January 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 23

first full-time employee in 2013. In
May of that year, Kansas City's Middle Blue River was added to the list
of Urban Waters Federal Partnership
projects, designed to " reconnect urban communities, particularly those
that are overburdened or economically distressed, with their waterways
by improving coordination among
federal agencies and collaborating
with community-led revitalization
efforts to improve our nation's water
systems and promote their economic,
environmental and social benefits, "
according to an Urban Waters Federal Partnership statement. (NRPA
also recently signed on to the Urban
Waters Federal Partnership - learn
more at www.urbanwaters.gov).
With that, HCA acquired additional
partners in conservation and was able
to bring more than $150,000 in new
conservation funding to the area.
" HCA is a co-lead of the Middle
Blue River project [along with the]
Mid-America Regional Council, " Erickson says. " Our focus is the Upper
Blue River Conservation Opportunity Area and providing the connection
between the 'federal family' and the
'local family.' As part of the Steering Council, we are helping identify
ways to implement four key projects
that will result in a healthier watershed and healthier communities. "
Although HCA is " barely fledged, "
says Erickson, it is making major
strides that would not have been possible just one year ago. It boasts 35
members and serves nine counties,
two states and more than 120 cities.
HCA recently hosted its first Annual
Partnership Summit and kicked off a
new partnership campaign. Current
collaborators include local, state and
federal players, all of whom are chipping in to expedite grants and new or
current projects.

Greening the Blue River
HCA's main area of focus remains
the Blue River Watershed, which includes more than 1,200 miles of river and tens of thousands of acres of
land and is home to some 1 million
people. Approximately 63 percent
of the area could be characterized as
urban, and it's one of the most rapidly developing areas in the Kansas
City region. For Erickson and her
team, the need for conservation in
such a delicate yet growing area was
obvious. " [The Blue River Watershed] is the largest basin in our region - two-thirds of the area drains
into this beautiful urban stream, "
Erickson says. " It is the nexus for
many of our partners, and more
data and plans have been gathered
and created for this stream than any
other in the United States. Since we
are an urban land trust, people are
our focus. We want to support our
partners and help them do what they
do best. We want all of our communities to benefit from our beautiful
natural areas. "
To that end, HCA focuses on conserving land, connecting people to
the land and convening partners. At
present - and in partnership with
Kansas City WildLands, the Missouri Department of Conservation,
the Blue River Watershed Association, Kansas City Parks and Jackson County Parks - it's in the process of wrapping a two-year federal
Five Star grant-funded program that
teaches middle school students about
watershed quality and facilitates the
removal of invasive species from
the watershed. " Volunteer workdays
took place on parks land, " Erickson
says. " Hundreds of young people
visited the Blue River and more than
175 volunteers supported our parks
with caring for public land. "

Just last spring, HCA supported the
region's largest river clean-up, Project
Blue River Rescue, by leading four
work sites, supervising more than 100
volunteers and lending a hand with
promotion and fundraising for the
event. " The site we led was along the
Blue River and included a city-owned
parcel of land, The Municipal Farm, "
Erickson adds. " The city has a re-use
plan for the property that includes significant restoration. We coordinated
with a local organization, Boys Grow
(which will be installing an urban agricultural project at the site), the City
Planning department, the City Water
Services Department and the EPA.
The river got cleaned up, the land got
cleaned up and all of these groups
worked together including some of
the youth from Boys Grow. "
Looking ahead, HCA will be involved with more than 15 partners
to conduct an analysis of 3,000 vacant lots in the Middle Blue River
Basin. " We want to identify lots
that should be preserved as permanent open space...Part of the
project will include engaging and
empowering communities to reclaim the vacant lots for space they
can plan and design to meet their
needs, " Erickson says.
HCA's efforts are gaining steam
every day, and Erickson sees the
potential for incredible progress as
her team begins to dig deeply into
these new projects. " We are seeing
great momentum already, " she says.
" Working collectively for big impact
is the only way we can tackle these
complex, political, multijurisdictional issues. The animals, plants and
rivers don't have those boundaries, so
neither can we. "
Samantha Bartram is the Associate Editor
of Parks & Recreation magazine (sbartram@
nrpa.org).

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