June 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 22

RESEARCH
NRPA Surveys Track COVID-19's Impact on P&R
By Kevin Roth

P

arks and recreation has been a vital respite during the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic. With millions of acres of open space and
thousands of miles of trails under their watch, local park and recreation agencies have been the one place where people can stay
physically active, take a deep breath and reconnect with nature during these
trying times. Little of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of
the hundreds of thousands of professionals who keep our parks open and
safe for all to enjoy.

Parks Snapshot Data

In late March, NRPA launched
a new survey series to track how
COVID-19 is affecting park and recreation agencies across the nation.
Each week, we send the NRPA
Parks Snapshot questionnaire to
park and recreation leaders to see
what is open, closed, how they are
promoting safe park usage and what
challenges they are facing.
By mid-April, we saw a clear pattern of park and recreation amenities that were and were not open.
For example, more than 7 in 10
park and recreation agencies kept
all of their parks open and 9 in 10
reported that their trail networks remained accessible to the community for walking, running and biking.
On the other end of the spectrum,
virtually every other park and recreation amenity had closed; including
playgrounds, outdoor sports fields
and courts, and skateparks.

Keeping parks as a safe option for
recreation means making sure visitors are following physical distancing guidelines from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
along with those from state and local health officials. Parks Snapshot
survey respondents told us that their
physical distancing efforts included:
* Signage alerting to physical distancing guidelines
* Removing recreation amenities
that promoted congregating (e.g.,
basketball nets, picnic tables)
* Deploying agency staff to serve as
park ambassadors who educate users on proper distancing practices.
Closed recreation centers, gyms
and aquatic centers have deprived
many people of their favorite fitness
and well-being opportunities. To fill
this void, more than 3 in 5 park and
recreation agencies had launched

NRPA Parks Snapshot Data: April 15-17

20

Open

Some Open/
Some Closed

All Closed

Local neighborhood parks

76%

7%

17%

Trails

91%

6%

3%

Playgrounds

5%

2%

93%

Outdoor sports ﬁelds and courts

14%

21%

66%

Beaches

40%

11%

49%

Parks & Recreation

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virtual recreation programming by
mid-April that they delivered online
(through YouTube and social media) and on public access TV channels. Common virtual recreation
programming topics include:
* Family engagement activities
* Fitness classes
* Self-care and well-being topics
* Education classes; including literacy, STEM, environment
Health and wellness for all is the
essence of parks and recreation and
this crisis has highlighted how P&R
professionals make our communities healthy and resilient. One example is how many agencies have
contributed more broadly to their
communities' emergency response
to COVID-19. By mid-April, 2 in 5
local park and recreation agencies
were serving their community in
many ways, including:
* Serving or distributing food to
older adults and/or families
* Opening recreation centers and
other agency facilities to serve as
emergency shelters
* Providing childcare to the children
of essential agency staff, healthcare providers and first responders
P&R agencies have risen to the
challenge by making sure their communities continue to have access to
safe outdoor recreation opportunities. Sharing ideas and best practices has never been more vital. I encourage you to participate in these
surveys and to continue the conversation on NRPA Connect.
Kevin Roth is Vice President of Research,
Evaluation and Technology at NRPA
(kroth@nrpa.org).
June 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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