Parks & Recreation May 2017

M AY 2 0 1 7 W W W. N R PA . O R G

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contents may 2017 volume 52 | number 5 | www.parksandrecreation.org

FEATURES

54 Sustaining Leadership Greatness The skills that have always been important in a leadership role — communication, empowering employees, acting ethically, forging effective partnerships, to name a few — continue to be important to be successful.

But, in today’s workplace, there are some other significant leadership qualities that are becoming just as important.

Barbara Heller

Erratum: In the April 2017 Crossword, Olmsted, the answer to clue 24 across was misspelled.

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60 Building Better

Cause-Marketing Relationships A good cause-marketing relationship secures needed funds for a nonprofit organization while providing a humanistic image for the for-profit partner. However, these relationships should be forged with care, and there are some steps that should be taken.

Taryn L. Kuntz, M.A., and Rodney B. Dieser, Ph.D., CTRS, LMHC

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columns

contents may

departments

8 Perspectives ‘I Love Watching You Play’ Stephen Eckelberry

14 Research The Story Is in the Data 14

10 Editor’s Letter

Park Pulse: Americans Support Local Environmental Sustainability 16

A Path to Leadership Gina Mullins-Cohen

18 Community Center

12 Letters

Email Marketing 18

26 Advocacy

The Preservation of a Naturalist 20

Introducing the New Park Champion Toolkit!

Jayni Rasmussen

24 Member to Member Bentonville Gets the Country’s First-Ever Bike Playground David Wright

28 Law Review Transportation Planning Must Mitigate Park Impacts James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

42 Technology Parks Using Technology to Engage and Inspire 42 Key Biscayne Parks and Recreation Protects Its Citizens from Severe Weather 47 Finding the Right Fit 48 Seven Ways to Leverage Mobile Technology in Aquatics 50 Technology and the Great Outdoors 52

34 Future Leaders From Young Professional to Respected Leader Richard Fink II, CPRE

36 Conservation How Kids Learn in Nature Rachel Szczytko and Kathryn Stevenson, Ph.D.

64 NRPA Update More Leadership-Themed Sessions at Conference 64 Attitudes of Influential Leadership 65

38 Health and Wellness Empowering Older Adults to Age Out Loud!

Chelsea Gilchrist and Lesha Spencer-Brown

Parks & Recreation Crossword 66 NRPA Connect Hot Topics 68

40 Social Equity

Member Benefit: Summer Hiring Has Never Been Easier for NRPA Members! 68

Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Health Equity James M. Weinstein, M.D., and Robert García

Member Spotlight: Jay Tryon 69 Embracing the Hack Attack 70 Family Health and Fitness Day 70 Professional Development Calendar 71

72 Operations Improving Natural Grass Field Quality

74 Products 75 Marketplace 79 Advertiser Index 80 Park Bench A Community Affair Daniel Sanford 6

Parks & Recreation

Cooperation and Teamwork (Photo by Andrew Baker)

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Page 36

P E R S P E C T I V E S A M E S S A G E F R O M N R PA’ S L E A D E R S

‘I Love Watching You Play’ With spring sports in full swing, it’s always interesting to see the reactions of parents and coaches at all levels of the games. Many of our agencies either run sports leagues or have them happening on our fields. Most of our leagues require parents and coaches to sign a code of conduct of some kind that tells them how to behave on the field, court, etc.

I’ve watched my three boys play various sports in our local park and rec agency leagues, and now in high school and college. I’ve witnessed how the parents’ reactions to both their own kids and the officials have evolved over the years. I’ve listened as they’ve gone from quietly moaning or sighing when they thought an official made a bad call in the past to now loudly voicing their opinion. And, there’s always the parent who thinks the next goal their third-grade soccer player is going to score will make a difference in the child’s college choices.

I’ve been officiating youth and high school sports for three decades now. I started when I was 15, and things were so different back then. My middle son started officiating lacrosse when he turned 15 last year, and, as I worked the other side, I listened to parents call him an “idiot” on the field. They told him he had no idea what the rules were. Interestingly enough, he did a great job ignoring the comments, just like he’s supposed to, but as his dad, it was tough to keep quiet. This was a U13 game!

As time has gone on, our agencies have had to deal with angry coaches and parents, and officials have had to deal with more and more angry coaches and parents. If you read the news, you’ve heard about fights between parents and even about officials being assaulted. The scary thing is that it’s harder and harder to get officials to come back after their first year: mostly because of the way parents and coaches are treating them. As park and rec agencies, we can continue to have coaches sign codes of conduct, get certifications and make them take additional training. But, it all comes down to the parents and the coaches controlling themselves.

I’ve watched parents yell at the opposing teams, try and coach their kids on the field, and even yell at their own kids about the way they played after games. One of the best things I ever read was something I tell all parents they should tell their kids when they come off the field. “I love watching you play.” I make it a point to tell all three of my kids this each time I watch them play. No matter how much I may want to criticize or even question the coach. “I love watching you play.” It sets a great example.

S T EPH EN ECK ELB ER RY Chair of the Board of Directors

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2377 Belmont Ridge Rd. | Ashburn, VA 20148 2 703.858.0784 | www.nrpa.org

NRPA’S MISSION: To advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Jack Kardys

Chair of the Board of Directors Stephen Eckelberry

Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department Miami, Florida

Bartlett Park District Bartlett, Illinois

Michael Kelly

Chair-Elect Leon T. Andrews

Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

National League of Cities Washington, D.C.

Karen Kress

Past Chair Susan Trautman, CPRP Great Rivers Greenway District St. Louis, Missouri

Treasurer Michael Kelly Chicago Park District Chicago, Illinois

Secretary Jack Kardys Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department Miami, Florida

President and CEO Barbara Tulipane, CAE National Recreation and Park Association Ashburn, Virginia

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jesus Aguirre

Yellowstone Park Foundation Emigrant, Montana

Herman Parker City of San Diego, California, Park and Recreation Department San Diego, California

Molly Stevens Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center Austin, Texas

Susan Trautman, CPRP The Great Rivers Greenway District Saint Louis, Missouri

William “Joe” Turner Houston Parks and Recreation Houston, Texas

Dr. Howell Wechsler Alliance for a Healthier Generation New York, New York

LIFE TRUSTEES

Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation Seattle, Washington

Beverly D. Chrisman

Leon T. Andrews

Anne S. Close

National League of Cities Washington, D.C.

Neelay Bhatt PROS Consulting Indianapolis, Indiana

Kevin Coyle

Lexington, South Carolina Fort Mill, South Carolina

James H. Evans New York, New York

Rosemary Hall Evans Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

National Wildlife Federation Washington, D.C.

Earl T. Groves

Stephen Eckelberry

Charles E. Hartsoe, Ph.D.

Bartlett Park District Carol Stream, Illinois

Richmond, Virginia

Harry G. Haskell

Robert García

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

The City Project Los Angeles, California

Kathryn A. Porter

Richard Gulley Balboa Park Conservancy San Diego, California

Roslyn Johnson Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Greenbelt, Maryland

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Gastonia, North Carolina

Mendham, New Jersey

Perry J. Segura New Iberia, Louisiana

R. Dean Tice Round Hill, Virginia

Eugene A. Young, CPRP Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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EDITOR’S LET TER

A Path to Leadership When I hear the word leadership, I’m often reminded of people throughout history who helped to make a difference for their community, country and the world. I think of historical figures, like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Marie Curie, Harriet Tubman and John F. Kennedy, who personified true leadership and courage in the face of adversity.

The month of May actually marks the annual presentation of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Created in 1989 by the Kennedy family and administered by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, this prestigious award recognizes a public servant(s) whose achievements exemplify politically fearless leadership. On May 7, the 2017 Centennial Profile in Courage Award will be presented to former President Barack Obama.

“President Kennedy called on a new generation of Americans to give their talents to the service of the country,” said Ambassador Caroline Kennedy in a statement.

“With exceptional dignity and courage, President Obama has carried that torch into our own time, providing young people of all backgrounds with an example they can emulate in their own lives.”

At NRPA, we want to help you nurture future leaders in your organization by outfitting you with the tools necessary for fostering growth.

In this month’s issue, author Barbara Heller discusses the five keys for gauging a successful leader in the article titled, “Sustaining Leadership Greatness,” on page 54. She shares leadership qualities such as creating vision and strategic direction, managing change and driving innovation.

Heller will also present a session titled, “Creating a Strategy Focused Organization,” at this year’s Conference in New Orleans.

On page 34, Richard Fink, superintendent of parks and grounds for the city of Greenbelt, Maryland, offers words of encouragement to young professionals just getting their feet wet in parks and recreation and sound advice for those who aspire to climb the career ladder.

We also shine a light on cause marketing and explore the pitfalls that some nonprofit organizations might encounter in the feature, “Build Better Cause-Marketing Relationships,” on page 60.

Authors Taryn L. Kuntz and Rodney B. Dieser point out the red flags organizations must take into account before forging a partnership with a for-profit entity.

Lastly, on page 68, I encourage you to check out some of the leadership- and management-themed sessions we’ll be presenting at the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference in September. You asked for more education focused on leadership and management, and we shall deliver. After all, NRPA will set the path. It’s up to you to take the lead.

GINA MULLINS-COHEN Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Publishing Editorial Director 10 Parks & Recreation

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PRESIDENT AND CEO Barbara Tulipane, CAE VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLISHING, AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Gina Mullins-Cohen gcohen@nrpa.org MANAGING EDITOR Sonia Myrick smyrick@nrpa.org ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cort Jones cjones@nrpa.org EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR Catrina Belt cbelt@nrpa.org PUBLICATION DESIGN Creative By Design www.creativebydesign.net SENIOR SALES MANAGER EASTERN REGION AND EUROPE Kip Ongstad 703.858.2174 kongstad@nrpa.org SALES MANAGER WESTERN REGION AND ASIA Michelle Dellner 949.248.1057 mdellner@nrpa.org MAGAZINE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Mike Abbaté Keith Anderson Gerald Brown Ernest Burkeen Gwendolyn Chambers Brendan Daley Anthony-Paul Diaz Ryan Eaker Mariela Fernandez Robert García Kathleen Gibi Paul Gilbert Greg Harrison Tim Herd Mareya Ibrahim Edward Krafcik Todd Lehman Sam Mendelsohn Maria Nardi Lisa Paradis Gil Peñalosa Dr. Kevin Riley Matthew Rudnick Paula Sliefert Anne-Marie Spencer Stephen Springs Randy Wiger

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Letters Why There Is a Need to Discuss the Gap Between Research and Practice [Editor’s Note: The following op-ed was written by Jim Stamborski, M.S., George Williams College, Retired Park and Recreation Practitioner and Former Learning Resources Network Board Member.]

As a park and recreation practitioner or, more accurately, a former practitioner, I have some thoughts and ideas about why a gap exists between research and practice. If NRPA wants to understand why practitioners are not attending research sessions, then it should identify who is likely to attend its National Conferences. I have been a participant in many NRPA Conferences and my observation is that the information researchers provide is usually topical for park and recreation commissioners, directors, superintendents or those working in highly specialized areas of parks or recreation, such as national parks. That is usually the attendees they attract. Presently, that makes sense because, often, at the park and recreation commission level, the trip to Conference represents a perk, as usually these are voluntary, appointed or elected officials. The same can be said for park and recreation directors and superintendents in larger recreation agencies. Therefore, it is not surprising that research information is focused on mainly the group of practitioners at the director and superintendent level, as well as on commissioners. Perhaps one of the assumptions of the research presenters is that the information provided in a session will eventually be shared with the rest of the agency employees.

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What data is NRPA collecting and using to make decisions?

Often in my career, I wondered why college and university researchers did not produce useful information that park and recreation professionals can use on a daily basis. In fairness to academic researchers, they have their own clientele that has to be satisfied, including their employers, coresearchers among other academicians and specialized clientele that provide funding and other resources to the institution. I became involved as a board member for the Learning Resources Network (LERN) in the 1980s, exactly because recreation professionals did not have useful information to base decisions on, while, at the same time, the trend was moving toward becoming more businesslike.

LERN, at the time, was a mix of nonprofits and a smaller number of for-profit providers of recreation programs and services. While on the board, I felt that an important goal would be to see that LERN materials and seminars become accessible to park and recreation professionals; this in fact happened. Eventually, park and recreation professionals became their largest membership base. Around the same time, professors Witt and Crompton also began touring selective parts of the country with their important work on marketing and other associated topics current in the business world. The emphasis was to become more businesslike, and it came at a time of shrinking park and recreation budgets across the country.

If NRPA is desirous of engaging people from all backgrounds, then it needs to recognize the variety of clienteles it serves and the unique needs and wants of each group. There is a role for academics in the training of park and recreation professionals.

First, there needs to be agreement as to what the core training should be.

Academicians can follow the lead of LERN and other similar networks in reviewing the titles they publish. This will give them an idea on areas not covered specific to parks and recreation in other associations’ literature.

Interestingly, some have been written by recreation practitioners.

If researchers want to close the gap between research and practice, they need to produce materials that practitioners can use in their daily job performance. The audience should be the bulk of NRPA membership, which is likely to be recreation professionals around the country, some who are NRPA members and some who are not. Other associations, over the years, have been more in tune with practitioners than colleges and university researchers because they usually had accurate information on who their real and potential clienteles were.

Then, they measured the likelihood of interest in the materials they produced for the general population, including information that their subscribed members and nonmembers could use. Usually, for a minimal fee, information was produced in a small brochure format; not too lengthy and written in a direct, easy-to-understand style.

There will always be a need for pure academic research on subjects like the carrying capacity of forest land for a particular animal. However, the audience is small, therefore, much more attention should be paid to the bulk of NRPA members in producing materials its membership will find useful in their day-to-day work. This will go a long way to reducing the gap between researchers and practitioners.

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Research The Story Is in the Data

By Kevin Roth, Ph.D.

M

any of you have probably had the experience of talking to someone about where you work and realizing they did not have a full appreciation for everything parks and recreation does for its community.

Perhaps they see your agency as the entity that maintains the trail they walk every weekend or as the sponsor of the sports league in which their child participates.

What they may not realize is that your agency is a major provider of afterschool and summertime childcare, a major caretaker of open space in the community or a valuable resource for nutrition education in your town. More importantly, they do not realize how your agency provides all of these services and benefits to your community efficiently, effectively and, often, under a tight operating budget.

That’s where the recently released 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review (www.

14 Parks & Recreation

nrpa.org/apr) comes into play. This is NRPA’s annual report that summarizes the key findings from Park Metrics, the most comprehensive source of data standards and insights for park and recreation agencies. You used to know the NRPA Agency Performance Review by its former name, the NRPA Field Report.

A few interesting data points from the Review tell us that the typical park and recreation agency, in the jurisdiction it serves, has the following:

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To discover what works best for your agency, you need benchmark data to compare how it performs against similar peers.

• 9.6 acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents • One park for every 2,266 residents • 7.3 members on staff for 10,000 residents • Operating expenditures per resident served of $77.32 In addition, more than four in five park and recreation agencies offer summer camps for the youth, while just over half offer afterschool programs.

As informative as these factoids are, they neither fully tell your agency’s story nor inform what your agency could optimally provide. Simply put, there is no set of standards for park and recreation agencies. What works well for one agency may not be best for your agency.

Agencies serve differing populations, have differing missions and mandates, and have access to differing levels and sources of funding.

To discover what works best for your agency, you need benchmark data to compare how it performs against similar peers. The 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review is the resource that provides park and recreation professionals and other key stakeholders with that wealth of valuable benchmarks and insights about the state of the industry and helps them to: 1. Evaluate the performance of their

agencies. Do their agencies provide as much open space, recreation opportunities and programming as their peers?

Are their agencies properly staffed or sufficiently funded?

2. Make informed decisions about the optimal set of service and facility offerings based on the demographics and, therefore, the needs of a specific community, while also providing comparative agency data from other communities/agencies.

3. Show the prevalence of expanded activities and offerings at agencies throughout the nation. This report demonstrates to policymakers, key stakeholders, the media and the general public the full breadth of service offerings and responsibilities of park and recreation departments throughout the United States.

The 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review features 21 graphics of top-line data findings and analysis, explaining each metrics’ importance, broken into six areas of focus: • Park facilities (parks and parks, indoor and outdoor facilities) • Programming (team sports, fitness, enhancement classes; programs for children, seniors, people w/ disabilities) • Responsibilities of park and recreation agencies (spanning from operating parks and facilities to programming types) • Staffing (typical FTE counts, key staff responsibilities) • Budget (operating expenditures amounts and purposes) • Agency funding (sources of funding, cost recovery, capital spending) Beyond the Review, we also have created interactive reporting tools that allow you to drill down into the data. These tools allow you to filter all 21 sets of metrics by jurisdiction population, population density, agency budget, agency type, staff size, the number of parks maintained and geographic region. They also allow you to further customize the data to generate metrics from agencies similar to yours. By entering your agency’s Park Metrics data through the 30-question survey, you can run customized performance reports that place your agency’s data right next to that of its peers. While the 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review is now out, it is never too late to enter your agency’s data to take advantage of everything Park Metrics has to offer.

We are excited to be able to provide you with the 2017 NRPA Agency Performance Review and accompanying interactive tools.

This comprehensive set of benchmarking resources only happens because agencies, like yours, participate in Park Metrics.

