October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 37

smoke and particulate matter. If you are
poor or have limited ability to change
your outdoor recreation patterns, the
very physical activities you do to improve your health and well-being may be
harming you. Shull points out that people of limited means who work two jobs
or have long work hours cannot really
change the time they have for recreation
with friends, family and children. There
is strong evidence to show that impacts
of air pollution and heat on children
and the elderly are even more damaging
than adults. Thus, whatever the impacts
are - smog, heat, stress - poorer people who cannot change when and where
they recreate must endure much greater
negative health impacts.
" In everything we do, shade has become the top priority and the greatest
request from the public, " says Xavier
Urrutia, director of parks and recreation
in San Antonio, Texas. " A few years ago
when we started installing fitness equipment in parks, we purposely put them in
open areas. People said that the equipment became so hot they couldn't even
touch it - it burned them. " Even after
trying to maximize shade from trees
in their parks and installing integrated
shade structures over play and exercise
equipment, they continue to get requests
to provide shade for facilities such as
skate parks that never required it before.
" We just passed a $187 million bond program, " Urrutia adds, " and all people requested was shade, shade, shade! "
While most of the impacts from climate change are negative, some changes
may promote certain types of outdoor
recreation. Sports and physical activities that thrive in moderate and even
hot weather are increasing in localities
where snow and wet winter weather
conditions are receding. The public is
adapting, and the recreation industry
is taking advantage of climate change
conditions that enable longer seasons
for hiking, cycling and other all season
recreation pursuits. Many urban met-

ropolitan areas are enlarging trail systems at an unprecedented rate not just
to expand commuter options but also to
serve a growing public demand for allyear, all-weather trails.
Adapting to Meet the Challenges
of a Climate Changing Future
Park and recreation agencies are already trying to significantly increase the
amount of shade in parks..
Urrutia notes that San Antonio is
trying innovative approaches, such as
large sun screens to block the western
sun exposure through the afternoon
hours. This demand for more shade,
parks directors unquestionably concur,
is rapidly driving up the capital expense
of outdoor facilities and, in some cases,
causing other amenities to be cut to provide shade structures.

...what matters to us is not
so much the cause, but
how it affects what we do
and what it means for the
future.
To meet future needs, Urrutia says that
some of the greatest challenges will be
from a design perspective. Design professionals will have to increasingly factor
the users' perspective of the park experience. " I see beautiful parks today, but
sometimes wonder if certain features
will actually serve the public well. "
Gordon Robertson, Denver Parks and
Recreation's chief of planning, design
and construction, says, " We are very focused on how we will adapt to climate
change. Our new game plan will be focused on resiliency. We realize that we
must prepare for the future, and we intend to integrate our plan with citywide
efforts that are being made by public
works and our planning agency. Our

park system plans are very much about
how we grow and develop as a city. " The
city and county will put special effort
into planning their tree canopy, he says.
They will concentrate on green stormwater management where more severe
weather may affect the city.
" In 2013, we had a hundred-year storm
event, " says Doug Woods, the parks chief
in Denver. " The impacts were eye-opening. We realized then that we had to look
at new ways of doing things. Since then,
we have had a growing recognition that
this will be a shared responsibility in the
future. Public works is looking at parks
for relieving some of the pressure for better stormwater control and management.
This has called for a new level of cooperation among city agencies in how we
manage and maintain parks. "
Kalvort says that the city of Virginia
Beach has been intensively investigating
how to deal with sea-level rise for the
last two years and projecting outward
five, 10 and 20 years. An important role
of the park and recreation department
is to help communicate to the public
what the city will need to look like to
be resilient. He adds, " We are working
with our planning department to look
at building more detention ponds in our
parks and employing other green infrastructure approaches that will increase
capacity for treating stormwater. We are
looking at the idea of floodable parks
that can serve as open play areas during
dry times, but can capture and retain
stormwater in floods. "
" I believe that climate change truly is affecting our park and recreation
system, " says Shull about Los Angeles'
parks. " If it hasn't affected yours yet, I
believe it will come to affect every park
and recreation system across the country
sooner rather than later. "
Next in the series: " How Climate Change Is
Affecting Nature and Wildlife in Our Parks "
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President of
Strategic Initiatives (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 |

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October 2017 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2017 - Parks & Recreation

October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 1
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 2
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 3
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 4
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 5
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 6
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 7
October 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 8
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