April 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 39

Lea ers
Parks and
recreation
agencies
lead their
communities in
conservation

C

By elizabeth Beard and Maureen hannan

on se rVat Ion Ist s a r e Pr aCt ICa L sou L s. After all, the first
step in conserving any resource is to measure the gap between
what is needful and what is wasteful. To conserve is to count-
and there are as many different ways to do it as there are valuable
natural resources to save. Parks and recreation leaders, in their stories of
conserving and protecting resources, detail approaches as varied as the
agencies and regions they represent. They catalog concrete achievements
-the nuts and bolts of inventorying, surveying, measuring, setting policy,
applying tools and technologies, and assessing impact.
But as unique and as practice-centered as each story is, they also share
a common " conservation mindset. " It is this holistic mindset connecting the
six agencies profiled here that also fuels their search for solutions. From the
stormwater management efforts of New York City to the biodiversity surveys
of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, each agency looked imaginatively
at its region, its resources and wildlife, its funding, its public, and its available partnerships. The result, in each case, was a distinctive conservation
initiative that safeguarded natural resources while engaging the community.

Dirt Beneath Their Fingernails,
Mud Between Their Toes

BrEC's conservation-centered Summer camp

" We painted their faces and declared war on the invaders. " It might have been a paintball outing East Baton
Rouge's park conservation director Greg Grandy was describing. " And then, " he continued, " they experienced the
exhilaration of pulling the invasives out of the ground by
their roots. " The warriors? Local youth summer camp participants. The weapons? Weed wrenches. And the unlucky
invaders that day were Chinese tallow trees and Chinese
privet. BREC-the Recreation and Park Commission for
the Parish of East Baton Rouge-is well known for its yearround conservation-centered youth programming, and its
summer camps offer kids between the ages of 5 and 14 a
week of immersion in the outdoors-complete with environmental education, natural and cultural history activities,
and conservation service opportunities.
It's not enough, says Grandy, to proclaim a mission of creating a culture
of conservation in area youth. " It's important to understand why we want
to create [that] culture....Given that many of the youth in our parish experience an urban, wired lifestyle...it is vital to provide opportunities for positive, meaningful outdoor experiences. "
And BREC's philosophy is that being a passive onlooker to natural beauty
is simply not enough. " They need, " Grandy says, " to have water splashed

w w w . N R P A . O R G    A P R I L 2 0 1 2    Parks

& Recreation

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April 2012 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2012 - Parks & Recreation

April 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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