This is your data, and it not only helps you compare your agency with its peers throughout the United States, but also helps you tell your agency’s story to your local leaders, key stakeholders, the media and the general public as you work to secure and grow your funding resources.

By entering your agency’s Park Metrics data through the 30-question survey, you can run customized performance reports that place your agency’s data right next to that of its peers.

If your agency is one of the many that already have entered their 2016 agency performance data, thank you. If you haven’t already done so, go to www.nrpa.org/metrics to get started.

For assistance with your login or entering your data, contact Greg Manns (gmanns@industryinsights.com) or Daniel Espada (despada@nrpa.org).

Kevin Roth, Ph.D., is NRPA’s Vice President of Research (kroth@nrpa.org).

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NRPA Park Pulse Each month, through a poll of Americans that is focused on park and recreation issues, NRPA Park Pulse will help to tell the park and recreation story. Questions span from the serious to the more lighthearted, and with this month’s poll, we take a closer look at how important it is to Americans that local government agencies support environmental initiatives.

Americans Support Local Environmental Sustainability A Park Pulse poll conducted by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) asked 1,003 Americans ages 18+ how important it is that local government (park and recreation agencies, schools, public works and community development departments, etc.) prioritizes environmental initiatives, such as water quality monitoring, green space assessment, environmentally friendly buildings and lawn upkeep.

83% of Americans say it’s important that local government agencies prioritize environmental initiatives — including the majority of Millennials who say it’s either “extremely important” or “very important.”

Both non-parents and families with children feel strongly about local government prioritizing environmental initiatives.

Non-Parents

79%

Families with Children

89%

Local government agencies are urged to prioritize sustainable practices in communities everywhere to protect the earth's natural resources and preserve open space.

www.nrpa.org/Park-Pulse ©2017 National Recreation and Park Association The National Recreation and Park Association Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,003 nationally representative Americans, ages 18+, between March 6 and March 13, 2017, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older.

The margin of error for this study is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

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Community Center Email Marketing

Still the killer app to beat for park and recreation agencies

By Joe Dysart

W

hile many park and recreation agencies are chasing the latest digital marketing craze, good old email marketing is still the killer app to beat when it comes to return on investment (ROI).

“There are some unique benefits that email marketing has over social media that cannot be denied,” says Creighton Wright, director of the City of American Canyon (California) Parks and Recreation. “We have found that not everyone is using the same social media platform, and it can be difficult to stay current with the trends. In addition, due to the social media sites’ algorithms, our posts are not always shown in everyone’s newsfeeds. We are able to achieve a more consistent result with the email marketing campaigns.”

Nicole Garvis, marketing/technical coordinator for Deer Park (Texas) Parks and Recreation, agrees. “I have had extreme success with email marketing due to email automation. I am able to get messages out to the right people at the right time without considerable time and effort. Email automation has allowed me to craft comprehensive

campaigns and ensure that my messages get where they belong. I can better track my email success, monitor my leads and continually refine my process for the long term.”

Indeed, three separate studies released in 2016 — one by the marketing consulting firm Clutch, another by the email marketing firm Campaign Monitor and

Some of the most sophisticated email marketing solutions rely on artificial intelligence analysis from super computers like IBM’s Watson.

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the 10th annual Email Marketing Industry Census produced by Econsultancy in partnership with email marketing service provider Adestra — seem to confirm that email marketing still has the highest ROI of any marketing channel: • Eighty-three percent of the companies Clutch surveyed said they were using e-newsletters to make new sales, and more than 70 percent were using stand-alone and follow-up emails to nurture nibbles of interest from customers (http://bit.ly/2dZholN).

• The Campaign Monitor study found that businesses can expect a $38 return for every dollar they invest in email marketing.

• Researchers in the Econsultancy-Adestra study found that 73 percent of the more than 1,100 marketers interviewed said email was their No. 1 marketing channel in terms of ROI. According to Adestra CEO Henry Hyder-Smith, the study “points out that companies investing at least a fifth of their marketing budgets on email are eight times more likely to see sales attributable to it in excess of 50 percent.”

The Reason Behind Email’s Potency Despite the buzz over social media, 58 percent of internet users say the first thing they check on their computerized device each morning is email, according to an Exact Target study (http://tinyurl. com/lr8m6sv). “Here’s the truth,” says Derek Halpern, owner of Social Triggers. “When you have someone’s email, you’re allowed to communicate with them when you want, how you want.”

Halpern recently conducted his own informal test, pitting email against Twitter. On Twitter, he posted a link that he

wanted prospective customers to click on and then sent the same post and link via email. The result was that 50 of his Twitter followers clicked on the link, while 1,200 of his email subscribers clicked on the same link. “Yes, my email list might be twice as large as my social media following, but it generated about 24 times more clicks,” Halpern says. “That’s the power of email.”

With a Little Help from IT Also helping email’s cause has been all the work IT departments have been doing to block spam from getting to company email boxes. Those safeguards have significantly decreased the amount of spam business users get today compared to just a few years ago, and, as a consequence, email open rates are looking healthy. On average, 17.6 percent of emails are now being opened by recipients, according to a 2016 IBM whitepaper titled “Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study” (http://tinyurl.com/mazb9x9).

Many marketers see email as an effective way to cut through all the noise.

“With email newsletters, we are able to be seen by our customer base on their time — outside of the noise of social media,” says Kelsey Heiden, CPRP, marketing coordinator for New Braunfels Parks and Recreation in Texas. “Email facilitates a quieter, more intimate and less distracting environment for a conversation.” This sentiment is echoed by Deer Park’s Garvis who says, “Emails generate a less distracting, more intimate environment for a conversation. As long as the content of your emails captures your client’s interest and continually reinforces the connection they have with your organization, emails will engage the reader’s attention and strengthen the relationship they have with your brand.”

Joe Dysart is an Internet Speaker and Business Consultant based in Manhattan (joe@joedysart.com).

Email Marketing Best Practices Getting email marketing right for your park and rec agency involves more than simply knowing it works. Here are the top 10 email marketing best practices, based on insights from the Email Marketing Industry Census 2016 (http://tinyurl.com/lockza6) conducted by Econsultancy in association with Adestra: • Engage in basic segmentation: 78 percent of companies said they’re doing basic segmentation, which means they’re creating slightly different versions of the same email marketing message to cater to different segments of their customer base.

• Optimize for mobile: 64 percent of companies said they’re using single-column email designs that allow for easier resizing and responsive design that automatically resizes an email based on screen size, and eliminating content in mobile emails that ordinarily displays on full-sized computers.

• Clean your list regularly: 54 percent of companies surveyed said their email marketing success also hinges on ensuring they regularly clean their mailing list of emails that bounce back as no longer valid. They also quickly remove email addresses from the list when customers request it.

• Encourage sharing of your email on social networks: 47 percent of businesses surveyed said they got more mileage from their marketing emails after asking their customers to share those emails on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media networks.

• Use your transaction emails for marketing: 43 percent of businesses said they had a standard practice of inserting marketing messages into transaction emails.

• Include video content: 42 percent of companies said that adding video content to their email was critical to the potency of those marketing messages. Given that YouTube is the second most popular site on the web, this move is pretty easy for park and rec agencies that could easily post video of their properties.

• Do remarketing: 41 percent of companies surveyed said they regularly use emails to remarket to customers. Web visitors who fail to confirm their new subscription to your e-newsletter, for example, might be prodded again by email to confirm that sign-up.

• Personalize your email: 37 percent of companies surveyed said personalization of emails was also key to their marketing success and went beyond simply addressing a person by first name. Other personalized data, such as the person’s birthday, acknowledgement of previous goods and services purchased by the recipient, and similar qualifiers, was included in the email, indicating the company truly knew who they were emailing when they put together the message.

• Use emails for lead nurturing: 35 percent of companies said that once they received a nibble on an offer by email, they regularly followed up with additional emails to try and close the deal.

• Combine email with multichannel triggers: 31 percent of companies said once contact was made by email, they followed up by reaching out to the customer via other channels, including Facebook, Twitter, telephone and old-fashioned snail mail.

With the implementation of a mobile-friendly marketing strategy, Adolfo Cruz, director of the City of Riverside (California) Parks, Recreation and Community Services, says, “Our department has seen an increase in email open rates, click-through rates and conversion rates, resulting in increased participation and revenue in our programs and services.”

Tjiska Van Wyk, executive director of the Jack London Historic State Park in Glen Ellen, California, adds, “We find most people engage with us via mobile devices more than desktop computers.”

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Community Center

The Preservation of a Naturalist

By Samantha Bartram

O

ne of the first things you notice about Robert Kennicott is his teeth.

Gleaming white and slick, his frozen rictus grins eternally from inside a custom-made glass case, like an extremely goth version of Sleeping Beauty. Unlike that Disney princess, however, no kiss is likely to revive the 19th century naturalist — Kennicott has been dead for more than 150 years.

Still, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History is giving Kennicott a revival of sorts, as one of the main attractions of its “Objects of Wonder” exhibit. His remarkably well-preserved skeleton is just one of hundreds of artifacts — some collected by Kennicott himself — that museum guests will pour over as they contemplate our natural world and its incredible array of flora, fauna, rocks, minerals and other items.

It is fitting that Kennicott’s skeletal remains are part of the exhibit — not to mention satisfying, too, for the handful

of park professionals and scientists who passionately examined the life of one of America’s original citizen scientists.

This insatiably curious group went well past the heart of the matter, deep into the bones — literally — to learn more about Kennicott’s life and solve the mystery surrounding his untimely death. In the process, they reconnected to a legacy that began with an innate curiosity and love of nature.

The Accidental Naturalist Robert Kennicott was born in northeastern Illinois in November 1835, the son

of John Kennicott, a doctor and farmer.

A chronically sickly child, Robert was often unable to attend school and was ill suited for the fields. Accordingly, his father set out to home-school the boy and connected him with naturalist Jared Potter Kirtland, convincing Kirtland of his need for an understudy. It wasn’t long before young Robert began collecting all sorts of natural specimens from the approximately 250 acres that originally comprised the Kennicott estate, thenknown as Kennicott Grove.

Eventually, Kennicott began sharing his acquisitions with Spencer Fullerton Baird, yet another naturalist/scientist, and the first curator ever named to the Smithsonian Institution. For the better part of Kennicott’s scant 30 years of life, he traveled North America collecting natural artifacts, as well as art, clothing and even the languages of native populations. “In the 19th century, many of the animals and plants he collected were yet to be identified as scientifically studied,” says Kari Bruwelheide, a forensic anthropologist at the National Museum of Natural History. “[Robert’s] collecting was so comprehensive that he has specimens in every department of our Natural History museum. He also recruited others to collect for the Smithsonian. Perhaps he was the first to enlist citizen scientists in helping collect data!”

Kennicott’s demise on the banks of the Yukon River while on expedition in Alaska had since become fodder for historical speculation Some thought he committed suicide, while others wonThe Gothic Revival Kennicott House, boyhood home of Robert Kennicott, was built in Cook County, Illinois, in 1856 by his father, John, who was also a horticulturalist and journalist.

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dered if years of recurring illness simply took their toll. In his day, it was common for sufferers of chronic ailments to medicate with strychnine — now commonly known as a fatal poison — which Kennicott self-administered regularly. Perhaps he suffered an accidental overdose?

Steve Swanson, director at The Grove National Historic Landmark — now a 145-acre public park showcasing a portion of the original Kennicott estate, as well as the family home, Kennicott Archive Building, interpretive center, trails and more, managed by Illinois’ Glenview Park District — didn’t buy it. Kennicott is one of his heroes, and Swanson wanted to know, as definitively as possible, what really struck down the man whom he so admired. “Kennicott’s interest in natural history paralleled my own,” Swanson says. “I grew up across the street from

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The Grove and hunted and collected in and around The Grove. I attended college in Southern Illinois and collected in the same areas Kennicott did. We still collect in Southern Illinois for [The Grove’s] interpretive center displays.”

Swanson was already involved in a plan to have Kennicott’s remains returned to The Grove when he happened to attend a lecture at Oakton Community College featuring Doug Owsley, head of the Smithsonian’s physical anthropology division. Owsley had expertise in examining iron coffins — Kennicott had been buried in one of the formidable contraptions — and Swanson saw an opportunity. “I shared with [Owsley] our need to have Kennicott’s remains examined to see if a definitive cause of death could be determined,” Swanson says. “We worked with the family and the Glenview Park District board to seek approval and permission to conduct the investigation. Long discussions among the staff were held to be sure we could accept the cause [of death] if it turned out to be suicide. Being historians, we had to be prepared for that to become our story line if true. Doug and Kari assembled a scientific research team and the investigation was carried out at The Grove in 2001.”

During the next 15 years, Owsley, Bruwelheide, Swanson and a team of scientists and historians carefully examined historical records of Kennicott’s life, as well as his coffin and all contained therein — including his hair, most of his clothing and, of course, his bones, now stained a ruddy brown from decades boxed in iron. “Iron coffins are like time capsules,” Bruwelheide explains. “They preserve certain types of evidence (soft tissues, clothing, hair and finger and toe nails) that require special analyses….We do a complete inventory, take a whole suite of measurements to determine stature, robusticity, etc., and 22 Parks & Recreation

Robert Kennicott

also examine the remains for evidence of trauma and disease.”

To Swanson’s delight, the team was able to conclude that a heart attack ultimately laid Kennicott low. “Chemical analysis and historical information indicate no evidence of death due to poisoning or suicidal ingestion of strychnine.

Robert Kennicott died a sudden death as a result of cardiac arrest, probably a congenital condition. Several previous attacks probably preceded the final, fatal one, two of which were documented by eyewitnesses,” Owsley wrote, in his final determination of the case.

“We celebrated the results with an exhibit in our archives building on Kennicott’s life,” Swanson says. “The exhibit is one of five rotating exhibits that are rolled out in conjunction with important anniversary dates of the site and the Kennicott family — the results of the forensic autopsy were a major part of the main exhibit panels.”

Preserving a Legacy While the preservation of the Kennicott estate is itself a great boon to the many

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people who frequent The Grove, this new information about Robert Kennicott’s life, death and work provides greater enhancement of the educational opportunities already offered there. “People love stories and the Kennicott story is one of adventure and exploration,” Mike McCarty, CPRP, and executive director of Glenview Park District, says. “It immediately connects people to the land and the natural environment. Our visitors get to walk the land that Robert grew up on and see plant, insect, reptiles, fish and animals that he studied and collected still living on the property.”

Swanson says he and The Grove staff make a concerted effort to reflect Kennicott’s legacy through regular programming at the facility. “Our program staff and volunteers engage visitors — we tell Kennicott’s story to excite them. We have visitors who first came to The Grove as kids and have returned with Ph.D.s in herpetology, or as geologists or antique dealers who gained their first experiences at The Grove.”

Here is the true marrow of the labor behind understanding Kennicott’s life and legacy — to open peoples’ eyes to the possibilities of how they might become more deeply involved with the natural world.

“Parks and recreation agencies have an obligation to tell the story of what we do and why we do what we do,” McCarty says. “You couldn’t have a better avenue [than The Grove and Kennicott’s story] to have people appreciate the impact of service agencies like ours on a community.”

[Objects of Wonder is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History through 2019. To learn more about the exhibit, visit http://naturalhistory. si.edu/exhibits. To learn more about Kennicott’s legacy and The Grove, visit www.glenviewparks.org/thegrove.]

Samantha Bartram is a Northern Virginia-based Freelance Writer (sambartram333@gmail.com).

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Member to Member Bentonville Gets the Country’s First-Ever Bike Playground

By David Wright

B

entonville, a community of approximately 45,000 residents, nestled in Northwest Arkansas, is most commonly known as the birthplace and home of retail giant, Walmart. However, more and more, the community, and the entire Northwest Arkansas region, is becoming recognized as a destination for cycling enthusiasts. As the pulse of the Oz Trails network, Bentonville has more than 50 miles of the region’s 200 miles of mountain bike trails. In addition, it is one of the bookends of the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Greenway — a paved 36-mile trail connecting Bentonville to Fayetteville.

In early 2016, Bentonville Parks and Recreation began exploring how to activate an area of greenspace located at a popular Razorback Greenway trailhead.

Located on North Walton Boulevard, the trailhead is visible to the 20,000 vehicles that pass by daily. Approximately 30,000 people per month use this section

24 Parks & Recreation

of the greenway, which offers access to Bentonville Bark Park, Bella Vista Lake, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Downtown Bentonville Square.

“The area was intriguing because it was so visible,” states Jon Terlouw, chairman of the Bentonville Parks and Recreation board. “With this facility be-

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ing on our city’s busiest street, we knew we wanted to provide a unique amenity.

After weeks of discussions with citizens, community leaders, trail users and staff, it just seemed like most everyone associated that piece of property as the entry to the Slaughter Pen Mountain Bike Trails,” says Terlouw. “It made sense we do something that capitalized on our community’s passion for bicycles.”

Bentonville Parks and Recreation staff approached John Hunter of Progressive Bike Ramps to brainstorm for creative ideas. “Bentonville was familiar with our pump tracks, but they were searching for something more,” says Hunter. So, Progressive Bike Ramps introduced the

Bentonville team to a concept that it currently had in design: a playground for children on bicycles. The playground would include a starting line, ramps, bridges, tunnels and a centralized finish line. “Our team had worked on this for some time, but we were not sure exactly where to introduce the concept,” Hunter adds. “When we learned Bentonville was searching for something like this and actually had a location established for it, we were ecstatic!”

