadless Rule in national forests
Courtesy of NACo
On August 29, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule, which prohibited road construction, reconstruction and logging on almost 45 million acres of U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land. Repealing the Roadless Rule would have a considerable impact on forested counties as USFS shifts to more active forest management on previously protected areas.
Read more:
https://www.naco.org/news/us-forest-service-announces-recission-roadless-rule-national-forests
Community Champions Franchise Giveaway
Courtesy of the National Academy of Athletics
The National Academy of Athletics (NAofA) is proud to announce the launch of its Community Heroes Youth Sports Franchise Giveaway, a powerful new initiative recognizing the educators, recreation professionals, and military veterans who make a lasting impact in the lives of children.
Through this giveaway, three inspiring individuals will be awarded full ownership of an NAofA youth sports franchise, one in each of the following categories: educator, recreation professional, and veteran. This opportunity is designed to empower community champions to continue their mission of service while building brighter, healthier futures for kids through the power of play.
Youth Sports Franchise Giveaway Timeline:
- Applications Open: August 11, 2025
- Submission Deadline: December 15, 2025
- Semi-Finalist Announcement: December 22, 2025
- Video Submissions Due: December 29, 2025
- Finalist Interviews at NAofA Headquarters: January 29, 2026
- Winner Announced: January 30, 2026
Read more:
http://naofa.info/winafranchise
