March 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 71

Member Spotlight: Seth Hendler-Voss
By Vitisia Paynich

hose who truly appreciate the great outdoors likely remember the
first time they visited a park. For Seth Hendler-Voss, some of his
most treasured childhood memories involve spending time with
family and friends while enjoying everything parks have to offer.
Parks & Recreation magazine recently connected with Hendler-Voss, director of parks, recreation and tourism for Prince William County, Virginia, to
find out, among other things, why it's important to design parks with conservation in mind. A portion of that conversation follows:

Parks & Recreation: What's your first
memory of spending time in a park?
Seth Hendler-Voss: My father took
me and my brothers on a road trip
out west to tour the national parks.
I can still smell the back seat of the
'85 Chevy Suburban, but more so
the surfer pools of Yellowstone -
which were mesmerizing. I also
spent my weekends hiking through
the New Jersey forests with my Boy
Scout troop. My most memorable
park experiences occurred at Tyler
State Park in Pennsylvania, where
I spent half of my high school days
training with my cross country and
track squad. Those wooded trails
and rolling hayfields were the backdrop of my coming of age.
P&R: Your department manages
more than 4,000 acres of parkland
and over 100 miles of trails and
blueways. What's the most
challenging part of what you do?
Hendler-Voss: Over the past 18
months, we consolidated the Convention and Visitors Bureau and
the county's Historic Preservation
division into our service portfolio.
From battlefield preservation and
fitness centers, to waterparks and
preschool, we have tremendous
reach. Coming from the park design and operations side, I've had

to learn a lot about programming.
I'm ever thankful for the devoted
and brilliant team of employees
who save me from tripping up. The
biggest challenge of the job is responding to everyone's needs. The
trick in this line of work, as recently described to me, is satisfying the
dissatisfied without dissatisfying the
satisfied. But, seeing the immediate
impact of my work cancels out the
hard days. I often tell people local
government is the frontline of community building. In direct service
provision, we're forced to take action, so the learning comes quick.
P&R: How does conservation play
a role in the design of your parks?
Hendler-Voss: Conservation plays
an integral role. Prince William is
the second-largest county in Virginia and one of the fastest growing.
There is tension over development
- especially related to low-density residential, which has shaped
our community's identify for the
past half century. Our department
is in the crosshairs, at times, like
many other agencies, because building parks can disrupt the natural
landscape. In a former community I served, someone spray-painted
" parks and wreck " on a section of
silt fence on a project site. That

stuck with me and inspires me to be
the best land steward possible. For
active-use park development, we
are introducing more native, lowmaintenance landscapes, such as
wildflower meadows. A 50 percent
maximum disturbance guideline in
certain areas of the county also ensures we provide a counterbalance
of passive uses. For years, we've
been known for our excellent sports
fields - all 200 of them. Ten years
from now, my goal is for us to be
known for our conservation commitment. In fact, we are currently
looking at adding 300+ acres to our
open-space portfolio and planning
for a new natural resource management branch....
To read the entire conversation,
go to www.parksandrecreation.
org/2019/March/member-spot
light-Seth-Hendler-Voss.
- Vitisia Paynich, Freelance Writer
for Parks & Recreation magazine

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