The Bentonville Parks and Recreation board unanimously approved the concept, and the city council and local cycling enthusiasts also supported the idea; however, reality hit during discussions with the municipal department. The 2016 budget year did not include funding for the project. “Our plan was to include it in the 2017 capital plan, but, lucky for us, our community had a different idea,” says Terlouw.

In November 2016, Bentonville hosted the annual International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) World Summit. Two local organizations, Visit Bentonville and the Walton Family Foundation, worked with IMBA to host this event. When word of the new facility reached Visit Bentonville’s CEO, Kalene Griffith, she expressed her desire to have the bike playground in place before the event. “Visit Bentonville knew this facility was being built for the residents of our community and Northwest Arkansas,” Griffith explains, “but this [was] something we wanted to show cyclists from around the world. We loved this idea that Bentonville would be the first city in our country to have one of these fantastic amenities.” It was decided that Visit Bentonville and the Walton Family Foundation would provide grants to Bentonville Parks and Recreation to build the facility, with the stipulation that construction would be completed prior to the IMBA World Summit.

Progressive Bike Ramps and Bentonville Parks and Recreation immediately went to work on finalizing plans and getting construction underway. While Progressive Bike Ramps built the bicycle playground, Bentonville Parks and Recreation added amenities such as trees, landscaping, picnic tables and benches.

“The desire [was] to have a location where parents have a comfortable place to watch their children on the new playground,” says Terlouw. “We asked our team to provide the soft infrastructure amenities that would complete this new amenity.” As a result, the department planted 40 5- to 6-foot-tall caliper trees to provide shade for and add color to the park.

The new bicycle playground opened November 5, 2016, one week prior to the IMBA World Summit. Approximately 250 citizens attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Our community loves it!” says Terlouw. “The way this project came together was just amazing.” As Bentonville Parks and Recreation celebrates a successful project, the real celebration comes in the form of

people using the new facility. An unusually warm winter resulted in a very high usage rate during a time of year when most people choose to be indoors,” Terlouw adds. “We will see if this trend continues, but since this opened, it has certainly been our most popular playground.”

David Wright is the Director of Bentonville Parks and Recreation (dwright@ bentonvillear.com).

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ADVOCACY

Introducing the New Park Champion Toolkit!

By Jayni Rasmussen

I

t’s go time. As the NRPA Public Policy team wrote about in our most recent Open Space blog post, many of the critical federal programs that benefit parks and recreation are at risk of being cut or eliminated. These programs, such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Community Development Block Program, TIGER grants and USDA meal programs, represent billions of dollars in funding available to local and regional park and recreation agencies. Without this funding, many agencies would be unable to leverage the local support necessary to make their park projects possible.

We need you to step up for the future of parks and recreation by joining the Park Champion initiative. You can help save these programs by inviting your members of Congress to your next event and showing them first-hand how important parks and recreation is to your community.

Do you have an exciting event like a park dedication, program kickoff, Memorial Day, Kids to Parks Day, National Trails Day event or a Park and Recreation Month celebration?

It is easier than ever to invite your members of Congress to these events with NRPA’s new, interactive Park Champion Advocacy Toolkit. This step-

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by-step guide walks you through the process and only takes a few moments to make a big difference for the future of parks and recreation.

Check out the toolkit now at www. nrpa.org/park-champions.

Host your members of Congress at an event by August 31 to be eligible for the Park Champion of the Year Award. The recipient of this award will receive recognition at NRPA’s Annual Conference in New Orleans and round-trip flights and lodging for two staff members in your agency to come to Washington, D.C., in spring 2018 to advocate for parks and recreation on Capitol Hill. Have you already hosted your members of Congress at your agency this year? Tell

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us about it using the form on the toolkit page to enter your event for consideration.

If you need any help planning your Park Champion event, I am always available to assist. Reach out to me anytime via email at jrasmussen@nrpa.org or by calling 440-522-9162.

Jayni Rasmussen is NRPA’s Advocacy and Outreach Manager (jrasmussen@nrpa.org).

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Transportation Planning Must Mitigate Park Impacts

By James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D.

I

n light of ongoing calls for increased federal spending on infrastructure projects, parks and recreation should be familiar with the regulations and administrative process associated with Section 4(f). As illustrated by the case study described herein, Section 4(f) plays an integral role in the overall environmental review process when a federally funded transportation project impacts public park and recreation properties (see the Federal Highway Administration’s Environmental Review Tool Kit - https://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/4f/index.asp).

Pursuant to Section 4(f) of the Transportation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 303(c), when a federally funded transportation project requires the use of publicly owned park or recreation land, the Secretary of Transportation must determine that “there is no prudent and feasible alternative to using that land.” If there is no “prudent and feasible alternative” to using public park and recreation land, the secretary must ensure that the project includes “all possible planning to minimize harm” resulting from use of the land for a transportation project.

A park avoidance alternative is not fea28 Parks & Recreation

sible if it “cannot be built as a matter of sound engineering judgment.” A park avoidance alternative would be considered “not prudent” if it is “unreasonable to proceed with the project in light of its stated purpose and need,” or it “results in unacceptable safety or operational problems.”

After “reasonable mitigation,” a project would be considered “not prudent” if it still caused any of the following: (A) Severe social, economic or environmental impacts; (B) Severe disruption to established communities; (C) Severe disproportionate impacts to mi-

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nority or low income populations; or (D) Severe impacts to environmental resources protected under other Federal statutes.

Minimize Adverse Impacts Reasonable measures identified in the Section 4(f) evaluation to minimize harm or mitigate for adverse impacts and effects on public park and recreation lands could include “design modifications or design goals, replacement of land or facilities of comparable value and function, or monetary compensation to enhance the remaining property or to mitigate the adverse impacts of the project in other ways.”

To evaluate the reasonableness of possible remedial measures to affect the “least possible harm” to public park and recreation lands, Section 4(f) regulations require the secretary to balance the following factors:

(i) The ability to mitigate adverse impacts to each Section 4(f) property (including any measures that result in benefits to the property); (ii) The relative severity of the remaining harm, after mitigation, to the protected activities, attributes, or features that qualify each Section 4(f) property for protection; (iii) The relative significance of each Section 4(f) property; (iv) The views of the official(s) with jurisdiction over each Section 4(f) property; (v) The degree to which each alternative meets the purpose and need for the project; (vi) After reasonable mitigation, the magnitude of any adverse impacts to resources not protected by Section 4(f); and (vii) Substantial differences in costs among the alternatives 23 C.F.R. § 774.3(c)(1).

The regulatory intent of such balancing is to total “the harm caused by each alternate route to Section 4(f) areas” and select “the option which does the least harm.” That being said, the secretary is “free to choose among alternatives which cause substantially equal damage to parks or historic sites.”

Supreme Court Precedent In the landmark case of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971), the Supreme Court of the United States recognized that the language of Section 4(f) is “a plain and explicit bar to the use of federal funds for construction of highways through parks — only the most unusual situations are exempted.”

As characterized by the Supreme Court, Section 4(f) was “Congress’s response to growing public concern over the preservation of our nation’s parklands, recreation areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and historic sites.”

Accordingly, Congress provided “clear and specific directives” for the construction of federally funded roads and

highways through public lands to ensure “paramount consideration” be given to land protected by Section 4(f).

Given economic realities, Congress had recognized the political vulnerability of public parkland and the need to enact “so high a bar” in Section 4(f) to preserve these lands: In most cases considerations of cost, directness of route, and community disruption will indicate that parkland should be used for highway construction whenever possible.

There will always be a smaller outlay required from the public purse when parkland is used since the public already owns the land and there will be no need to pay for right-of-way.

And since people do not live or work in parks, if a highway is built on parkland no one will have to leave his home or give up his business.

Bridge Project 4(F) Case Study In the case of Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, 2017 U.S. App. LEX-

whose mission is “to protect the water, soil, air, native flora and fauna upon which all the Earth’s creatures depend on for survival.” Many of its members regularly visit the Halpatiokee Trail to hike, sightsee and take pictures.

District Court Complaint In its complaint, Conservation Alliance claimed the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had violated Section 4(f) by failing to identify and adopt, as “feasible and prudent,” a bridge project alternative which would “completely avoid the use” of Section 4(f) properties.

The avoidance alternative preferred by the Conservation Alliance (Alternative 6A) would have involved “spliced-beam support structures” for the proposed bridge. Spliced-beam construction uses multiple pre-stressed concrete beams to span longer lengths.

...when a federally funded transportation project requires the use of publicly owned park or recreation land, the Secretary of Transportation must determine that “there is no prudent and feasible alternative to using that land.”

IS 1922 (11th Cir. 2/3/2017), environmental groups challenged the Secretary of Transportation’s decision to approve a planned path for a new bridge spanning the North Fork St. Lucie River (NFSLR). The proposed bridge project would impact three properties protected under Section 4(f) — the North Fork St. Lucie River Aquatic Preserve (AP), the Savannas Preserve State Park (SPSP) and Kiwanis Park.

Plaintiff Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County is a nonprofit corporation

The FHWA had rejected this alternative because “the amount of land used for spliced-beam support structures would be far greater than pile-bent support structures, causing harm to neighboring wetland habitats.” Spliced-beam construction does not require piers in the riverbed, but would require placing footings in the wetlands on the banks of the river that are 15 times greater than the supports required for pile-bent construction.

For this particular bridge project, the FHWA had concluded pile-bent

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support structures (Alternative 1C) were “the option with the least overall harm to Section 4(f) lands.” Although Alternative 1C would use 0.02 acres of the AP and 2.14 acres of the SPSP after mitigation, the FHWA had determined that Alternative 1C had the least overall net harm because “it had fewer social impacts than any other build alternative, it had the least number of residential relocations, and it required no business relocations.”

The federal district court agreed with the FHWA. The federal district court,

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therefore, entered summary judgment in favor of the FHWA. The Conservation Alliance appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

APA Review On Appeal On appeal, the Conservation Alliance claimed the FHWA’s Section 4(f) decision was “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

In order to determine whether the agency’s decision was arbitrary and

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capricious, the federal appeals court would “consider whether the decision was based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment.” Accordingly, in this particular instance, the federal circuit court would review the administrative record to determine whether the FHWA had, indeed, considered all the relevant factors in selecting a particular alternative path for the bridge project (Alternative 1C) among the available alternatives. Further, the federal appeals court would determine whether there was a clear error in judgment when the FHWA rejected the alternative path (Alternative 6A) preferred by the Conservation Alliance for the bridge project.

Under the APA, the federal appeals court recognized “the Secretary’s decision is entitled to a presumption of regularity.” That being said, the court noted such judicial deference under the APA would “not shield his action from a thorough, probing, in-depth review” by the federal court. While judicial inquiry under the APA should be “penetrating,” the court acknowledged the APA review did not empower the court to “substitute its judgment for that of the Secretary.”

Rather, a court would set aside “agency action that is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”

In conducting an APA review of the FHWA’s decision, given the “paramount consideration” to be accorded preservation of Section 4(f) properties, the federal appeals court would “put a thumb on the scale in favor of alternatives that avoid Section 4(f) lands.” However, in this particular instance, the federal court noted, “All of the proposed paths for the new bridge would impact publicly owned land of a public park, recreation area, or wildlife and waterfowl refuge which are protected by Section 4(f).”

Selecting Preferred Alternative As noted by the appeals court, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this particular project had “candidly acknowledged that all build alternatives, including the Preferred Alternative (Alternative 1C), use at least one Section 4(f) property.” In making this determination, the Final EIS had included a Section 4(f) analysis with an extensive discussion of avoidance alternatives for both the SPSP and the AP. Moreover, in finding that no feasible and prudent avoidance alternatives existed, the FHWA had also rejected as “imprudent” the spliced-beam construction Alternative 6A favored by the Conservation Alliance.

Using spliced-beam construction would allow Alternative 6A to completely span the AP and thus avoid § 4(f) land but, on account of the larger footings, it would use more than 67 times as much wetland acreage as pile-bent construction (0.1012 acres versus 0.0015 acres).

Further, as noted by the federal appeals court, “both the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — the agency with jurisdiction over the AP and the SPSP — and the South Florida Water Management District expressed a preference for piers in the AP over additional impacts to any adjacent wetlands.” In the opinion of the court, the agencies’ preference for piers in the AP and the greater impact on adjacent wetland habitats associated with splicedbeam construction was sufficient “to deem that construction method imprudent.”

Moreover, as noted by the court, the Section 4(f) analysis had “cross-referenced other sections of the Final EIS that discussed the City’s evaluation process.” This process included a scoring system that was designed by the FHWA, the city and the FDOT. This scoring system included five categories, each

with different point totals reflecting their weight in the analysis: (1) meeting the project purpose and need (0-20 points), (2) social and community impacts (0-10 points), (3) natural environment impacts

(0-10 points), (4) physical impacts (0-5 points), and (5) project cost (0-5 points).

Scoring was done first by an independent team of consultants and then by a panel of officials from the city, the

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FDOT and the St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization (TPO). Alternative 1C received the highest score on both rounds, while Alternative 6A received the second-highest scores. This thorough scoring process contributed to the city’s selection of Alternative 1C as the LPA (Locally Preferred Alternative).

Cumulative Adverse Impacts As cited by the federal appeals court, pursuant to applicable regulations, 23 C.F.R. § 774.17, “an alternative is not prudent if it involves multiple factors that, while individually minor, cumulatively cause unique problems or impacts of extraordinary magnitude.” In this particular instance, the appeals court found the Section 4(f) analysis had detailed a series of negative impacts associated with Alternative 6A that would have a collective adverse social impact to the neighborhoods on both sides of the NFSLR, “even if design and construction issues were resolved.”

peals court noted the Supreme Court had also acknowledged, “Congress clearly did not intend that cost and disruption of the community were to be ignored.”

Applying these principles to this particular instance, the federal appeals court held that the FHWA had acted well within its discretion in concluding that the cumulative harms rendered Alternative 6A imprudent. In so doing, the federal appeals court found the Section 4(f) analysis had “yielded sound reasons” for the FHWA’s decision to reject Alternative 6A as imprudent.

Least Harmful Alternative Having concluded that “the FHWA acted within the scope of its authority in deciding that no feasible or prudent avoidance alternatives existed for avoiding Section 4(f) properties,” the federal appeals court also considered “whether the FHWA’s ultimate selection of Alternative 1C as the least-harm alternative was arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion.”

The regulatory intent of such balancing is to total “the harm caused by each alternate route to Section 4(f) areas” and select “the option which does the least harm.”

In particular, the appeals court noted the FHWA’s concerns with Alternative 6A stemmed from the route’s construction of a new six-lane highway through an established residential neighborhood.

Moreover, according to FHWA, Alternative 6A was also the only alternative with the “potential for affecting neighborhoods with a higher-than-average number of minority households.”

While the U.S. Supreme Court in “Overton Park” had recognized that “protection of parkland is to be given paramount importance,” the federal ap32 Parks & Recreation

The Section 4(f) evaluation in the Final Environmental Impact Statement had included a “least harm” analysis as required by Section 4(f). This analysis had relied on other portions of the Final EIS, and it measured the harms associated with the various build alternatives against the seven factors drawn from the applicable federal regulation, 23 C.F.R. § 774.3(c)(1): First, it considered the ability to mitigate adverse impacts to each § 4(f) resource. All of the alternatives were equal on this point, because the mitiga-

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tion plan provided for the addition of 108.55 acres to the SPSP that would more than counterbalance the acreage used by any alternative.

Second, it considered the relative severity of the remaining harm to the protected areas after mitigation. Again, all of the alternatives were equal because the mitigation plan would result in a net improvement to natural resources.

Third, it considered the relative significance of each § 4(f) property — all of the affected properties are important natural communities that provide recreational opportunities and the AP is, additionally, an important fish habitat.

Fourth, it considered the views of the officials with jurisdiction over the AP and the SPSP — in this case, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which ‘agreed that the mitigation plan compensates fully for the impacts and provides substantial benefits to the SPSP.’ Fifth, it considered the degree to which each alternative would meet the project’s purpose and need, and concluded that Alternative 1C met the project’s purpose and need more efficaciously than any other alternative.

Sixth, the least-harm analysis devoted the most time to...the magnitude of adverse impacts from each build alternative on non-§ 4(f) properties after reasonable mitigation.

Seventh, costs were determined to be substantially similar for all of the alternatives.

The Section 4(f) analysis of these factors had concluded that Alternative 1C would result in “considerably less overall non-Section 4(f) impacts compared with all other build alternatives.” Specifically, the Alternative 1C pathway for the bridge “would not pass near or through any existing neighborhoods on the east side of the river and would be aligned with existing streets on the west side of

the river.” Moreover, while Alternative 1C was the only alternative that would affect the Halpatiokee Trail, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) had endorsed a mitigation plan that would relocate the trail entrance and improve the trails, which are “unimproved” or “inundated/flooded most of the year.”

Accordingly, in the opinion of the federal appeals court, the FHWA’s decision to designate Alternative 1C as the least harmful alternative was “careful and thoughtful rather than arbitrary and capricious.”

