August 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 42

tal stewardship. As Kennedy says,
" After completing the first phase of
the [e-par EMS] program, I believe
having the Standard Operating Procedures for training purposes will be
beneficial. It will give our staff an
understanding of the potential environmental impacts and know how
to avoid or correct them. Likewise,
the checklists the EMS provides have
delivered insight into items you may
not necessarily think of managing.
Plus, if there are activities that could

The Elements of an ISO
14001-Compliant EMS
A written environmental policy
A sense of legal obligations
An assessment of environmental
impacts
An environmental management
plan
A clear management structure
with clear roles and responsibilities for staff
A training program
A communications and outreach
plan
Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs) for high-risk activities
Emergency preparedness plans
A monitoring and measuring
regime
Procedures for identifying
problems and taking corrective
actions
Record-keeping procedures
A process for periodic (i.e.,
annual) review of performance
with management.
For more information, see www.iso.
org/iso/home/standards/manage
ment-standards/iso14000.htm.

Parks & Recreation

Park and recreation
departments across the
country are beginning
to see the value in using
EMSs.
be high-risk for negatively impacting
the environment, we can use the information collected through EMS
use as a tool to help request funding
to resolve those issues. "
Consider that the EPA reports
more than 1,000 golf operations
were subject to some level of regulatory violation during the past three
years, and it's easy to see why an
EMS can add value - along with
peace of mind - to golf course
maintenance operations.
It's not just for golf operations
either. Park and recreation departments of all sizes across the country are starting to take advantage
of the value an EMS can bring. For
example, when the City of Charlottesville in Virginia looked to develop a city-wide EMS in 2003, it
was the Department of Parks and
Recreation that was selected to lead
the way. This included the City's
Meadow Creek Golf Club. Just as
at Ironhorse Golf Club, the EMS
framework was found to be effective and worthy of adopting department-wide. As Kristel Riddervold
and Dan Frisbee of the City of
Charlottesville's Public Works Department stated in a 2006 case study
after the EMS was implemented at
Meadow Creek, " The EMS has allowed us to make the most of various pollution prevention techniques
and best-management practices
by orienting them in a systemat-

| AU G U S T 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

ic, practical and accountable fashion. It is important to emphasize
that the EMS model incorporates
'continual improvement,' which
helps the golf course, department
and City achieve their goal of environmental sustainability. Overall,
the EMS has been a valuable tool
to achieve positive change and has
provided a vehicle to educate and
engage staff at all levels in our environmental stewardship efforts. "
Those same results now resonate
throughout the entire Charlottesville Parks Department, and Charlottesville is not alone. Parks and
recreation departments across the
country, from Seattle to Newport
News, are beginning to see the value
in using EMSs to ensure compliance,
reduce risk and drive environmental
excellence, with many, like the City
of Leawood, relying on the well-established ISO 14001 EMS standard.
In the end, the EMS framework
is a simple and organized tool that
can help park professionals become
leaders on environmental stewardship efforts in their communities,
working in concert with established
and ongoing environmental initiatives. As Chris Claxton, Leawood's
parks and recreation department director, puts it, " Under the umbrella
of the Parks and Recreation Department, the City established a Sustainability Advisory Board in 2010
in order to work with its citizens
to make Leawood a more environmentally friendly community. This
recent initiative by the Troon Staff
at Ironhorse is just one more simple,
yet important way Leawood continues its commitment to environmental stewardship. " Systematically!
Kevin A. Fletcher, Ph.D., is President and
CEO of e-par USA Inc. (kevin@eparusa.com).

August 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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