November 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 94

CONSERVATION TASK FORCE
National Recreation and Park Association

Case Study

Agency Goals
The Park and Recreation Commission
of East Baton Rouge Parish (BREC) has
developed a number of projects and
partnerships that engage youth in environmental stewardship and sustainability,
conserving natural resources, and energy conservation. These projects include
tree planting, invasive plant removal, fundraisers for environmental organizations,
and recycling projects.
Partnering with schools, nonprofit conservation organizations, individuals, local
universities, scouts, and others interested
in the environment is a primary vehicle for
our agency's stewardship efforts. Many of
these groups share common goals of conservation and often require service hours
or completion of a conservation project, but
some just want to contribute to conservation outcomes in the community. We take
calls from these groups looking to partner very seriously and work with them to

develop an understanding of implementing a successful project.

Project Partners
Many of the tree planting stewardship
projects in BREC parks are a result of a
partnership with the Coastal Roots (CR)
Program led by program staff at Louisiana State University and established at
schools statewide. As part of the CR program, students participating in the program become well informed about the
issues of environmental stewardship and
sustainability and actively participate in
habitat restoration projects. BREC partners with the CR program by providing
stewardship opportunities at our parks,
where native trees that are grown at nurseries in the schools can be planted. Staff
from the BREC Conservation Department
explore and develop opportunities to incorporate tree planting in existing parks
as part of a management strategy for

Global Youth Service Day lake cleanup

10 Parks & Recreation

november 2011

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each park. In our most recent CR planting project, a one-acre area of grass in a
park that was underutilized was mulched
and planted with native trees. This project has a secondary environmental benefit of reducing the amount of grassy area
that requires mowing, thereby conserving energy and reducing staff time and
resources for mowing while still meeting our mission of providing recreational
opportunities.
BREC has partnered with several
scout groups on environmental stewardship efforts over the years. Boy Scout and
Girl Scout projects have included removal
of invasive Chinese tallow and Chinese
privet trees at our Conservation Areas.
Boy Scout, Cub Scout, and Girl Scout
projects have also included planting native trees in accordance with a restoration
planting plan for a mitigation project that
is one of our conservation areas.
One of our most successful Scout stewardship projects was collaboration between BREC, volunteers from Boy Scout
Troop 12, the Baton Rouge Recycling
Foundation, and the Baton Rouge Soccer
Association. In June 2010, BREC hosted
the U.S. Youth Soccer Region III Championship Tournament at the BREC Burbank
Soccer Complex. During the six-day
tournament, the scout volunteers worked
to recycle over 1.6 tons of plastic, aluminum, and cardboard. Recycling containers were provided by the Recycling
Foundation, and a utility cart to assist with
the collection was provided by the Baton
Rouge Soccer Association.
In 2011, BREC collaborated with individual high school students who sought
to complete service projects. The first
project was a large tree-planting effort at

Photos: BREC

Creating Partnerships
to Engage Youth in
Conservation and Stewardship

November 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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