Southeast Region - Regional Reports

Parks & Recreation, April, 2003

NRPA member Loudon County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services and the Mount Zion Church Preservation Association have partnered with Northern Virginia Community College to conduct a class on historic preservation techniques. The 12-week certificate program provides participants with hands-on training in techniques typical of historic restoration, such as door and window restoration, plastering, mortar removal and replacement. Mount Zion Church was erected in 1851 as a meeting place for the newly founded Primitive Baptist congregation and also served as a hospital and battleground staging area during the Civil War.

Cindy Curtis, deputy director of administration for the Richmond, Va., Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, headed to Virginia Beach in March to take over as director of that city's department of parks and recreation. Curtis holds a master's in urban and regional planning from Virginia Tech, and is a past president of the Virginia Recreation and Park Society.

NRPA Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator Susan Potts, M.S., CTRS, was the keynote speaker at the 1st Annual Therapeutic Recreation Conference in Shreveport, La., this month. Former NRPA Trustee Yvonne Washington, CPRP, spoke on "Expanding Horizons," while Dr. Jeannette Hutchinson, CTRS, provided guidelines on "Managing Your Therapeutic Recreation Practice."

The Loudoun County Chapter of the American Red Cross held its first annual bowling tournament on Feb. 9 in Leesburg, Va. Proceeds from the tournament went towards fulfilling the chapter's mission of providing vital programs and services, such as disaster relief, health and safety services, community education and senior transportation. NRPA had four 5-member teams of staff and family participating. NRPA administrative assistant Laura Heyer won the prize for highest female score.

NASCAR driver and outdoor enthusiast Ward Burton will serve as a spokesman for Virginia's state parks in public service announcements this year. "Virginia state parks are tremendous places for the entire family to go and enjoy the outdoors," says Burton. "It's an experience I would recommend to anyone." Burton, a native and current resident of Halifax County, is the first Virginian to win the Daytona 500. Virginia's state parks are the current Gold Medal Award winners for best-managed state parks.

NRPA Member David Molt, director of the Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center in Gainesville, Ga., has been elected as the first chairman of the League of Agricultural and Equine Centers, a national professional organization whose mission is to serve the continuing education needs of administrators and maintenance superintendents of horse parks and agricultural centers. The election took place in January at the league's annual conference hosted in Glen Rose, Texas. Mott started the organization in 1997 as a means of researching agricultural facilities and their operations in an effort to improve the operations and customer service at Chicopee.

Boca Raton's (Fla.) nature preserves were purchased primarily with resources from a 1991 $12 million environmentally sensitive lands bond issue. Boca Raton is the only municipality of it size in Florida with a program of this kind. Three of the five sites (Rosemary Ridge, Serenoa Glade and Blazing Star) were also purchased with matching funds from the Florida Communities Trust. The sites contain high-quality examples of natural communities that were present before European settlement in the area. Their primary purpose is to be maintained for future generations as examples of those communities. Initial management measures, such as clearing of exotics and debris removal, are being accomplished with bond funds. Ongoing management activity is budgeted through the conservation section of the park district.

United we stand--and get more accomplished. That's what Boca Ruton, Fla., has learned, to the benefit of its citizens. Four agencies work together (Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, Palm Beach County School Board, Florida Atlantic University, and Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resource Management) in an effort to provide environmental preservation, education and outstanding parks and recreation facilities. The more the merrier, or at least the more cost-effective, according to Mickey Gomez, APRS President.

How does this cross-pollination work? The Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District facilities funds all operations, maintenance and education programs at city-owned Red Reef Park and Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, and constructed soccer fields on the Florida Atlantic University campus. The city and university coordinate the fields. The city also exchanged land with the university under long-term lease agreements so that the university can conduct marine and biological research and study at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

The university allows the city to construct parks on university property. In addition, an inter-local agreement between the Palm Beach County School Board and the city provides for joint use of facilities. Also, the city and county of Palm Beach have jointly purchased environmentally sensitive lands, cooperated in developing and implementing strategic management plans and conducted preservation and education programs.