Section 4(f) does not require the FHWA to avoid parkland at all costs, and the agency could reasonably determine that the severe social costs associated with adopting Alternative 6A far outweigh the social costs of Alternative 1C. When the collective operational, visual, noise, cohesion, mobility, access impacts to neighborhoods, and impacts on non-Section 4(f) lands are taken into account, it was reasonable for the FHWA to conclude that Alternative 6A would pose more harms than Alternative 1C. The federal appeals court, therefore, concluded, the “FHWA’s least-harm analysis was sufficient, its rationale was clearly explained, and its conclusions were reasonable, rather than arbitrary or capricious.”

mitigation strategy. As described by the appeals court, “[t]he Final EIS’s Section 4(f) evaluation included an eightpage section titled Measures to Minimize Harm, which included “four water-quality improvement projects, the addition of nearly 110 acres to the affected park land, rehabilitation of trails and other recreational opportunities, and the maintenance of all acquired lands by the FDEP.” In the opinion of the federal appeals court, “[t]he beneficial effects of these efforts well exceed the potential negative impacts of Alternative 1C, and the care with which they were considered evinces a careful and thorough analysis.”

While recognizing that Section 4(f) “requires a thumb on the scale in favor of alternatives that avoid the use of § 4(f) lands,” in this particular instance, the

federal appeals court found the FHWA had “made its calculus carefully, giving thoughtful consideration to a wide variety of factors.” In so doing, the court found the FHWA had “worked with many agencies, even those that once opposed the project, to develop remediation plans that mitigate harms to the affected areas.”

Having found “the FHWA was not arbitrary or capricious in choosing Alternative 1C,” the federal appeals court affirmed the federal district court’s grant of final summary judgment to the FHWA. James C. Kozlowski, J.D., Ph.D., is an Attorney and Associate Professor in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia (jkozlows@gmu. edu). Webpage with link to law review articles archive (1982 to present): http://mason.gmu. edu/~jkozlows.

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Compensatory Mitigation Strategy Further, as required by Section 4(f), the appeals court found the “FHWA’s planning included careful consideration of reasonable measures to mitigate harm.” In this particular instance, the FHWA had worked with the city, the Army Corps, the EPA, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to develop a compensatory

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FUTURE LEADERS

that can help a young park and recreation manager achieve respect in the workplace, and a thorough understanding of these traits is essential to professional growth: Keep the ego in check: Many young leaders feel a sense of entitlement after being hired or promoted to a high-level position. While an advanced degree and a larger paycheck should most certainly inspire self-confidence, it should not result in arrogance. Young leisure professionals must remember that they do not know everything about every situation, or more importantly, do not know more than everyone else. In order to achieve the respect of one’s peers, it’s imperative to remain humble and teachable throughout the early stages of one’s career.

From Young Professional to Respected Leader Navigating the park and recreation career ladder

By Richard Fink II, CPRE

I

t’s your first time being hired or promoted to a manager-level position, and you could not be more excited. All of the time spent completing a degree and building a résumé has finally paid off. Now is the chance to share new ideas and fresh perspectives with the world, but are others truly ready to accept direction from a young professional?

Age-related skepticism and discrimination are among the greatest challenges a young park and recreation leader will face.

Research on the links between age and organizational leadership indicates that one of the primary reasons younger managers are rejected by subordinates is because of a perceived lack of expertise and judgment.

According to a Harvard Business Review 34 Parks & Recreation

study, employees who are hired or promoted to managerial positions at a young age tend to be viewed by colleagues as unreliable, inexperienced and insensitive. While this can be deflating to the ambitious Millennial, the same study also recognizes that talented young leaders are more than capable of stepping into key roles.

There are several important characteristics

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Advocate for yourself: Young park professionals find it challenging to speak up for themselves. Perhaps because of a lack of self-confidence or an awareness of rank in the workplace, most new managers fail to articulate their needs to their employer. It is important to remember that a job contract is a two-way agreement. The employee provides a service to the organization and, in exchange, receives a variety of benefits. Whether it’s additional assistance with a project, a training opportunity or support with a family issue, the only way to gain support is to assert yourself and simply ask questions.

Learn to say no: These days, park and recreation professionals are expected to do more work in less time, while producing greater results with fewer resources. Young leaders tend to agree to these demands because they want to be a team player and prove their worth.

Learning when to say no is essential to career growth and can allow new managers to focus on their core goals. Take time to assess requests before committing to additional tasks. If a project does not contribute

toward fundamental work responsibilities, provide honest feedback and offer alternative solutions to help resolve the situation.

Find a great mentor: A mentor can have tremendous impact on self-confidence and career progression. Not only do great advisers provide long-term guidance and accountability, but they also hold a young professional accountable in ways that a supervisor cannot. When seeking the appropriate mentor, it’s important to look for someone who has significant experience in parks and recreation, as well as the ability to challenge you. NRPA offers a mentorship network through its Young Professionals Fellowship program, which is offered annually to four outstanding individuals under the age of 35. Many leaders in the field have benefited from this opportunity, and the application process only involves a short essay.

Have a goal and know how to get there: Setting realistic and challenging goals is crucial to professional success. By having a stated objective, young managers can gain direction for their work while also receiving reminders on what still needs to be accomplished. If the end goal is to become a park and rec director, take a look at available executive opportunities and see what skills the jobs require that you currently do not possess. Knowing that you need five more years of experience and accreditation as a certified park and recreation professional can help frame a work plan for the foreseeable future. As the process of working toward a goal unfolds, young leaders will find that achievement of small milestones along the way provides motivation and greater contentment.

Being a “young” leader in parks and recreation is challenging. Ageism, an

experienced workforce and increased competition make opportunities for growth very difficult. Despite these roadblocks, success as a young manager is very achievable. Learning how to carry oneself in the workplace, identifying development opportunities and asking for assistance are essential to evolution as a park and recreation professional.

Community demographics and constituents’ needs are rapidly changing across the country, and more municipalities will rely on talented Millennials to direct their leisure services. It’s up to you as a young professional to decide whether you will be one of the field’s next great leaders.

Richard Fink II, CPRE, is the Superintendent of Parks & Grounds for the City of Greenbelt, Maryland (rfink@greenbeltmd.gov).

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How Kids Learn in Nature

By Rachel Szczytko and and Kathryn Stevenson, Ph.D.

R

ecreationists and researchers agree that everyone benefits from being outside. It is especially important for today’s youth, who are facing more urbanization, more environmental problems and more technology, while having less access and exposure to the natural world.

There is a robust and quickly growing body of research that supports the health, social, emotional, academic and behavioral benefits for children when they spend time outside. Researchers at North Carolina State University are especially interested in the benefits nature has for environmental literacy, since building kids’ environmental literacy and connection with nature could secure a healthier, more sustainable future. The researchers posed the following questions to find out what works best: Do kids learn better inside or outside?

Working with schools is one of the best ways to get kids involved with nature. Research has shown that having 36 Parks & Recreation

trees outside classroom windows can improve attention and test scores. Curricula that integrate the environment in meaningful ways also do this to an even greater degree, especially among students from low socioeconomic and minority backgrounds. In addition, NC State University researchers have found that kids who go outside during class time are more likely to have pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors.

So, what does this mean for parks?

Park professionals can help communicate this message to schools and provide opportunities, such as facilitating school field trips to parks, to get kids outside during the school day. It may be the best chance we have to reach every child.

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Does the “wildness” of nature matter?

The word “nature” can have a different connotation based on a person’s culture, history and current climate.

However, when it comes to outdoor learning, not all nature is created equal. Does the nature in your front lawn or at a local park provide the most benefits? Preliminary research at NC State has shown that nature that is more “wild” — that is, less human-maintained with native vegetation — is better for increasing a child’s curiosity and interest in nature. Playing in manicured nature, such as short cut grass on a park field, does not elicit the same excitement for science and nature as playing in nature that has grown wild. This does not mean kids have to learn in a national park, but an unmown field is better than a manicured lawn, and a natural play space is better than a traditional playground.

How can we best encourage kids to connect with nature outside of school?

Although schools represent a big opportunity for reaching children, kids spend most of their time outside of schools, so it is important to consider how to set children up for a lifetime of engaging with nature. Throughout our lifetime, we will engage with nature not only of different types, but also for different lengths of time and purposes.

Nature needs to be experienced alone as well as with others. The researchers at NC State have found that students who spend time outside alone on a weekly basis only feel connected to nature if they are also frequently experiencing it in a group setting, like camping or playing sports outside.

Applications We know there are lots of opportunities for connecting kids with nature and the benefits of doing so are incredibly important. We also know that we should do what we can to promote time in nature, both in and out of school. So, what are some specific ways to incorporate this knowledge into everyday use?

Partner with schools Programs for children in and out of school can look to nearby parks to engage with nature. Local parks and public lands provide untamed natural spaces where students can explore. Although it is important to support green schoolyard programs, such as the Children and Nature Network initiative, park and recreation managers can reach out to teachers to provide opportunities for nearby nature field trips, afterschool programs or regular class-time events.

Create wild natural environments Lawns are good for sports, but they do not let children reap the benefits of the

natural world. Children need spaces that encourage exploration, engagement and learning with nature itself. Rather than an even, manicured lawn, kids should have time in outdoor spaces that mimic untouched nature as much as possible. An area like this might have tall grasses and shrubs with natural slopes, fallen logs and rocks.

macroinvertebrates and allow for personal time to explore wild areas, build forts, roll over logs or dig in the dirt.

Park and recreation professionals are uniquely positioned to help ensure every child has the chance to connect with nature and reap its benefits. Consider taking a few of these steps to make this vision a reality.

Offer multiple options for nature experiences Promoting regular nature activities can help people engage more with the natural world. Programs in parks and at recreation centers can encourage multiple experiences, such as family stream investigations of

Rachel Szczytko is a Master of Science Student in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University (reszczyt@ncsu.edu). Kathryn Stevenson, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at North Carolina State University (kathryn_stevenson@ncsu.edu).

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Photo courtesy of the National Council on Aging

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Empowering Older Adults to Age Out Loud!

By Chelsea Gilchrist and Lesha Spencer-Brown

E

ach May, we observe Older Americans Month, a celebration led by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This year’s theme, “Age Out Loud,” seeks to amplify the voices of older adults on issues, such as arthritis and fall injuries, that prevent them from living full, healthy lives and maintaining their independence. With the number of older Americans expected to increase from 46 million in 2014 to 98 million by 2060, it is imperative that we engage older adults in our communities and empower them to be healthy and independent.

Arthritis, a chronic disease characterized by joint pain, swelling and stiffness, affects one in four (53 million) adults.

The risk of developing arthritis increases with age: nearly half of Americans 65 and older suffer from the disease. Impaired joint function in the hands, wrists, knees, hips or parts of the spine can significantly limit an older adult’s mobility, balance and ability to perform daily tasks.

Decreased physical activity increases the risk of other chronic diseases, including heart disease and diabetes. Studies show that older adults with arthritis also expe-

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rience 30 percent more falls than adults without arthritis and are more prone to injuries. Adults with arthritis can reduce their symptoms, prevent falls and improve overall health by participating in evidence-based health promotion programs, such as physical activity, chronic disease self-management and fall-prevention programs.

Physical activity programs, such as Walk With Ease, Fit & Strong!, EnhanceFitness and Tai Chi for Arthritis, are designed to help older adults manage and reduce symptoms of arthritis. Engaging in

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these physical activity programs can help older adults protect their joints, improve their muscle strength, endurance and balance, and reduce their risk of falling.

Another program that has helped people with chronic conditions, like arthritis, manage their health and improve their quality of life is the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP).

CDSMP participants gain the confidence and skills they need to take control of symptoms like pain and fatigue, manage their medications and effectively communicate with their healthcare providers.

Local park and recreation departments are uniquely positioned to offer these health promotion programs for older adults who live in their communities.

For the past four years, more than 140 local park and recreation departments (http://www.nrpa.org/our-work/partnerships/initiatives/arthritis-interventions/) across 46 states and American

territories have successfully engaged almost 6,000 older adults in physical activity programs.

“Our participants bond together as a group to support and encourage each other,” says Cheryl Fischer, a Walk With Ease instructor at Arizona’s City of Mesa Parks, Recreation and Community facilities. “I’ve seen the success of the Walk With Ease program by taking a person with arthritis, or an inactive person, from an entry level of exercise to a more functional level of exercise through walking. The participant book was well written and provided a lot of information and guidance,” she adds.

Cindy Allen, a Walk With Ease instructor at Shelbyville Parks in Shelbyville, Tennessee, noted one of their Walk With Ease program participants could only walk two laps with her walker on the first day, but by the end of the six-week session was able to walk over a mile in 30 minutes.

Many resources are available to offer these programs to older adults in your community. Below is some information about a few resources to help get you started: • Select a program that best fits the goals of your organization and the needs of your community (https://www.ncoa. org/resources/ebpchart/): This chart of evidence-based, health-promotion programs provides information about program goals, training requirements, costs and more.

• Develop a step-by-step plan to successfully implement a program (https://www.ncoa.org/center-for-healthy-aging/ basics-of-evidence-based-programs/): These resources offer a step-by-step approach to help with each part of the process, from planning to outreach and sustainability.

• Partner with state and local organizations: The Administration for Community Living has funded state agencies and community organizations to implement evidence-based CDSME and falls prevention programs. Connect with a CDSME (https://www.ncoa.org/center-for-healthy-aging/cdsme-resource-center/meet-the-cdsme-grantees/) or falls prevention (https://www.ncoa.org/center-for-healthy-aging/falls-resource-center/falls-prevention-grantee-profiles/) grantee in your state to attend a local program leader training, learn best program practices, and recruit older adult participants.

• Partner with state and local falls prevention coalitions (https://www.ncoa.org/resources/list-of-state-falls-prevention-coalitions/): Falls prevention coalition members have a common goal of reducing older adult falls, fall-related injuries and deaths in their communities or states. Members educate older adults about strategies to prevent falls and connect them with community falls prevention programs.

• View and share resources from the National CDSME Resource Center (https://www.ncoa.org/center-for-healthy

aging/cdsme-resource-center/) and the National Falls Prevention Resource Center (https://www.ncoa.org/center-for-healthy-aging/falls-resource-center/) to educate older adults about how they can manage chronic conditions, like arthritis, and prevent falls.

Join us in celebrating Older Americans Month, and make the commitment to empower older adults through evidence-based programing for improved health and quality of life.

Detailed references for this article are available at www.parksandrecreation.org/2017/May/Empowering-Older-Adults-to-Age-Out-Loud.

Chelsea Gilchrist is a Program Associate at the National Falls Prevention Resource Center (chelsea.gilchrist@ncoa.org). Lesha Spencer-Brown is NRPA’s Health & Wellness Program Manager (lspencer@nrpa.org).

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SOCIAL EQUITY Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Health Equity

By James M. Weinstein, M.D., and Robert García

A

new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine reinforces the importance of NRPA’s role and its Three Pillars: Conservation, Health and Wellness, and Social Equity. The report, titled Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity, aligns with NRPA’s goals and outlines strategies to advance health equity across the country, including increasing access to parks, open spaces and recreation.

We were privileged to be part of the National Academies Committee on Community-Based Solutions to Promote Health Equity, which authored the report. Our Committee explored the root causes of health inequity and health disparities, and the impact that such inequities and disparities have, not just on the individuals and families affected, but also on our nation as a whole.

Sadly, in the United States, many communities lack sufficient access to parks

and open space, quality education, safe and affordable housing, jobs, adequate transit and healthy food options. These are necessary conditions and opportunities for people to fully thrive.

Our report recommends strategies for communities to consider, and the key action needed to strengthen evidence-based solutions to reduce health disparities and promote health equity. It emphasizes the need to make health equity a shared vision and value, to build trust and ca-

Marianne Engelman Lado, clinical professor of law at Yale Law School, testified before the committee on environmental justice, health and civil rights compliance.

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pacity in the community, to develop youth leadership, and to foster multisector collaboration to improve social determinants and promote healthier, more equitable communities where people live, learn, play, work and age.

In brief, the committee reports the following: 1. Health equity is crucial for the well-being and vibrancy of communities.

2. Health is a product of multiple social determinants.

3. Health inequities are in large part a result of poverty and disparities in income and wealth, structural racism and discrimination.

4. Communities have the capacity to promote health equity.

5. Supportive public and private policies and programs facilitate community action.

6. Collaboration among diverse partners is essential to promote health equity.

7. Tools and other resources, including civil rights strategies, exist to translate knowledge into action.

The report emphasizes that access to parks, recreation areas and monuments is a social determinant of health. It features community alliances working with the National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the city of Los Angeles, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, the L.A. Unified School District, and park and resource funding measures by the state of California and L.A. County.

It is the committee’s hope that the report will inform, educate and, ultimate-

nants of health through investments in low-income and minority communities To see all of the recommendations and key findings, or to download a copy of the complete report or comic, go to www.nationalacademies.org/promotehealthequity.

The report addresses community-based solutions to promote health equity focused on health and wellness, as well as on state and local laws and policies. This is vital in light of current discussions in Washington about cutting back federal safety net protections; eliminating federal funding for data based on race, color or national origin in fair housing determinations; and repealing the Affordable Care Act. We the people, the states and the courts must promote health equity in the face of disarray in the administration and Congress.

James N. Weinstein, M.D., is CEO and President of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System, and Chair of the National Academies Committee (james.n.weinstein@hitchcock.org). Robert García is Founding Director and Counsel of The City Project/Proyecto del Pueblo and a Community Faculty Member at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (rgarcia@cityprojectca.org).

