April 2024 – Parks & Recreation - 10

PERSPECT I VES A MESSAGE FROM NRPA' S LEADERS
Parks and Recreation Powers
Resilience and Sustainability
With the return of spring,
we find our communities eager
to embrace warmer days
by recreating outdoors. Now
is an excellent time to remind
community
members just
how critical parks and recreation
is to our mental and
physical health (tinyurl.com/
zdh6knx2). Park and recreation
agencies foster
social
connection, provide opportunities
for exercise and stress
relief, and support equitable
food
positive impacts. While emphasizing
these benefits,
us also consider how we, as
let
stewards of parks and green spaces, can take action to
protect these resources for future generations.
I encourage you to consider opportunities to advance
sustainability and conservation in your programming,
park design and operations. Nationwide, park and recreation
agencies act as leaders in conservation education
and sustainable operations, integrating green practices
into our programs and prioritizing climate-resilient
practices in our work. The collaborative spirit of our
park and recreation community creates many opportunities
for park and recreation professionals to connect
and share ideas, and I hope you will embrace opportunities
to exchange strategies for advancing conservation
with colleagues to create a greener future.
Earth Day, recognized annually on April 22, provides
a unique opportunity to demonstrate to our
communities how park and recreation agencies act as
leaders in conservation and sustainability. Discover
how park and recreation agencies across the nation
are celebrating Earth Day in the article, " Parks and
Recreation Celebrates Earth Day 2024, " on page 14.
Each community plans to create a unique celebration
that highlights their efforts to advance conservation in
their localities. Park and recreation agencies are engaging
their community members in conservation by
demonstrating green technology, planting trees, host10
Parks & Recreation | APRIL 2 0 2 4 | PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
access, among other
ing gardening and composting classes, showcasing
green space and more.
What's more, we can build conservation and sustainability
into the foundation of our parks and facilities
through climate-resilient design. Unfortunately,
the wide-ranging effects of climate change, such as
increased wildfires, flooding, damaging storms and
more, are impacting our communities today. The article,
" Dynamic Park Design, " by Gracie Swansburg
on page 44, explores how cities can not only utilize
climate-resilient design principles to protect parks
from the impacts of climate change, but also use these
features as educational tools. Swansburg explores resilient
design features used in Boston's Langone Park,
Puopolo Playground and Lincoln Park. When upgrading
Lincoln Park, for instance, the design team collaborated
with a nearby elementary school to create interactive,
educational amenities - including teaching
gardens, an outdoor classroom and rainwater harvesting
infrastructure. Lincoln Park and Langone Park and
Puopolo Playground demonstrate how local communities
can anticipate and mitigate the effects of climate
change, while advancing the role of climate-resilient
design and development practices, says Swansburg.
Park and recreation agencies can reference these examples
when taking on design or redesign projects in
their local parks and facilities to elevate climate resilience
and conservation education in pursuit of a more
sustainable future for all.
JESÚS AGUIRRE
Chair, NRPA Board of Directors
http://tinyurl.com/zdh6knx2k
April 2024 – Parks & Recreation

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