March 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 42

coNsErvatioN continued
Hole in the wall Beach
outdoor classroom
website

to environmental stewardship and
conservation. The department continues to deepen and promote its
commitment to conservation in a
number of ways. Most recently, it
was the catalyst for a new conservation partnership, the Charlotte
Regional Environmental Network
(CREN). They have expanded the
use of social media to highlight stewardship activities, and the 17,000 volunteers who give more than 100,000 hours
of volunteer service annually are testament
to their success in engaging the community
in conservation.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission in its State Wildlife Action
Plan commented on MCP&R: " The Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department is a prime example of a parks
system that has made natural resources
management a priority by conserving
habitat integrity and educating the public....They can serve as a role model for
other parks and recreation programs that
wish to better integrate natural resources management into traditional programming methods. "
■■ ■East Lyme, Connecticut: The Town of
East Lyme has created an outdoor classroom
with a twist-it is located in and around a

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parking lot near one of the main entrances
to a highly popular beach and town boardwalk that receives more than 150,000 visitors per year. The purpose of this outdoor
classroom at Hole in the Wall Beach, managed by the Department of Parks and Recreation of East Lyme, is to demonstrate to the
public the latest technologies and methods
of treating storm-water runoff.
Prior to 2008, untreated storm-water
from parking lots and roadways near the
beach was discharged directly into Long
Island Sound. The town, aided by the State
of Connecticut, the University of Connecticut, and a host of nonprofit and privatesector partners, designed a series of
storm-water management structures that
demonstrate structural and non-structural techniques, such as separators,
bio-swales, rain gardens, and detention

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basins. The town developed an
outdoor classroom along with
interpretive signage, high-tech
monitoring that incorporates solar power made possible from a
grant by the Connecticut Clean
Energy Fund, and a weather station that can be accessed online.
Real time data is available in the
classroom to students and residents via the town's website.
For more information on the above
projects:
■■ ■Rio Salado Habitat Conservation Area:
http://phoenix.about.com/od/parks/ss/
riosalado.htm
■■ ■Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Department: http://charmeck.
org/mecklenburg/county/ParkandRec/
Pages/default.aspx
■■ ■Hole in the Wall Beach Outdoor Classroom: http://www.eltownhall.com/holein-the-wall
■■ ■The full report of the Conservation Task
Force, including the complete list of the
Top Ten can be found in the November
2011 issue of Parks and Recreation : www.
parksandrecreation.org.
ricHard J. doLEsH is NRPA Vice

President of Parks and Conservation.

(800) 523-8690

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40 Parks & recreation M A R C H

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March 2012 - Parks & Recreation

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