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ly, inspire others to join in efforts across the nation so that people in all communities can enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, undeterred by poor health. To that end, the report highlights eight organizations as examples of community solutions to promote health equity: WE ACT for Environmental Justice in Harlem; Blueprint for Action in Minneapolis; Delta Health Center in Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Eastside Promises Neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas; Indianapolis Congregation Action Network; Magnolia Community Initiative in Los Angeles; Mandela Marketplace in Oakland; and People United for Sustainable Housing in Buffalo, New York.

The National Academies published their first-ever comic book to reach out to make the struggle for health equity captivating and accessible to all — especially to younger generations.

Comic pages — filled with bright colors, interesting images and striking text — can provoke interest, inspire readers to learn more and direct a wider audience to the full report that it otherwise might never have uncovered.

Using civil rights strategies to promote health equity can guard against unjustified and unnecessary discriminatory impacts and implicit bias in programs that affect health. The report also recognizes that to address health disparities affecting Native Americans, it is essential to understand the unique historical and legal context of Native American communities in the United States.

Among the report’s recommendations is one that seeks to make issues of health equity and, particularly, access to parks, recreation, open spaces and healthy environments, a key element of all government agencies’ planning around land use, housing, transportation and other areas that affect populations at high risk of health inequity.

The report also recommends that foundations and others support community interventions to promote health equity by: • Supporting community organizing around important social determinants of health • Supporting community capacity building • Supporting education, compliance and enforcement related to civil rights laws.

• Prioritizing health equity and equity in the social determi-

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Parks Using Technology to Engage and Inspire

By Tom Dellner

I

magine a citywide system of smart parks. Visitors entering parks from their residences or urban work spaces, remaining seamlessly connected by Wi-Fi to their devices and, by extension, their families and work responsibilities, as they enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. Park users learning about, and registering for, park events and activities from smartphone apps or interactive digital displays. Children playing longer and more vigorously on smart playgrounds linked to gaming apps on

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their parents’ phones, which have been fully charged on a solar-powered park bench. Other kids of all ages using Pokemon GO-like apps to engage with, learn about and develop a connection with the outdoors, all while developing a lifelong love of parks and nature as they play.

It’s anything but a futuristic vision. All these capabilities, and many more, exist today, and they may be more affordable and easily implemented than you might think.

But first, does technology even belong in a park?

The Great Tech Debate There remains a contingent of purists among park professionals — those who believe that technology has no place in a park, which should be a refuge, a place to escape from the fast pace of our tech-driven lives.

Edward Krafcik, director of partnerships and business development at SOOFA, makers of a solar-powered phone-charging bench, encounters the tech naysayers fairly regularly, but he believes they comprise an ever-diminishing minority. “Many others are starting to question what happens if we refuse to provide services that are expected or demanded by the connected generation. Do we miss out on engaging an entire generation with our parks?” he asks.

Mark Saferstein, of the American Park Network, which provides Wi-Fi services to parks, agrees. “I think the conversation about parks and technology is much like those we’ve had before as technology has encroached on other settings,” he says. “There’s an initial resistance to change, then a begrudging acceptance, then quickly comes the time when you wonder how you ever got along without it.”

A.P. Diaz, executive officer and chief of staff for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, says, “Parks simply can’t afford to stand pat and expect to remain relevant and competitive in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world. In L.A., we are quickly moving forward on technology and helping our visitors be more connected and engaged, and perhaps, we’re challenging traditional definitions of recreation in what we offer. But, I think as long as we are mindful of not inappropriately crossing the line so that a park is no longer recognizable as a park, we’ll be able to maintain the right balance and convert many of the naysayers by demonstrating that technology is a tool that can enhance the park experience.”

Advantages — Obvious and Less So Today’s most common tech-based services come with fairly obvious advantages. Wi-Fi allows the always-connected consumer to maintain their online lifestyle inside the boundaries of a park, engaging with media — social and otherwise — and staying in touch with work and family. Charging benches are welcomed amenities that keep those smart devices up and running. Proprietary, park-designed apps can educate visitors about activities in a particular park, as well as others in the system that the visitor wasn’t even aware of, and give them the opportunity to register for events or reserve space. A new

app that has been proven to be successful in Los Angeles allows park visitors to alert staff to areas of the park that require immediate maintenance or cleaning. This helps the parks more efficiently handle these issues and demonstrates to visitors the responsiveness and dedication of the park maintenance staff.

A less obvious benefit of technology is the vast amount of data that many of these services can provide park agencies. Sensors on the SOOFA charging benches track smartphone hotspot searches, which can yield valuable attendance and usage data. The data can be used to establish baseline usage patterns, which can then be compared to data from special events or when new capital improvements are added. “Now, you can begin to ask whether a newly installed dog park or playground is getting the anticipated use,” says Krafcik. “‘Are they successful?’

‘Should we make changes?’ Now we have a data-driven framework to begin to answer these questions.”

Wi-Fi networks can deliver extremely valuable information about how people are using the network. This can give park staff important demographic data regarding their visitors or reveal potential new marketing channels based on the visitors’ online activity. Camera vision technology on light poles along paths can document and distinguish between walkers, runners and cyclists, which is data agencies couldn’t easily access before. Even traditional information-gathering tools, like surveys, can be made much more effective and generate a far greater response rate when attached to an app or interactive digital platform.

A park ranger for the city of Los Angeles demonstrates Discovery Agents’ “Mission Maker,” an app-based game designed to get kids out in nature.

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Solar-powered charging benches, like the one developed

by Soofa, are bringing parks and technology together.

Social media provides a wealth of benefits all its own. It can serve as its very own marketing and promotion channel. As visitors share their photos and comments about the great time they are having, they motivate their friends and followers to join in on the fun. Even if someone is unable to drop what they are doing and head to the park, the seed of a future park-goer has been planted. The unique Flying Shard art exhibit in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles is a great example. The spectacular, massive, moving sculpture went viral on social media. Photos and comments drove thousands to attend the exhibit and to visit Pershing Square during and after the exhibit. People drove in from the suburbs and workers in adjoining office buildings visited the park for the very first time because of the social media coverage.

Larger parks are even using social media as “crowdsourced, data-gathering tools” to help track the movement of wildlife throughout the park or to document the effects of climate change on vegetation patterns.

Technology is also a wonderful way to bring social equity to the park system. Computer banks in youth or senior centers can teach valuable skills to underserved populations. Wi-Fi in neighborhood parks can provide free internet connection in parts of the com44 Parks & Recreation 44 Parks & | M Recreation A Y 2 0 1 7 | | WMWA W Y . 2P0A1R7K S| AWNWDW R .EPCARREKASTAI O NN D .ROE RC GR E A T I O N . O R G

munity where it is otherwise scarce. App-based gaming systems, like the ones described below, are being made available in multiple languages and are being refined to put physically or emotionally challenged children at the center of play.

Engaged Kids Of course, kids are thrilled to be able to use their beloved devices in a park. Indeed, it may often be what is required to get them to willingly go to a park in the first place. Several innovative companies are already using those screens in parks for more noble purposes. For example, in St. Petersburg, Florida, the parks and recreation department is working on a virtual application that will link all of its archeological parks together.

“The ultimate goal of this project is that when a patron visits one of our archeological parks, they will be able to use their smart device to open an application that will allow them to see the site in real time, with an artist’s rendition of what that site would have looked like during the time Indians inhabited the area,” says Bryan Eichler, parks and recreation manager for St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation.

Along with the visual component, the app will pull up information, articles and pictures of artifacts associated

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of the outdoors, before getting back to the game. That’s all part of the magic.”

Research has shown that these interactive games are not only a marvelously effective learning tool, but also cause kids to play longer, harder and more often. In addition, parents can access a dashboard showing their children’s physical activity profile, and parks are provided with a wealth of data, including usage patterns, distance walked, and challenges engaged with and solved.

A child plays on a “smart playground” that uses app-based games in conjunction with the equipment.

with the particular site, as well as locations of additional sites of interest (for an example of this technology, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK2z-TxHINM).

“We hope to work with local schools so they can use this resource as a teaching tool through our website and then actually visit the sites for an up-close experience,” Eichler adds.

In the past three years, augmented reality games have also come to local playgrounds. More than 200 “smart playgrounds” that use app-based games in conjunction with playground equipment have been deployed across the United States by a company called Play Biba. Whether children are playing on Biba-powered equipment or equipment that has been converted into a smart playground, their parents simply have to open up an app that allows the children to play age-appropriate, interactive, imagination-fueled games. Other app-based games, such as Discovery Agents’ “Mission Maker,” promote getting kids out in nature and learning, and allow park staff to customize “missions” based on the features of the park. These missions use geo-triggered content, and challenges may center on the geographic landscape of a particular park.

“We work with local schools to create grade-specific missions that are aligned with the schools’ curriculum,” says Ed Mastro, exhibit director at L.A.’s Cabrillo Beach.

“Our park becomes an extension of the classroom. I’ve seen the ‘a-ha’ moments as the kids work through the game and solve challenges. It’s not tied to a teacher or a classroom; it’s tied to nature. And, you can see them getting distracted by the birds and flowers and other aspects 46 Parks & Recreation

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Challenges of Implementation The experts offer a number of practices for best implementing technology-based programs. Perhaps the most universal is not to think the project is complete once it’s operational. “These are not ‘set it and forget it’ endeavors,” says Saferstein. “They must be maintained, for one thing. The worst thing you can do is offer a service and then take it away. Also, if you are going to implement a system, utilize it to its full advantage.

Again and again, I’ve gone to a park director to follow up on his or her newly installed Wi-Fi system, and I ask about the user interface and how they are using it to interact with the park visitor. They are often blindsided by these questions.”

Krafcik agrees. “Don’t deem something a success just because it’s been implemented. Gather some data, analyze it and follow it through to an outcome — maybe something as simple as assessing the success of a special event,” he says. “But when you do that, you’re integrating the new system into your workflow and really bringing the innovation to life.”

Perhaps the greatest obstacle is overcoming the resistance to change.

“Any new endeavor seems daunting at the beginning,” says Diaz. “Technology especially can be overwhelming. So for us, the first step is always gaining knowledge, which is one of the reasons it’s so important for park agencies to be in communication with one another.

Then we set attainable goals.

“But it really comes down to not being afraid to try something. In L.A., our motto has always been to just try it. If it doesn’t work, what’s the worst thing that happens? You just pull it back. But it might be fantastic and engage park users and make parks more fun, interesting and relevant, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Tom Dellner is a Freelance Writer, based in Dana Point, California (tdell@yahoo.com).

Key Biscayne Parks and Recreation Protects Its Citizens from Severe Weather

By Elizabeth Carp

L

ightning and severe weather is a concern for most park and recreation directors, but in Florida, where lightning persists all year round, it is critical. Key Biscayne Parks and Recreation began its search for a lightning protection system in 2011 after lightning strikes on Florida’s beaches injured and killed several people.

Solution: Real-Time Weather Info After exploring all the available solutions, Key Biscayne Parks and Recreation chose a comprehensive severe weather and lightning detection system from Earth Networks to protect its beach park, village green, community center, pool and school athletic fields. Five horns are installed throughout the community to audibly and visibly alert the public when lightning approaches the vicinity. In addition, a powerful weather visualization dashboard enables park and recreation staff, the fire de

partment, police and schools to track storms and activate public safety plans with extended lead times. A weather station with a camera reports real-time conditions to the community on a 24/7 basis.

“Before we installed our Earth Networks system, the various park and school sites were all getting their weather forecasts from different sources, there was no consistent source of information, and no way to enforce our ‘dangerous weather’ policies,” says Todd Hofferberth, director of Key Biscayne Parks and Recreation. “Now, we have real-time weather info coming in from each site, automated lightning alerts that inform our community of dangerous conditions, and notifications on mobile devices that enable us to centrally manage public safety policies across facilities.”

Elizabeth Carp is the Marketing Manager for Earth Networks (ecarp@earthnetworks.com).

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Finding the Right Fit Designing trails using automatic counters in Sioux Falls

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hen it comes to managing trails and parks, data matters. Trail user count data can inform a wide range of decisions, from designing trail widths to scheduling maintenance. At the City of Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department, trail user data collected by automatic counters has increased the quality of design and provided valuable evidence for making trail planning decisions.

Manual counts, usually performed several times a year, lacked the frequency and duration needed to properly understand year-round trail usage. “In Sioux Falls, we have over 30 miles of shared use trails, including a 20-mile continuous loop that circles the city,” explains Mike Patten, park development specialist. “We know the trail system is one of our most popular facilities, but we really wanted to understand the nuts and bolts of how it is utilized.” This past year, Sioux Falls recorded approximately 1 million people on the city’s trail system after installing six automatic counters.

Continuous year-round counts are utilized to help plan trail reconstruction projects, locate new access

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points and trails spur expansions, and guide the design for trail widths with greater accuracy. Accurate data on how many cyclists and pedestrians use the trail loop has proved invaluable to trail design and construction. The counters designed by Eco-Counter®, specialists in active transportation monitoring for over 15 years, record the ratio of cyclists to pedestrians and direction of travel.

“Trail counter data helps justify wider widths in an area where we have a lot of usage by both pedestrians and cyclists,” states Patten. Detailed data on pedestrian and cyclist traffic is used in models to accurately size the width of trails and avoid conflicts. In combination with the Shared-Use Path Level of Service Calculator provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, count data helps to improve safety and user experience.

In the future, count data will continue to help to accurately size and justify when and where to do trail improvements projects in Sioux Falls. “Counts have really allowed us to hone in on the correct size for the trails, it has been very beneficial for us,” adds Patten.

Jump Start Data-Driven Parks Management Innovation often starts small with big results. Including automatic counters in a park and recreation data toolkit can increase insight into visitor experience and trail traffic.

Monitor multiple entrances or sites of interest with automatic counters. Discreet and low-maintenance, specialized sensors in durable housing count 24/7. Analyzing daily, weekly, monthly, and annual user trends can inform maintenance, programming, and funding.

Counters can be configured to differentiate between how people travel and their direction of travel. Eco-CounterÂŽ, specialists in counting solutions trusted in over 47 states, designed the MULTI system to accurately differentiate between cyclists, pedestrians, and equestrians using infrared and inductive loop sensors.

The PYRO-Box, a mobile infrared counter provided by Eco-CounterÂŽ, is an ideal solution for counting the total number of passages. Visitor privacy remains completely unimpacted and sensor housing is discreet enough to remain unnoticed.

Easily exported reports on user trends is another advantage of automatic counters. Data can be manually or automatically uploaded from counters to cloudbased data analysis software.

Collecting valuable data plays an important role in parks and recreation management.

To learn more about counting solutions for parks and trails, visit www.eco-counter.com/getcounting.

Eco-Counter 866-518-4404 www.eco-counter.com/getcounting

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Seven Ways to Leverage Mobile Technology in Aquatics

By Michael Pierce

R

esearch has shown that using mobile technology is a great way to improve efficiency and effectiveness in organizations. What can and cannot be done using technology is basically limited by the creativity of the individual. For the aquatics industry, there are several ways to effectively use mobile technology in order to boost productivity and efficiency, and following are seven ways to do so across an organization:

1

Summer return letters This process can be automated by using a “forms for service” company. There are several web solutions that allow users to easily create custom fields to collect information and email staff members with a link to fill out forms online. Better yet, all form submissions can easily be viewed online or exported for further analysis and for administrative use. Another way to handle this is through the use of an online-to-print

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service. Many online-to-print services allow users to upload lists of employee information and mailing addresses and can handle sending the letters to the respective staff members.

2

Pool logs/chemical dosages “Forms for service” providers can also be used to keep pool logs or chemical record logs. Users can set up forms with custom dropdowns for the various facilities they operate and for each body of water at those facilities. Once the data is submitted, the forms can be easily printed for the local health department. Another benefit to having digitized pool logs is the ability to analyze the data and identify trends over time. With regard to keeping track of chemical dosage calculations, there are a variety of apps on the market to help organizations streamline their chemical dosage recommendations.

This is especially helpful for newer pool operators, but is also useful for any employee who deals with chemicals.

3

Staff scheduling Scheduling involves a variety of processes, including creating the schedule, handling staff availabilities, coordinating vacation requests and notifying staff about the schedule. Once the schedule is posted, the issue becomes managing all the changes that can occur, such as employees trading shifts, and keeping the staff informed of those changes.

Generally, staff scheduling is done using pen and paper or spreadsheet software. The problem with these methods is that there is no easy way of posting the most up-to-date version of the schedule in real time. One solution is using an online scheduling tool. This tool has gained some traction in the aquatics industry, but it fails to provide good integration in the space for aquatics, which has specific challenges, such as multiple locations, employee sharing across facilities, and private/ group swimming lessons. However, it is a much better solution than using spreadsheets or pen and paper.

4

Document storage Most organizations have endless filing cabinets full of paperwork, and, for the most part, offer no way for staff to digitally access needed documents. Some organizations have set up local-network drives to handle this, but the drawback is that often security credentials are required to access them outside of the organization network, leaving employees with limited access to the data. Using an online cloud-based file storage solution is a great way of providing employees with access to files, inside or outside an organization’s network, and on any mobile device.

5

Staff communication Most staff members use email and text messages to communicate with their supervisors and co-workers.

