February 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Who, What, Where & how
-Around the Parks

Continued from page 11

than $50 million, even in the face of the Obama Administration's
commitment to ramp up LWCF funding by 2012.
How do advocates restore the commitment and wisdom
from the Outdoor Recreation Review Commission, the President's Commission on the Outdoors in the 1980s, and the recent Outdoor Recreation Review Group? American populist
politics sliced parks, outdoor recreation, and conservation into
three different entities and it is important to keep advocacy
engaged around a holistic approach to the goals of preserving American icons for future generations and to develop and
give access to close-to-home public parks and recreation resources to all Americans.
New emerging legislation makes another attempt to rally the troops to finally provide full and dedicated funding for
Land and Water Conservation State Assistance and federal
land acquisition. Currently LWCF advocates are entertaining

ile
f
o
Pr

both House and Senate proposals.
This past fall the House Chairman of the Natural Resources
Committee Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV) introduced H.R. 3534.
The Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatics Resources Act
(CLEAR Act) provides a permanent conservation and recreation
benefit through the full and dedicated funding of the Land and
Water Conservation Fund at $900 million. The CLEAR Act would
extend the authorization of LWCF from September 30, 2015, to
September 30, 2040. Funding for this provision would come primarily from fees of oil, gas, and energy extraction activities on
presently authorized federal lands and waters. The revenues
would provide $900 million of dedicated funding to LWCF on an
annual basis. This means LWCF funding will not be subject to
the annual appropriations cycle, 50 percent of that amount must
be used for the Stateside Assistance Program and 50 percent for
the federal portion of LWCF. The Natural Resources Committee

Hal of Fame

Always a stalwart for parks and recreation issues,
Hal Haskell has made an indelible mark on the profession.

t shouldn't be surprising that Harry (Hal) Haskell

over a flailing little outdoor store

was instrumental to the building of NRPA's headquarters
in 1997-after all, he has always broken new ground in what-

named Abercrombie & Fitch-
he was a primary stockholder

ever task he looks to accomplish. Born in Delaware in 1921,
he began working at Greenhill Dairies in 1948 where he was
president for five years. Though he was a successful manager,
he thought that he could do more for his community. He soon
became interested in politics and became a delegate to the
Republican National Convention.
" My friend Nelson Rockefeller got me involved, and he
asked me to go to work down there, " Haskell says. " I told him,
'Hell I don't know anything about government,' and he said,
'You'll learn fast.' "
He became a consultant and special assistant to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1955, where he advised him on
foreign policy (and served as a golfing buddy-the President
was " no good at the game " according to Haskell). He decided
to run for office, and defeated incumbent Harris B. McDowell for the Delaware seat to the U.S. House of Representatives
in 1956. Haskell served in the 85th Congress where he was influential on developing the first bill that provided federal aid
for education.
He didn't win a second term, but stayed involved with
the state's Republican party, eventually becoming mayor of
Wilmington from 1969 to 1973. During this time he also took

and the company needed new
leadership.
" I took over myself and tried
to save the company and ran it
for a few years and took it into
a perfect bankruptcy, " Haskell
laughs. " I tried very hard to merge with L.L. Bean and we
would have made it. "
Seeing an opportunity to involve like-minded businesses
with NRPA, board of trustee Bill Brown asked Haskell to meet
about park and recreation issues. Haskell became interested in
the mission of the organization, and dove headfirst into NRPA.
He soon joined the board of trustees himself in 1980, advocating for local parks and the importance of recreation. " Recreation is a central point of everything, " Haskell says. " And
citizens are so important-you want the Lawrence Rockefellers of the world to be interested. "
Since then, Haskell has been instrumental in keeping parks
and recreation in the public eye. He attends NRPA's Congress
when he can, and still mentors many park and recreation professionals. He's now not just breaking ground, but planting his
own seeds of knowledge along the way.


Parks & Recreation F e b r u a r y

2010 www.NRPA .ORG

February 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2010 - Parks & Recreation