January 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16

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NETWORK BUZZ

NRPA'S Online Community Forums
Address Best Practices in Research

" H

ow important is research and data in your
agency activities? What types of research
do you do and how do you use it? "

IN THE TULSA DISTRICT, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, we have had several recreation research projects done
by Oklahoma State University to solicit
public input on recreation needs, and
the types of facilities most important
to them. This enables us to better direct our resources to the types of facilities and recreation opportunities
most in demand.
John A. Marnell
Deputy Chief of Operations
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Tulsa, Oklahoma
john.marnell@usace.army.mil
AT FIVE RIVERS METROPARKS, research and the data from it are becoming part of the fabric of how we serve
the public. We use numerous research
tools to gauge needs and support for
our services, evaluations at the end of
each program to understand how we
are meeting expectations, and marketing analytics to improve our marketing
effectiveness, our audience reach, and
our programs themselves, just to name
a few. Also, as we explore sources for
alternative revenue in these changing
times, research and data are becoming
increasingly important in helping us
understand where our potential sources of revenue are and how we are performing against our revenue goals.
Amy Forsthoefel
Five Rivers MetroParks
Dayton, Ohio
amy.forsthoefel@metroparks.org
14

Parks & Recreation

RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION
are extremely important to the natural
resources staff at Mecklenburg County
Park and Recreation, North Carolina.
We manage our nature preserves based
on scientiﬁc interpretation of multiple
data sources. In other words, we " let the
science lead us " when we make management decisions regarding property
use, types of access, facility development, ecological restoration projects,
and land-use/resource management.
We collect many types of data ranging from ﬂora and fauna species (both
types and diversity), invasive species
presence, and annual monitoring of
protected species populations, to volunteer hours and gallons of pesticides
used, to name just a few.
Chris Matthews
Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation
Charlotte, North Carolina
christopher.matthews@
mecklenburgcountync.gov

organization.These kinds of projects
guide planners in producing master
plans, board members in making policy decisions, programmers in delivering effective programs, engineers in
prioritizing funding, and numerous
other beneﬁts.
I wouldn't say research is important;
instead, I would say if you're not doing
research, how do you know for sure
you're doing what you ought to be?
Thomas H. Mercier
Research & Evaluation Coordinator
Three Rivers Park District
Plymouth, Minnesota
tmercier@
threeriversparkdistrict.org

NETWORK BUZZ appears monthly in Parks & Recreation. Questions are posed to members of
NRPA Connect, the interactive,
social media section of the as-

RESEARCH IS CRITICAL to establishing benchmarks, understanding the
expressed desires of the public within the broader perspectives (i.e., how
signiﬁcant is the squeaky wheel), and
numerous other purposes. Our agency
has recognized this importance and
has had staff working on research projects for several decades and even has
a section devoted to nothing other
than handling research projects and
acting as a resource to the rest of the

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sociation's website. It's a convenient and effective way for NRPA
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site's many groups, visit: www.
nrpa.org/Membership/NRPAConnect-Online-Community.
Topics are always welcome: email
dtaylor@nrpa.org.
January 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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