Other common tools include social networks, mobile apps and group text messages. The disadvantage to these methods is the possible lack of a reliable way for supervisors to connect with staff to convey the most up-to date information for their employees, and the lack of conveying a structured organization-sponsored solution. Some staff scheduling tools have messaging systems built in, which is one of the better solutions to the communication challenges organizations face.

6

Preventative maintenance Preventative maintenance is another area of concern that organizations can continually improve on. Many

lifeguards must use a piece of paper or a whiteboard to check off each preventative maintenance task they are assigned. This is a tool that many organizations still use today. A simple to-do list app or a team-focused to-do list that’s web/mobile based is a great way to update this process. Best of all, employees and supervisors could get notifications when tasks are completed. This provides supervisors the ability to see if their staff is getting the needed tasks done on time.

7

Patron counts/usage Numerous organizations have ways of tracking how many patrons are in the facility at a given time using the registration system at the front desk. But, what about once patrons are in the facility? How do you know if they are using the pool, the weight room or the basketball gym? Tracking pool usage across the various aquatics facility areas — lap swimming area, diving well, aqua fitness class — can be tedious, but the data is invaluable.

Lifeguards may count the people in a given area and record that information in a log that goes in the filing cabinet for the supervisor. Then, perhaps, once a month

...using mobile technology is a great way to improve efficiency and effectiveness in organizations. the supervisor has to painstakingly sift through stacks of patron counts and enter them in a spreadsheet to get useful insights. This is not an uncommon problem. One solution is to set up an online form, and customize it with a drop-down menu for the facility and the specific area needed to be tracked. Once the data is collected and exported to a spreadsheet, it becomes very easy to calculate averages, minimums, maximums and more. From there, organizations can see where there is room to add more programs or optimize the number of staff members needed for a specific time/event.

I hope these suggestions will help you, your staff and your organization become more efficient and truly embrace the benefits of technology in aquatics.

Michael Pierce is Co-Founder and CTO at DigiQuatics (team@ digiquatics.com).

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The shoreline of a Minnesotan lake covered by shells of zebra mussels, a type of aquatic invasive species.

Technology and the Great Outdoors How an LED sign is aiding the fight against aquatic invasive species

By Jess Bern

A

quatic invasive species (AIS) are nonnative organisms — plants or animals — that invade an ecosystem and can cause harm to the environment. The state of Minnesota, for example, has seen many of its lakes invaded by zebra mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil and curly-leaf pondweed. And just this past February, in a study conducted by the Minnehaha Creek Watershed, Montana State University and University of Minnesota, a new hybrid species of milfoil, thought to be a cross between Minnesota’s native northern watermilfoil and the invasive Eurasian watermilfoil was dis-

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covered. One Minnesotan lake is using technology in the form of an LED message display board, to inform the public about the AIS threat.

Lake Minnetonka is working to prevent AIS from killing native organisms, disrupting ecological stability and damaging the state’s economy by educating the public, particularly boaters, about AIS and the proper removal technique for cleaning their vessels. “Hennepin County runs graphics and messages to help visitors identify invasive species and understand the ‘Clean, Drain and Dry’ steps to take before entering and leaving public access-

Hennepin County runs graphics and messages to help visitors indentify invasive species... es,” says Tony Brough, the county’s senior environmentalist.

The display board also opened up communication between lake officials and the public by keeping visitors informed of severe weather warnings and public safety messages using a real-time data feed. Brough says, “We’re interested in eventually using the new sign to display current water and air temperatures.”

Making Lake Preservation Possible Through Funding Most boaters are familiar with invasive species, value water quality and are likely to take action to prevent the spread of AIS. In fact, after being educated about AIS prevention, 99 percent of Minnesotans surveyed said they will likely take action. In addition, 92 percent of boat owners said that water quality

of the lake or river is an important part of their boating experience.

In 2014 and 2015, Hennepin County received more than $470,000 from the state of Minnesota for programs to prevent the introduction or limit the spread of AIS. The county will also receive AIS prevention aid from the state of Minnesota to help purchase and install two programmable message boards on the Narrows Channel Bridge, one of the heaviest used boating channels on Lake Minnetonka.

The efforts in Hennepin County are a great example of how technology can be used not only to keep the public informed, but also to educate them about how to keep their nature spaces pristine.

CivicRec CivicRec, powered by REC1, is an industry leader in parks and recreation management software, providing an interface that is easy to use for both staff and citizens. It offers robust tools for managing activities, facilities and point-of-sale transactions with integrated functionality to manage memberships, instructors, sports leagues, and ticketing. CivicRec is the complete, all-in-one solution needed to run an efficient organization. www. civicrec.com

www.civicrec.com

Jess Bern is a Strategic Marketer at Daktronics (jess.bern@daktronics.com).

This LED sign at Lake Minnetonka helps keep the community informed.

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Sustaining

Barbara Heller

O

ne of the greatest gifts a leader can give to an organization is the creation of a leadership legacy that sustains beyond his or her tenure at an organization. This includes continuously developing one’s competencies. It also includes developing a leadership pipeline for aspiring leaders, creating core competencies, providing succession and building organizational values. Going back in time, John Adams — the first vice president of the United States and its second president — once wrote: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

Who knew that John Adams was so prophetic about leadership?

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Leadership

Greatness

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LEADERSHIP

The quality of leadership has profound ramifications for organizations: People stay or leave because of leadership. Good people want to work for well-led organizations, which gives these organizations an edge in the ability to recruit and retain the best and the brightest. An agency’s relevancy in the community is determined, in part, by the quality of its leadership.

Critical Skills for Today’s Leadership Environment There are multiple skill sets that transcend the entire organization. Leaders set the tone and, ideally, model the desired leadership system. In thinking about leadership, the skills that have always been, and continue to be, important include communication, empowering employees, acting ethically, the ability to forge effective partnerships, and creating a trusting environment. Yet, there are many other significant leadership qualities that are becoming just as important as these tried and true leadership skills.

In today’s rapidly changing times, the following five qualities can largely determine a leader’s success: • Creating vision and strategic direction • Managing change

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• Driving innovation • Using data and technology for decision-making • Developing cultural competency

Good people want to work for well-led organizations, which gives these organizations an edge in the ability to recruit and retain the best and the brightest.

Creating vision and strategic direction involves risk because it is the pursuit of a solution that, because an organization can only do so much, may be accomplished at the expense of other potentially successful initiatives.

If you randomly stopped individual employees in the office hallways and asked them to describe their organization’s direction, would there be consistent responses? In the absence of direction, the answer is “No.” Employees gain a level of reassurance from their

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leadership when there is a commitment to discussing and identifying a purposeful future direction. In addition, providing employees with the opportunity to provide input into strategic direction is more than reassuring — it’s expected from today’s employees.

The creation of organizational strategy is typically regarded with cynicism.

And, why shouldn’t it be? Research has shown that 75–85 percent of strategic planning efforts fail. In developing strategy, organizations emphasize building rather than deploying a plan.

Plan implementation requires the ability to operationalize the plan through measurements, sharing of progress reports and the assignment of the plan’s execution to a champion, or team of champions, who are accountable for implementation. It also requires gaining commitment from employees in working toward organizational goals.

Many times, organizations have their senior leaders involved in establishing direction. Good leaders understand the importance of engaging employees at all levels of the organization.

As leaders of park and recreation agencies, it’s also important to be transparent with the community about the strategic direction of an agency. What better way to be relevant in your community than providing its members with information about your strategic direction, progress toward goals and commitment to driving accountability?

There should be an ongoing reporting system that tracks the plan’s progress.

Employees and elected officials should receive strategy updates on a continuous basis. Consider having a resident committee that works with the agency in deploying a plan. This can be even more important when the result of the strategy is to pursue a voter referendum that requires community support.

Managing change is another important leadership competency, given the speed at which it occurs today. There

are always employees who prefer that things stay the same: organizations are filled with purveyors of the status quo.

The American Productivity and Quality Center completed a study about the effectiveness of change management in organizations and identified four important aspects of managing change for best-practice agencies: • Commitment to change from the very highest levels in the organization • Alignment to the core strategy • A strong model or methodology to guide the journey • The ability to effectively and efficiently communicate the strategic message of change and a change culture Obviously, the director and senior leaders of an organization need to show commitment to the change initiative. Agency strategy should include change management elements; for example, changing the program registration software to a new system is a significant new way of doing business. Technology involves not only software and hardware changes, but also people changes.

The element that typically is missing from change management is the use of a strong model or methodology. Having a documented framework for managing change helps to reduce mistakes and increases the likelihood of success for major change initiatives. The development of a framework assists with the organization’s ability to develop change management as a core organizational competency. It also serves as an element of knowledge management, providing employees with the tools to be successful in future change endeavors based on knowledge from previous change initiatives. The framework can be a simple checklist of actions (see list above) that should be followed during a major change initiative.

Change management always includes the need to communicate with employees, and, while this is such an obvious

Tracking Assessment Framework 1. Are the purpose, direction and approach defined and documented clearly?

2. Is the purpose understood by employees?

3. Have you engaged individual or employee groups who can influence the outcome?

4. Have you acknowledged their input and ideas?

5. Are the necessary financial, human, technical resources in place?

6. Is a strong and effective team ready to lead and guide the process?

7. Do systems and processes support the change?

8. Are leaders at all levels of the organization involved and committed?

9. Do those affected by change have access to information and a way of providing ongoing input and feedback?

10. Are systems in place to assess progress? step in the change process, it doesn’t always occur. Furthermore, there are times when someone leading a change feels that they’ve done a great job communicating the change, only to find out that employees do not have a good understanding of the need for the change.

It generally holds true that there is no such thing as communicating elements of change too much.

Closely related to change management is the ability to continuously innovate service delivery processes based on changing customer requirements and industry trends. The level of business sophistication continuously changes as a result of technology improvements and business processes. According to the famous management consultant, Peter Drucker, “Every organization needs one competency: innovation.”

Yet, while Drucker advocates the importance of organizational innovation, it is an elusive aspiration for some park and recreation agencies. Why? It’s because there’s a strong bias toward maintaining the status quo and bureaucratic approaches to delivering services. There are many departments that must navigate through processes that are barriers to efficiencies and improved customer service when having to rely on other city departments responsible for support. In

addition, leaders often are faced with the challenge of trying to get unmotivated employees enthusiastic about innovating the way to do business. One way to enlighten employees is to do benchmarking exercises, not only of industry organizations, but of industries in other sectors as well. Leaders committed to innovation drive accountability for positive change.

Innovation in the public sector requires persistence, given the risk-averse environments of many local government organizations. A few of the important requirements to drive innovation in government agencies include: • Strategy – There is a concept called “open innovation” that espouses the importance of seeking ideas from everywhere, internally and externally to the department, rather than being insulated from other organizations.

• Process – This call for enhancing broad and specific scouting of new ideas throughout the agency and integrating innovation within key processes.

• Roles – This involves assigning a champion, either an individual or team, to facilitate a system-wide approach. However, it’s important to select employees who are held in high regard and have the ability to actively

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LEADERSHIP

participate in creative brainstorming and develop innovative solutions to challenges.

• Measurement – This includes the development of compelling methods to determine the effects of innovation: improved service, increased efficiencies or improved customer satisfaction.

Park and recreation agencies are generally good at capturing data, but not as effective in aggregating and using it for decision-making. At the NRPA Innovation Lab in Boston in May 2016, a survey, distributed to the agencies in attendance about their use of data, revealed that the big problem areas that exist with agency use of data include: • Lack of workforce skill set related to data • Scattered data and information silos between and among divisions and departments within an agency • Inflexible financial and budgeting systems that do not provide real-time information about financials 58 Parks & Recreation

Use of on premise, rather than cloudbased, software, which requires expensive IT maintenance, quickly becomes outdated and makes it tough to access information internally, across departments and remotely.

A first step in developing a good organizational culture, the last competency, is to simply measure the existing culture. With the results from this exercise, an organization can then decide how to go about improving the cultural attributes. For example, an agency may aspire to have significant employee engagement and empowerment. Measuring this element is the first step to determining how far the organization is from the ideal. Process improvement teams can then be developed to work on improving various areas of culture.

The organization’s systems should align with the reinforcement of culture. This means having a recruitment process that highlights the cultural elements of the agency. The interview process should address desired cultural attributes in individuals applying for a

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position with your organization. For example, if there is a desire to have a team-based environment, it’s important to have interview questions that address a person’s ability to work in that environment. Orientation sessions need to include discussion about desired cultural elements, and feedback and reward and recognition systems also need to align with the culture.

The greatest gift leaders can make is to instill deeply imbedded competencies in the areas outlined. In order to achieve success, more than staff training is necessary. The culture of the organization and the way leaders lead must also align with the competencies mentioned. If an employee desires to learn more about innovation, only to return to his or her workplace and go back to reporting to a micromanager, the gift of training is lost.

Leaders everywhere owe it to their agencies and to themselves to continuously grow and adapt to the changing level of sophisticated skills needed to supervise employees today. As a start, take a look at the competencies mentioned and determine what you need to do to become more skilled in these areas. Your employees will thank you for your efforts.

Elements of this article are included in an online Leadership Certification program — developed by NRPA and Barbara Heller — that includes four modules: strategic thinking, human capital management, operational leadership, and diversity and cultural awareness. Be on the look for more information about the online course and join Heller at this year’s Conference in New Orleans where she’ll dive deeper into the topic of leadership during her session titled, “Creating a Strategy Focused Organization.”

Barbara Heller is the President of Heller and Heller Consulting, LLC (barbara@hellerheller.com).

Leadership is the capacity

TO TRANSLATE VISION

into reality

Refine Your Skills at Directors School August 27– September 1, 2017 Oglebay Resort and Conference Center Wheeling, West Virginia

Apply for the "Pottsie" Leadership Development Scholarship by June 1

Apply now at www.nrpa.org/Directors

Building Better

CauseMarketing Relationships

By Taryn L. Kuntz, M.A., and Rodney B. Dieser, Ph.D., CTRS, LMHC

Learning from the Special Olympics and Hooters restaurant relationship

A

lthough there are many nonprofit recreation and youth organizations that are financially solid, just as many or more need additional funding to be able to provide the leisure programs that make a beneficial difference in the lives or people who are often marginalized.

Frequently, programs are suspended or entirely eliminated because of a lack of funding. One way some

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agencies in need of funding can keep their programming going is by forming relationships with nationally known for-profit organizations. In exchange for the funding, the for-profit organization can promote or market how it helps the nonprofit’s constituents.

This is a cause-marketing partnership, and initially it sounds wonderful!

However, imagine if the for-profit organization you

wanted to further develop a partnership with was involved in controversial practices or behaviors incompatible with your organization’s values (e.g., unhealthy diets, risky sexual behaviors); that is, if the broader practices of the for-profit organization fall in a fuzzy, blurred area of ethical concern. You need its donations in order to continue to provide beneficial programs to your community. So, what do you do? How do you go about evaluating the effective

ness of and developing cause-marketing relationships?

Following is a case study about a cause-marketing partnership between a nonprofit recreation organization, Special Olympics, and a for-profit business, Hooters restaurant, which is known for its controversial practices. Before exploring this cause-marketing partnership, let’s examine the definition of cause marketing and the strengths and limitations of entering into this type of relationship.

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C AUSE MARKETING

Cause Marketing Defined Cause marketing is the cooperative effort between a for-profit business and nonprofit organization designed for mutual benefit. The cause-marketing trade-off, or win-win situation, is that the nonprofit organization gains funding and the for-profit organization gains a humanistic image, while both are involved in community interaction.

For-profit organizations use cause marketing as a public relations strategy to enhance their brand. In Cause Marketing for Nonprofits: Partners for Purpose, Passion, and Profit, author and a recognized authority on cause marketing, Jocelyn Daw, reported that one of the first successful cause-marketing partnerships occurred in 1983 when American Express agreed to dedicate a penny every time an American Express card was used, or a dollar each time a new card was issued, to the Statue of Liberty Restoration project — $2 million was raised in four months. As a result, American Express transaction activity jumped 28 percent, demonstrating that community engagement was good for business.

Often, in their zeal to aid and support people who are marginalized and to expand their mission, nonprofit organizations, including nonprofit recreation agencies, will begin a cause-marketing relationship aware of the immediate benefits. Chief, of course, is how the monetary/economic benefit from the for-profit organization will help a social purpose. What is sometimes overlooked by nonprofit recreation agencies are the negative outcomes of cause marketing, such as increased commercialization and poor sponsorship/ agency fit or incongruence between the mission of a nonprofit organization and the brand image of the for-profit organization.

There is evidence that market-based approaches to nonprofit management, which includes cause-marketing frameworks, often lead to “mission drift” 62 Parks & Recreation

and conflict among nonprofit agencies because of the demands and branding image of corporate stakeholders. In addition, engaging in cause marketing with large, for-profit organizations can be problematic for the nonprofit and lead to being manipulated or even exploited, based on the terms of the arrangement.

Case Study: Hooters Restaurant and Special Olympics Hooters restaurant is famous for its spicy chicken wings, beach-theme environment, television sport spectator programming and Hooters Girls. Hooters also has been actively involved in sponsoring sporting events, such as arena football, NASCAR and its highly successful developmental men’s golf tour, and purports to be focused on reaching out to various communities through philanthropic efforts. According to the company’s website (https://www.hooters. com/Company/DidYouKnow.aspx), since 1992, the Hooters Community Endowment Fund has raised more than $8 million for local and national charities and sporting events.

