June 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 25

heat, unequal access to nature and healthy food,
and a mental and physical health crisis. This is all
while they are pressured to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and preserve biodiversity. Fortunately, all
of these issues can be improved by bringing back
healthy, Indigenous habitat into our urban and suburban
areas. Specifically, parks have the potential to
provide this habitat through the conversion of unused
lawn. Just look at your nearby urban park: playground,
ballfields and courts, a walking path, some
trees, but probably much more lawn space. Much
of that lawn likely goes unused. It also likely gets
mowed twice a month for eight months out of the
year, wasting money, time and resources while mowers
spew greenhouse gasses.
Converting Lawn to Habitat
Now imagine every unused turfgrass lawn in parks
converted into habitats for humans and wildlife. Imagine
cities partnering with community groups to activate
this neighborhood space. Imagine more gardens
to grow food for both humans and wildlife, orchards
and wildflower meadows, and peaceful wooded groves.
Imagine natural play spaces where even " city kids " can
get up close to nature near their homes. Imagine parks
that better mitigate flooding, urban heat and pollution,
and absorb more greenhouse gasses. Beacon Food Forest
(tinyurl.com/hu26ucju) in Seattle is an example
of community volunteers successfully creating an active
habitat on city-owned land. This partnership empowers
the community to grow and harvest food on
public land while also improving the ecosystem and
local biodiversity. The City of St. Louis created hundreds
of flower gardens, many of which are on unused
public lawns, through the Milkweed for Monarchs
initiative (tinyurl.com/yntc4kts). MillionTreesNYC
(milliontreesnyc.org) is converting unused public lawns
into forested area in New York City.
There are endless possibilities to turn our urban
parks into vibrant habitats if we open our minds and
our parks to more creative, community-based ideas.
You can take action by:
* Starting the conversation with your colleagues
* Identifying unused lawn space in urban parks
* Reading about NRPA's Parks for Pollinators campaign
and resources (nrpa.org/Parks4Pollinators)
* Reaching out to different departments and community
partners for collaboration
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | JUNE 2 0 2 3
| Parks & Recreation
25
Parks certainly can't solve the
world's problems alone, but they
do have an important role to
play, serving their community
and supporting the ecosystem.
* Researching grants and funding
* Recruiting volunteers
* Looking to National Park City (nationalparkcity.
org) and Biophilic Cities (biophiliccities.org) for
inspiration
Parks certainly can't solve the world's problems
alone, but they do have an important role to play, serving
their community and supporting the ecosystem. If
city governments and park departments transform our
unused lawn spaces into habitat, we can create cities
where both people and wildlife thrive.
Autumn Costelle is a Naturalist at Louisville (Kentucky) Parks and
Recreation (autumn.costelle@louisvilleky.gov).
Elements for Life Outside.
TM
S H A D E · S H E L T E R · S P O R T · S I T E

http://www.nationalparkcity.org http://www.biophiliccities.org http://www.nationalparkcity.org https://tinyurl.com/hu26ucju http://tinyurl.com/yntc4kts http://www.milliontreesnyc.org http://www.nrpa.org/Parks4Pollinators http://www.americana.com

June 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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