March 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 15

trends

Win Wins

Parks get help from unusual directions

Michael Stravato / The New York Times

n mid February, one of the most
emailed articles in the New
York Times focused on parks-
retirees who trade work for rent
at cash-poor parks. Writing
from Falcon State Park in southern Texas,
reporter Kirk Johnson quotes a 68-yearold retired teacher's aide on why she and
her husband have chosen a transient life
as work-campers.
" We're here for three reasons, " Sharon Smith told Johnson. " No. 1, we like to
travel. No. 2, we like people. And No. 3,
we're on a budget. "
Kampgrounds of America estimates
the two Falcon State Park camp-workers
may have 80,000 compatriots pursuing
similar life styles. Their average work
week ranges between 20 and 30 hours
a week and the benefits are many-a
way to pursue life in the outdoors, wildlife watching, leading tours, socializing
(email, cell phones, and Facebook have
made a virtual community out of workcampers) and, of course, saving money.
For park directors, the benefits are just
as compelling: They get much needed
help in economically recessed times.
At one under-funded A rizona park,

Bigstock

f you plan to take a jog in Central Park, be on the lookout
for masked at tackers - t he
four legged variety. The New
York City Health Department
will begin vaccinating raccoons in and
around Central Park following a recent
outbreak of rabies. Health officials said
that so far this year they've documented
39 cases of rabies among raccoons in
Manhattan. Since December, health officials said rabid raccoons have bitten

work-campers were essentially the only
" staff " left to run it.
That the idea of work-campers resonated so strongly with the well-to-do readers of the New York Times gives pause for
thought that they may have stumbled on
to a doable life of wanderlust.

Erv Nichols, volunteer birding guide

Halfway across the state in Austin,
young people constitute a new help
base for parks. The Austin Conservation Corps has taken a cue from the New
Deal program, Civilian Conservation
Corps in its mission to pay underprivileged college-aged youth to improve

city parks while getting an education.
The ACC was launched last November
by Austin Community College's Center for Public Policy and Political Studies, Austin Parks and Recreation, Austin
Energy, and Goodwill Industries of Central Texas.
ACC reports that its initial
nine members were enrolled for
this semester at the community college and that some of their
course work is tied to conservation. It's a 12-week commitment
that typically involves such duties
as cleaning and maintaining park
trails. More than 25 participants
are expected to begin ACC's
spring cycle.
The commu nity college's
Center for Public Policy and Political Studies oversee s the Austin Conservation Corps, which
has a budget of about $250,000, according to ACC's opening announcement.
Corps members are paid through Goodwill and Austin Energy provides money
for a supervisor of the Corps work crew.
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department supplies tools and equipment. 

Masked Menaces
a dog and two persons. None became
sick; all received treatment. Officials
said the vaccinations are an attempt
to contain the outbreak. For one to two
months, wildlife experts will begin
" humanely trapping " raccoons around
Central, Morningside and Riverside
parks. The animals will be vaccinated,
marked for identification, and released.
The process will be repeated this summer to vaccinate raccoons born this
spring.
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March 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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