Special Olympics is an international organization and sport competition held every two years for people with disabilities. In 2008, nearly 3 million Special Olympic athletes from more than 180 countries around the world competed. The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, thus allowing these individuals opportunities to develop physical fitness, skills and friendships within a community (www. specialolympics.com).

Hooters restaurant has supported Special Olympic programs through philanthropic funding for many years: in 1998, Special Olympics Florida received a $15,000 donation from a Hooters restaurant; during halftime at the

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Eighth Annual Central Florida High School Football All-Star Game in 2005, Hooters Girls were partnered with senior high school football players to present Special Olympics Florida with a $1,100 donation; and in 2009, a Hooters restaurant of Central Carolina donated approximately $20,000 to the Special Olympics of North Carolina. Special Olympics North Carolina (2009) website listed eight Hooter restaurants in different cities (e.g., Burlington, Greensboro) where Hooters Girls raised a mile of quarters for Special Olympics.

At face value, a number of ethical questions can be raised about this cause-marketing relationship between Special Olympics and Hooters restaurant. The most obvious question being: Should Special Olympics want to develop a sponsorship relationship with an organization that has garnished controversy related to sexually objectifying women by having them connected to a sex-worker framework and having suggestive elements related to sexual arousal? On a deeper ethical level, does Special Olympics become a vehicle for the proliferation of women being sexually objectified if it partners with Hooters restaurant? Is Hooters restaurant exploiting people with disabilities in order to create a public relations campaign in this cause-marketing relationship and is Special Olympics implicated?

How to Build Better Cause-Marketing Relationships There are five steps nonprofit recreation leaders should follow to build better cause-marketing relationships: Carefully evaluate the fit of the cause-marketing partnership: Nonprofit recreation agencies should develop a pros and cons list when contemplating entering into a cause-marketing arrangement. If there are too many cons related to developing a cause-marketing partnership, such as incongruence between the mission of a nonprofit agency and the

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brand image of the for-profit organization, the nonprofit organization can turn down the donations. For example, in 2006 the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported how the Vermont chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs declined donations from a local Hooters restaurant because this youth-serving nonprofit organization did not want to be linked to the sexual objectification of women and its connection to unhealthy body image.

Proceed with caution: Nonprofit recreation agencies should proceed with caution when advancing any type of corporate sponsorship, including a cause-marketing arrangement, and they should never be developed as a quick solution during tough economic times.

Cautious actions can entail setting up short-term contracts, a trial period, or taking an incremental approach.

Utilize advisory groups to evaluate the potential sponsor: Nonprofit recreation organizations can create a citizens advisory committee to explore and evaluate commercial sponsorships/ cause-marketing arrangements. This ensures a more complete evaluation of the potential corporate sponsor, including fit with the organization’s mission and values and how palatable the sponsor is to the agency’s public (e.g., residents, board members, staff, other sponsors). For example, and connected to the Hooters restaurant donation to Special Olympics at the Eighth Annual Central Florida High School Football All-Star Game, a citizens advisory committee for Special Olympics could raise ethical questions, including the appropriateness of pairing adult, sexualized Hooters Girls with senior high school football players who are often adolescents still under the age of 18.

Thoroughly vet the potential sponsor: Nonprofit recreation agencies can use mainstream media searches and examine professional journals and magazines to detect any potential controversial aspects related to

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the for-profit agencies with whom they might partner. Resources such as Lexis/ Nexis (a searchable database of news, trade and professional publications), Google Scholar and other news searches on the internet can help uncover possible issues that lead to more informed decisions. For example, in a Gender, Work and Organization article titled “Who’s Got the Look,” authors Chris Warhurst and Dennis Nickson explain with clarity, depth and breadth how Hooters restaurant creates an explicit sexualized labor environment, which eventually can harm women (e.g., demeaning sexual behavior, sexual harassment). In addition, a 2007 American Psychological Association (APA) report on the sexualization of girls in America (www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization. html) outlines how men can also be psychologically harmed when they view women as sexual objects.

Use an “ethical reasoning” approach to evaluating sponsors: Ethical reasoning is a strategy for thinking that specifically focuses on the well-being of others by understanding how individual or organizational actions can harm them. Developing ethical reasoning skills, either through independent learning or attending a workshop or in-service training, can help nonprofit recreation leaders understand the far-reaching harm that can occur when committed to a cause-marketing relationships. For example, by using ethical reasoning, nonprofit recreation leaders, such as those involved in Special Olympics, could have asked themselves if, by partnering with Hooters restaurant, does Special Olympics become a vehicle for the proliferation of women being sexually objectified? Or, does this proliferation of women being sexually objectified increase when someone goes to a Special Olympics website, clicks on the Hooters restaurant sponsor link and is then directed to the official Hooters restaurant website that has an image of a Hooters Girl

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sitting on a snow model in a bikini while striking a suggestive pose? Likewise, although Hooters restaurant is providing needed funding for Special Olympics programs, could this cause-marketing partnership be viewed as Hooters restaurant using — and possibly even exploiting — people with disabilities in order to create a public relations campaign?

Be Prepared What if after having taken these steps to build an effective cause-marketing relationship, the for-profit organization you’ve chosen to partner with is the focus of bad publicity — what if that partner was United Airlines, which currently is experiencing an incredible level of negative publicity for the way it chose to handle and respond to an overbooking situation? Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, is quoted as saying: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”

In an article titled “Negative Publicity: Do Nonprofits Have a Plan?” that was published in the 2000 November/December issue of Nonprofit World, professor Dr. Prema Nakra, advises nonprofits to be prepared to handle negative publicity (https://www.snpo.org/verizon/ V180630.pdf). Moreover, she asserts that it is important to establish good relations with the press, anticipate potential problems that may arise from the cause-marketing relationship and have a plan in place before a controversy happens that might affect your organization’s image.

Detailed references for this article are available at www.parksandrecreation.org/2017/ May/Building-Better-Cause-Marketing-Relationships.

Taryn L. Kuntz, MA, is Executive Director of Development at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital at the University of Iowa Foundation (taryn-kuntz@uiowa.edu).

Rodney B. Dieser, Ph.D., CTRS, LMHC, is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology, Applied Health and Human Services at the University of Northern Iowa (rodney.dieser@uni.edu).

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NRPA Update More Leadership-Themed Sessions at Conference

By Tom Crosley

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e’ve all seen the inspirational posters; perhaps you’ve got one hanging in your office. You know the ones with a soaring eagle that say: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” (John C. Maxwell). Or, my favorite (with maybe two soaring eagles): “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” (John F. Kennedy). The fact is we can’t seem to get enough information about the tools of effective leaders. When we asked what kind of sessions you wanted more of at the 2017 NRPA Conference, you replied, “We want more leadership-themed sessions!” We heard you, and this year’s Conference in New Orleans will feature more leadership- and management-themed sessions (34) than any other discipline. Here are just a handful of great ideas you can take away from this leadership-focused education lineup: Leadership Development: Understanding Leadership Across Generations This training session is designed to equip participants with the tools they need to

create and revive a healthy multigenerational workplace. During the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to lead, analyze and create healthy multigenerational workplaces. Speakers: Dietrich Williams, Tiffany Johnson Build a 21st Century Diverse Workforce and Inclusive Work Environment at Your Agency Today Much like work/life balance, most park and recreation agencies miss the mark with diversity and inclusion. This work session with facilitated discussion and best- and leading-practice sharing will leave participants energized and ready to begin a journey to building inclusive language and behaviors into their key daily functions. From tough discussions on diversity to program planning, we will tackle specific ways to move diversity and inclusion initiatives to full integration in your agency. Speaker: Boe Carlson If You’re Happy & They Know It: Happy Staff! Positive Psychology & Authentic Leadership Unlike traditional psychology that looks at what is wrong and attempts

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to correct it, positive psychology examines what is right and works on enhancing it. As leaders, this is what we attempt to do with our employees as well. Combining principles of positive psychology, authentic happiness and authentic leadership, this session will explore individual happiness, how happiness is tied to how we lead and how we can purposefully incorporate positive, authentic leadership into our everyday lives. Speaker: Michael Bork CAPRA Accreditation: You Can Do It! The benefits of CAPRA Accreditation are well documented (validation! excellence! improved efficiency!), but let’s be honest, meeting 151 standards sounds intimidating. Does your organization have the resources to accomplish such a colossal task? YES! We liken it to eating an elephant. How do you do it? By taking one bite at a time. This session will provide tools and tactics to start and finish the accreditation process, set a reasonable timeline and keep your team engaged by keeping it fun. Speaker: Shauna Lewallen Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Conference Program Committee, staff, Local Host, speakers and conference volunteers, you’ll certainly leave the 2017 NRPA Annual Conference with a great story, a new friend and a great poster-worthy quote. However, the most wonderful takeaway from Conference is inspiration — the catalyst of positive change in both your career and with your home agency.

Hope to see you in New Orleans.

Tom Crosley is NRPA’s Senior Manager of Education (tcrosley@nrpa.org).

Attitudes of Influential Leadership

By Kim Sellars, BAS-Psychology

The wind and the sun decided to have a competition to decide who was stronger. They agreed that the winner would be the one who could persuade a man to take off his coat. The wind blew and blew, but the man held on more tightly to his coat. Then the sun shone gently down, and within minutes, the man took off his coat.

— Aesop’s Fable The Wind and the Sun The moral of the preceding fable is that you can’t force someone to do what they don’t want to do. Instead, the art of influential leadership is to get them to want what you want.

Leadership is changing significantly: No longer is it about hitting the numbers or holding a “position” over employees so they will perform in ways that only benefit the facts and figures. Chasing after accolades, awards and achievements also no longer bring fulfillment to leaders. What brings genuine fulfillment is investing in the lives of people.

Influential leadership is about crafting

a work culture that allows employees to thrive, be inspired, work to their fullest potential and feel safe. In this new culture, the leader stands back and cheers on his or her team to create a shared experience of accomplishment. When this culture is in place, employees become high performers and the numbers, facts and figures show up.

Following are a few of the “Be Attitudes of Influential Leadership,” which I’ll cover during my session at Conference in New Orleans (www.nrpa.org/ conference2017). They can help leaders reap influential benefits in their organization and have a lifelong impact on their staff.

• Be Authentic: Authenticity builds trust — a key element in providing a feeling of safety in order to create a team’s highest potential. Become a master communicator with those on your staff and you will establish credibility with them and see how they follow your lead.

• Be Generous: Giving of your time and energy with affirmations, compliments and a positive attitude builds an altruistic environment. Showing concern and demonstrating a genuine interest in others reveal empathy and trustworthiness. Look for opportunities to demonstrate small acts of generosity and kindness; you will see your team transform to be cooperative, energized and enjoy coming to work.

• Be Believable: Influential leaders show respect and fairness in a challenge or conflict, which stacks in favor of the restoration of relationships. When this happens, the leader becomes believable.

Just as the sun shone gently down on the man who took off his coat, the essence of true leadership is sacrifice and service to others. People follow influential leaders because of who they are and what they have done for them.

If you desire to see profound transformation as a leader and to learn how to develop these “BE” attitudes, join me in New Orleans.

Kim Sellars, BAS-Psychology, is a Leadership Development Specialist, Blogger, Author and Speaker (kim.sellars0@gmail.com).

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©Myles Mellor

Parks & Recreation Crossword

Across 1 Utah National Park created by President Hoover 4 Whole amount 7 Shenandoah National Park’s state 8 Central Park’s spring flower 9 Caused destruction and ruin 10 Navigational dir.

11 Game bird like a partridge 13 Type of water that requires landscape planning to manage in an ecologically sound way 14 Intrusive and aggressive, like some unwanted species 17 Element #30 18 Civil Rights Memorial state, or short 20 Problem to be resolved 23 Philanthropy dedicated to creating small, high-quality gardens 24 ___lands National Park, South Dakota 26 ‘This ___ surprise!’

27 Sustainable Landscapes Initiative, abbr.

29 Chains of mountains 32 Right, for short 33 Design an area of plants and trees in an outdoor environment 34 “A drop of golden sun”

Down 1 Act used to award monument status to specified areas of land 2 Kind of lily 3 Clairvoyance, e.g.

4 Conserves 5 Ecosystem of rare plants now being restored in Arlington National Park, 2 words 6 Natural to a region 7 Transport vehicle 9 Upgrade and improve 12 Part of some California city names 15 Go and see 16 Giant deer 19 Building with a triangular cross section 21 Function 22 Smooths and makes simpler 25 Like many Texas trails 28 Once ___ while 30 Epoch 31 Oregon neighbor

Check the answers to the crossword at www.nrpa.org/crossword. As an added bonus for completing the crossword, you can enter a drawing to win one of three New Orleans prize packs that will include T-shirts, buffs and much more when you check your answers. The winners will be randomly selected and notified May 31, 2017.

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THE 2017 NRPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE BIGGER AND BET TER THAN EVER IN THE BIG EASY!

SEPTEMBER 26-28, 2017 | NEW ORLEANS

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN WWW.NRPA.ORG/CONFERENCE

NRPA Update

Hot Topics

Want access to more than 55,000 of your park and recreation colleagues?

NRPA Connect is the only networking platform exclusively for your profession that allows you to ask questions and share ideas.

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Summer Hiring Has Never Been Easier for NRPA Members!

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f you haven’t started hiring for your summer openings, it’s not too late, and it’s never been easier! NRPA members can post their internships and seasonal positions on the NRPA Career Center for FREE. Each posting is viewed by an average of close to 1,000 job seekers, and employers receive an average of 10 applications per posting.

Flags in Parks — Many agencies fly United States flags in their parks throughout the year. Some NRPA members are looking for policies that address proper flag procedures.

Other questions on this thread include: Who is responsible for the daily flag maintenance? How do you determine location? Have you experienced any vandalism issues? Chime in and share your thoughts!

2

Staff Scheduling Apps — Scheduling summer staff can be a challenge. Your colleagues share their suggestions for useful apps and software tools that will help you stay organized.

3

Car Wraps for Marketing — Thinking of creative ways to market your parks and/or recreation facilities? Check out examples of decal wraps on fellow agencies’ department vehicles. Members also share their do’s and don’ts for this form of marketing.

4

Dog Runs – Dogs are always a hot topic among park and recreation professionals! In this discussion, your colleagues are looking for advice and experience with public dog runs.

What would be the best landscape to use for the safety and hygiene of our four legged friends?

Don’t forget, you can Connect anywhere! Connect is responsive on all devices. Just visit www.nrpaconnect.org to join the conversation.

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Here are some simple tips for effectively using the Career Center: • Register with the NRPA Career Center. Registration is easy! Visit the Career Center and then click “Employer Sign In” in the upper-right corner and choose new user. Fill out your employer account registration information. Be sure to have your NRPA ID number ready, so you can receive the NRPA member discount of 33 percent off when purchasing job packages and FREE seasonal/internship postings.

• Create a new job posting. Fill out the required information for your job posting. To attract responses from the most capable candidates, make sure the job description paints a clear picture of the skills required for the position. Check out the sample job descriptions for examples.

• Manage your applications. After your job listing is posted, it then becomes time to manage all the applications you’ve received. Stay organized by

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marking candidates you are interested in and deleting applicants who don’t fit the position. Don’t forget to check out your job statistics to find actual numbers of views, applications, apply clicks and job forwards.

• Edit Your Job Postings. You can easily manage your active, pending and inactive job listings. Edit, deactivate, copy or post jobs at any time with a few simple clicks.

• Search résumés. Don’t want to wait for applications? Search thousands of résumés for qualified professionals.

Use the keyword search to narrow down your options. See someone who interests you? You have the option to contact them right away!

Don’t delay! Last year more than 8,000 new job seekers signed up to check out open positions on the Career Center.

Contact Hayley Herzing at hherzing@ nrpa.org if you have questions or need help getting started.

Member Spotlight: Jay Tryon

By Vitisia Paynich

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t a very early age, Jay Tryon had a deep affinity for parks and outdoor play. In fact, he grew up just three houses away from a park that offered a summer program he attended every day. “The program consisted of a big red box full of games, arts and crafts supplies, and sports equipment, along with counselors available from 9 to 5,” recalls Tryon. “It was something I looked forward to growing up, and I can say it impacted me as a child.”

Tryon earned a bachelor’s in recreation and leisure studies from State University of New York College - Brockport, and in June 2015, was named director of parks & recreation for the Town of Indian Trail in North Carolina.

Parks & Recreation magazine caught up with Tryon to learn more about his career in parks and recreation, overcoming self-doubt, and the qualities he believes are vital to being an effective director.

Parks & Recreation: What first drew you to parks and recreation?

Jay Tryon: I’ve had several people through the years who had a tremendous impact on my life, and I wanted to make that same difference for others. Many of these folks worked in some sort of a recreation-type job, and I knew I wanted to be around kids and families whom I could impact. Once I entered college and learned of the opportunities, it was an easy decision to pursue this as a career.

P&R: Going in, what did you think would be the most challenging aspect of being a leader in this field?

Tryon: My most challenging thought was being able to prove that I was capable of doing the job, even though I was a young professional given a leadership position. I remember my first week on the job and having to make a significant change to a park we were building. We had about six people in a conference room, and our town manager asked me

what we had to do to fix the problem. We made the change and from that moment, I trusted my background and knowledge.

