Parks & Recreation

[From my July 1 article in the Colchester Bulletin]

Today officially kicks off the 25th anniversary of National Park and Recreation Month, which has been celebrated across the country each July since its inception in 1985. This year’s theme is “Celebrate, Advocate, Recreate!” and I believe that each of those actions is critical, perhaps now more than ever.

With unprecedented budget shortfalls across the country, regular budget “trimming” has turned into massive cutting of entire programs and services. Often, the brunt of these cuts has been taken by parks at the local, county and state levels. The stories of entire park systems being shut down and crucial services being eliminated abound. From New York to Iowa to California, massive numbers of state parks are being closed. Here in Connecticut we were spared a major increase in park entrance fees just prior to their implementation due to the hard work of many concerned citizens.

The irony of the situation is that it is during times like these that our parks are the most vital. Just when families can least afford to travel to exotic or remote locations to experience and enjoy nature, their local public spaces are locking the gates and closing up shop. Luckily, there is a renewed national movement to save parks and conserve open space.

In April, President Obama convened a meeting of stakeholders on the issue, bringing together parks and recreation professionals, government leaders, and numerous other experts to begin the development of a far reaching plan to address conservation. With the last such effort occurring over 100 years ago during Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency, it was long overdue.

=> Read more!