I have been very fortunate to have many mentors who have always been there for me if I need them. That is one thing I love so much about our community of professionals.

P&R: Outside of funding, what do you see as some potentially major challenges for park & recreation leadership in the near future?

Tryon: One of the challenges we face regularly is finding that balance of programming and offerings for all ages. We try our best to provide a service to everyone but seem to fall short with some age groups. Our biggest struggle is reaching that 12–17 age group, and we haven’t been able to find that right mix of programming to draw them in. That group is using more screen time and not getting outdoors as much as we would hope.

We’re limited with the type of programming we can offer because we don’t have a rec center or indoor community space right now. However, we will be building a community center in the future. We’re actually in the process of designing it, and we plan to include a teen room so we’re going to be facing that challenge head on. And, hopefully, that will draw that age group to our facility.

Finding our most successful means of reaching the community has been another challenge. We are a unique depart-

ment in that we are only three years old and, therefore, still have a large percentage of residents and surrounding families who do not know we exist. We recently sent out our first program guide to every household in our community, and this has made a significant impact on park visitors and program registration. Plus, we have increased our presence on social media where we’re on Instagram, and we’ve done more Facebook [promotion] than we’ve ever done before.

P&R: What do you believe are the leadership qualities that make an effective parks and rec director?

Tryon: One quality that I find most important is the ability to let staff members do their job and celebrate the success with them. Working as hard as you can to give everyone the resources they need to be most effective will help the community and the department succeed. Communication is another one that is vital for success. With so many moving parts daily, we need to make sure we all are on the same page. I also try to lead by example and be out there with each team member, making sure they realize I am always there for them if they need me, and letting them know we are a team. Finally, I would also say to show appreciation to your staff and let them know the impact they are making on people’s lives.

— Vitisia Paynich, Freelance Writer for Parks & Recreation magazine

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NRPA Update

Embracing the Hack Attack

By Matt Brubaker

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f you ask the typical park and recreation professional what a “hackathon” is, you most likely would be met with a blank stare. It’s not because they are out of touch, but because most people who are not fully engaged in the computer programming industry have neither heard of nor experienced a hackathon.

So, what is a hackathon? It does not involve allowing Russian spies to use your recreation centers to hack U.S. intelligence. It’s typically an event where a group of energy-drinking, pizza-fueled software developers and programmers gather to work toward meeting a challenge in a short period of time.

You don’t normally hear about a hackathon in the context of parks, but someone had to break that mold and it was Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT). This independent park district in Tacoma, Washington, decided to hold its own hackathon and invite local developers to identify new, innovative and fun ways technology could improve access to and engagement with parks and recreation.

“We’re busy doing our everyday jobs, and we wanted to figure out how to use technology to improve access to our park system,” says John Laughery, Metro Parks Tacoma GIS supervisor. “A hackathon is like a shot of adrenaline for ideas.”

The hackathon, dubbed “Parks and Peo-

ple United Through Technology,” took place April 14–15 at the STAR Center in Tacoma with the support of multiple sponsors. More than 100 programmers, developers and designers showed up ready to meet the challenge. They were divided into 11 teams and were given 13 hours over the two days to develop a concept, build it out as far as they could and prepare a presentation.

The majority of the coding and development took place on day one, and, on day two, teams added the final touches and prepared their presentations. Each team was given five minutes to pitch its solution, including app mock-ups, live apps, interactive websites and more, to a panel of judges. Following the presentations, the judges convened and selected the top two teams, which were each awarded cash prizes. Second place went to a group of University of Washington students who developed an app and website that could help users easily find hiking trails that met their abilities.

The first-place team, a diverse group of Washingtonians, developed an app called

Saturday, June 10 NRPA’s Family Health & Fitness Day — celebrated the second Saturday in June each year — promotes the importance of parks and recreation in keeping communities healthy. Agencies everywhere are encouraged to participate by inviting families to get active at their local park or recreation center, or by hosting an event, such as a health fair or family fun run, on June 10. Members of the healthcare community are encouraged to participate, as well, even as sponsors. Additional details, including a promotional toolkit, are available at www.nrpa.org/familyfitness.

Share your Family Health & Fitness Day ideas and events with us online using the hashtag #NRPAFamilyFitDay.

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One of 11 teams that took part in the hackathon put on by Metro Parks Tacoma.

“Parks Rocks,” which can be used to track a currently running scavenger hunt-style challenge where people find and hide elaborately painted rocks throughout Tacoma.

All participants were given access to open data from MPT, Pierce County, the city of Tacoma and ESRI’s open data portal. NRPA, ESRI and Trailhead labs all gave presentations on solutions they have developed to improve accessibility to parks. This was also a great opportunity for NRPA to demo the new BETA version of its Park Path™ app. With great support from MPT, NRPA was able to add most of the MPT parks into the Park Path™ app and show off the capabilities of this new park-finding app.

As Millennials continue to embrace and build new technology, parks and recreation should not allow itself to be left behind.

Through this hackathon, MPT proved that our industry can embrace the strategies of others to find innovative ways to better engage with our communities.

Metro Parks Tacoma Executive Director Shon Sylvia said it best: “If we want to be current, then we really need to stay in touch with what’s going on around us so we can meet the public’s needs and expose them to parks and recreation.”

Matt Brubaker is NRPA’s Director of Marketing (mbrubaker@nrpa.org).

NRPA is dedicated to providing learning opportunities to advance the development of best practices and resources that make parks and recreation indispensable elements of American communities.

Find out more at www.nrpa.org/education.

SCHOOLS AND CONFERENCES

JUNE

Provo, Utah Village of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin St. Louis Park, Minnesota Jupiter, Florida Austin, Texas Camarillo, California Fort Myers, Florida

15-16 27-28

Ceres, California Sacramento, California

www.nrpa.org/education

CPSI PROGRAM MAY

3-4 4-5 10-11 11-12 18-19 22-23 25-26

September 26-28, 2017 New Orleans, Louisiana

1-3 9-11 9-11 23-25

Spokane, Washington State College, Pennsylvania Milford, Delaware Davie, Florida

JUNE

MAY

AFO PROGRAM

August 27-September 1, 2017

14-16 19-21 27-29

Hillsboro, Oregon Kodak, Tennessee San Diego, California

18-20

Raleigh, North Carolina

7-9 22-24

Wheat Ridge, Colorado Livermore, California

JULY

NRPA has just released the first installment of a new leadership certificate program, intended for all levels of leadership, from agency directors and department heads to frontline leaders and those aspiring to lead. The program consists of four courses focusing on key areas of leadership in parks and recreation: strategic thinking, characterized by various forms of strategic direction, such as master and strategic plans; human capital management, which looks at how to create an environment in which employees can do their best; operational leadership, which represents best practices in creating effectiveness, efficiency and accountability; and diversity and cultural awareness, which includes discussion of creating an inclusive work environment and providing services to the community that are welcoming to all. Woven throughout all these is an emphasis on developing cultural competence and well-defined organizational values. Organizational excellence is largely accomplished from the development of these competencies throughout the organization.

The course on strategic thinking has been released, with the others soon to follow. The entire certificate program will be worth 1.2 CEU.

All NRPA Schools are held at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia, unless otherwise noted.

AUG

NEW: LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

www.nrpa.org/CPSI

www.nrpa.org/AFO

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Operations Improving Natural Grass Field Quality

By Jerad Minnick

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he demand for use of grass fields continues to increase; however, most field maintenance programs have not changed at all over the past 20 years. Now, with data guiding the way, older g r a s s f i e l d maintenance programs can be updated, focusing on the following five key areas, to support their high use.

Impactful Aeration Data analysis of grass fields often reveals that surface compaction is a constant challenge. It can start to build in high-use areas of fields within two weeks and can suffocate roots, limit soil microbial activity

and slow water infiltration. Surface compaction buildup also reduces energy absorption by the surface from player impact, creating player health and safety issues.

Thankfully, data reinforces where and how surface compaction is relieved. Com-

Lead Advisor, Jerad Minnick, of the Natural Grass Advisory Group™ uses its first-of-akind field testing equipment in North America to collect data points at the Maryland SoccerPlex.

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paction maps of football and soccer fields highlight high-traffic areas up and down the center, while on a baseball field, the high-traffic areas are in front of dugouts and on the infield. A pull-behind slicer or PTO-driven surface aerator with solid tines can quickly and efficiently reduce compaction by opening 7–10 percent of the surface.

Traditional spinning “plugger” aerators are not impactful, as they open less than 1 percent of the surface. With high-traffic areas accounting for only around half of the total field surface, aeration can take place monthly during play to offset the negatives of compaction.

Hawaii’s Maui County Parks has increased the use of, and eliminated repairs on, its football stadium since the field maintenance team, led by Lance Tokushima, started focusing on impactful aeration during football season.

Efficient Plant Feeding Efficient plant feeding starts with impaction aeration. Spreading fertilizer on a field with a high level of surface compaction is a waste of resources. Suffocated plant roots can’t take up nutrients, and slowed microbial activity limits organic matter and fertilizer breakdown. Once compaction is relieved, plant roots and microbial activity can thrive. Yearly soil testing creates a guide for needed nutrients. Soil tests should be taken in the high-traffic areas, as the nutrient need in low-traffic areas is very different because that grass is not ever stressed.

At the Betty Wilson Soccer Complex in Nevada, Ronald Baum, City of Las Vegas Park Maintenance Field Supervisor and his team

saw a reduction in repairs on fields when they focused efficient plant feeding down the field center in the high-traffic areas.

Superior Grass Selection New varieties of Bermuda grass, Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass have been created with high-traffic fields in mind.

The improved varieties have increased stress and traffic tolerance to withstand surface compaction and traffic, and they aggressively recover to fill in if there is wear. Cold tolerance in Bermuda grass has increased, as has heat tolerance of Kentucky blue and rye, and water requirements are lower, with new varieties yielding increased drought tolerance. Even if just used in the high-traffic areas, data reinforces that superior grass varieties help support increased use.

Kristi Solberg, maintenance supervisor for the City of Park Ridge Parks in Illinois, has established a strong organic fertilizer program, Now, the Park Ridge maintenance team is introducing superior grass varieties to decrease stress and increase field quality.

Proper Water Management: As soil surface compaction is reduced, water infiltration improves. Thus, on irrigated and non-irrigated fields alike, water management also starts with impactful aeration. Then deep, infrequent watering can be replaced with lighter, regular watering to hold consistent soil moisture for microbial activity and roots.

Previously, it was difficult to gauge if you were drowning them with too much water or suffocating them with too little. It’s much easier now with data that can come from an individual test for soil moisture or can be gathered in real time. With water, less is always best.

The maintenance department at the City of Boca Raton Parks in Florida, led by Kevin Beckman and Wanda Harris, turned to technology to streamline its water management and dramatically decreased water use. The reduced water helped increase field quality and dramatically decreased the amount of field repairs previously required.

Easier Mowing The importance of consistent mowing is often overlooked.

Lower compaction allows superior grass varieties to respond to mowing by running sideways to fill in thin areas. Regular mowing, a minimum of twice a week, encourages these varieties to spread to increase density and durability while choking out weeds and reducing or eliminating the need to apply herbicides.

Palm Beach County Parks in Florida, led by the renovation coordination team of Gary Monnett and Gregg Irwin, increased mowing frequency and decreased mowing height and immediately saw improvement in field quality and a reduction in repairs.

Note: Data points all come from Natural Grass Performance Analytics™. For more, visit www.naturalgrass.org.

In Summary Data provides us with a new way of looking at field maintenance, but full evolution of an old maintenance program does not happen overnight. By focusing on the preceding five areas, one by one, natural grass field quality will increase and allow for increased play with reduced repairs.

Jerad Minnick is Lead Advisor for the Natural Grass Advisory Group™ (jerad@naturalgrass.org).

Positive Outcomes for Soccer in Parks Developing Soccer 5 ® USA Small Sided Soccer Centers in Parks within Public Private Partnership Framework • $1 million to $2+ million additional revenues to parks for $0 parks spend • Creates More Spaces for People To Play and Learn Soccer • Revitalizing Underutilized Park Spaces • Net Revenues used to offset Parks Operating Costs

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Products Outdoor Drinking Fountains and Bottle Fillers

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Elkay Outdoor Drinking Fountains and Bottle Fillers are specifically designed for high-traffic areas, such as parks, pools, golf courses, campgrounds, and educational and work campuses. Vandal-resistant features and durable, weather-resistant finishes help ensure years of service. Select from decorative stone aggregate and sleek tubular steel single, bi-level and multi-station units that come in 12 stunning finish colors, including many ADA-compliant models. ELKAY, 630.574.4106, WWW.ELKAY. COM

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Pro Grass Paint TempLine™, the first brand of removable synthetic turf paint, is introducing a new line of affordable, top-quality grass paint: TempLine™ Pro Grass Paint. TempLine™ Pro Grass Paint will set a new standard for grass-paint performance. It delivers opacity and brightness equal to or better than other brands and is easy to prepare and apply with virtually any sprayer system. Five gallons dilute one-to-one with water to produce 10 gallons of paint, and it comes at a remarkable price to fit every budget. ECO CHEMICAL, 800.677.7930, WWW.ECOCHEMICAL.COM

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Landscape Structures Inc........................................................................ C3 Mateflex..........................................................................................................35 Miracle Recreation / Little Tikes Commerical....................................45 Most Dependable Fountains.................................................................. C2 Murdock Manufacturing...........................................................................13 Musco Sports Lighting................................................................................ 5 Pilot Rock/RJ Thomas.................................................................................31 Polly Products...............................................................................................77 Robertson Recreational Surfaces..........................................................39 Salsbury Industries....................................................................................... 9

advertiser index

American Ramp Company.......................................................................17 BCI Burke .......................................................................................................11 Bright Ideas....................................................................................................74 Cemrock..........................................................................................................21 City of Grand Prairie, TX, Parks, Arts & Recreation Department.15 CivicRec...........................................................................................................53 Classic Recreation Systems......................................................................21 Cre8Play..........................................................................................................33 Daktronics......................................................................................................25 Easi-Set Buildings........................................................................................75 Eaton Lighting..............................................................................................27 Eco-Counter..................................................................................................49 GameTime..................................................................................................... C4 Go Ape.............................................................................................................75 Gothic Arch....................................................................................................75 Grassmats USA.............................................................................................76 Greenfields Outdoor Fitness..................................................................2,3 Gyms for Dogs/Livin the Dog Life.........................................................76 Jacobsen/Textron.......................................................................................... 7 Jayhawk Plastics ..........................................................................................76 KayPark Recreation Company ................................................................76

Scoremaster Goals......................................................................................77 Shade Systems................................................................................................ 1 Soccer5ÂŽUSA.................................................................................................73 Soft Surfaces.................................................................................................77 Soil Technologies Corporation...............................................................77 TORO Company............................................................................................23 Vortex .............................................................................................................. 9 Willoughby Industries ..............................................................................41

(ISSN 0031-2215) is published monthly by the National Recreation and Park Association, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148, a service organization supported by membership dues and voluntary contributions. Copyright Š2017 by the National Recreation and Park Association. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the writers and not necessarily those of NRPA. Issued to members at the annual subscription price of $30, included in dues. Subscription: $46 a year in the U.S.; $56 elsewhere. Single copy price: $7. Library rate: $58 a year in the U.S.; $68 elsewhere. Periodical postage paid at Ashburn, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Editorial and advertising offices at 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148. 703.858.0784. Postmaster, send address changes to Parks & Recreation, 22377 Belmont Ridge Rd., Ashburn, VA 20148.

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Park Bench

A Community Affair

By Daniel Sanford The Port Washington, Wisconsin, Environmental Planning Committee agreed that its park system needed more recycling bins, but because of the prohibitive costs of the bins and lack of budget allocations, acknowledging the problem was about all the committee could do. “Due to the cost of the bins, I was struggling with a way to make it happen,” says Charlie Imig, director of parks and recreation.

As luck would have it, two other unrelated events were unfolding that would result in an innovative approach to meeting the city’s recycling bin needs: Nick Havlik, a technology education teacher at Port Washington High School, was reaching out to local city departments to connect his building construction and woodworking classes with service learning projects in the community. And, Jon Crain, the local city forester and member of the planning committee, was, in his words, “looking for different ways to utilize urban wood, especially the amount of ash trees decimated by the EAB [emerald ash borer].” Crain had recently informed the planning committee that emerald ash borer beetles were killing ash trees throughout the city, and he and Imig saw the synergy that could result from engaging Havlik’s students to use the wood from the decimated local trees to make the needed recycling bins.

The students eagerly embarked on their initial creation of the recycling bins. In mid-March of this year, one of the students created the specs and a model for the project. The students are looking to have 12 recycling bins built by next year. “This is a great benefit to our department,” Crain explains. “We did not have the budget to purchase recycling bins, but now, with the completion of this project, we will be able to further offer recycling receptacles in our park.”

— Daniel Sanford, NRPA’s Administrative Assistant to the CFO

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Smart Play®: Venti® packs 20 exciting activities into its compact size. With multiple entry points, this accessible playstructure can accommodate lots of kids at once! Nets, slides, belts and climbers provide a multitude of challenges that promote physical development and strategic thinking, while also creating hangouts where kids can take a break and connect with others. Smart design incorporates materials efficiently to create a large number of activities within a small footprint.

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