Walk of Life

John Muir’s 1,000 mile walk to the Gulf is a story of inspiration, triumph, and spirituality. His journey across the rugged lands of America was brought about by John’s need to get closer to God’s creatures. John began his walk to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867, two years after the Civil War, keeping only the bare essentials, which included a notebook were he recorded his experiences. John’s love of plants, his writings and his work with Yosemite and the National Park System, inspired Will and Sarah Reding to re-walk the path John Muir took to receive the same life changing experiences as John.

To prepare for their journey Will and Sarah Reding studied Civil War maps to find where John might have walked. The couple also visited John’s Home and gravesite in Martinez, California and attended a John Muir Symposium at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California. The Redings began their journey in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 5, 2006. They walked across Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida for 53 days ending June 25, 2006 at Cedar Key, FL.

Along the way the Redings recorded their journey written and with photography. They received help from many people as they walked and made friends along the way. The Redings tried to experience as much of John Muir’s trip as possible. They even stayed in a Haunted Bed and Breakfast house. The couple made many stops to nurse their weary and swelling feet.

The Redings presented their journey in a fulfilled story that was humorous and infused with enthusiasm and history. The Redings are great storytellers and it was inspiring to hear their life adventures.

Gadgets

This session presents various gadgets developed by park managers and maintenance personnel to make projects easier to complete. A gadget was defined as a purchased or crafted item used innovatively to make a job easier. At this session attendees were invited to take the podium to speak and share their workplace gadgets with each other. Ideas ranged from a platform for safe and efficient maintenance underneath a bridge to simply re-commissioning used tennis ball cases as containers for tools and objects. The audience members were asked to place votes on which of the gadgets were their favorite, and the winner of the contest will receive an award that was made by the last year’s winner.

The gadgets presented this year included:

·  Trash container door that prevents raccoons from dragging trash out onto the ground. This gadget is similar to lids in the National Parks system designed to keep bears out of trash containers.

·  Large planting pots for young tress that keep the root systems protected in urban parks or parks that experience high impact use. These pots can support trees for an average of seven years; afterwards they can be taken to an area where they can be planted in the ground.

·  Custom fitting a cage onto the frame of a golf cart gave the cart a bed for weed eaters, tools, ect. These carts can be used in place of the Gators and Toro small wheeled vehicles that are useful in parks, but are very expensive. Budget constraints are a problem for most parks; this is a viable solution to those constraints.

·  Adjustable platforms that are used to assist in maintaining the underside of bridges and overpasses. The bridge is set on poles with interlocking rollers that help guide it along the bridge as work is completed.

·  A broom that has an air apparatus at the broom head to provide easier clean up of fine particles and sediments.

·  A fence stretcher that is attached to a Gator. This device contains a post with hooks that will pull a fence as a new post is set in the ground. This invention won first prize at this year’s institute.

·  Safety and informational signs developed to inform park patrons about safety checks and inspections on recreation equipment.

How to Manage Public Partnerships

In the opening of the session, Jason Kissel the presenter discussed his history in the forestry and state parks in Indiana, and the partners involved in funding the different properties. Mr. Kissel gave attendees different suggestions for how to work with various organizations within their local communities to help lower their operating costs. He explained the different types of private-public partnerships and the different benefits from the various partnerships. Mr. Kissel defined specific steps in determining which partners would be most beneficial. He also provided an example scenario to illustrate the partnership process as well as a scale on which to grade and review the partners in companies and whether it is beneficial to keep them with the company as well. The presenter also gave various tips on how much of the operating costs an organization should try to raise with donated funds. He also gave ideas on how to work with organizations to have money or items donated. Mr. Kissel ended by explaining some examples that he personally had used throughout his career.

Dollars and Sense: The Philosophy of Major Donations

This presentation teaches the fundamentals of developing relationships with donors.

The first thing that must be done is to develop a project that needs to be funded. Conduct research to ensure that there are no other projects that will compete with your fund raising efforts. It is important to be able to create a story about the project and then present it to potential donors. The story needs to focus on what is going to happen within the structures that will be built rather than focusing on the structures themselves. Combining areas of Interest, such as projects related to children, culture, or history, will gain a wider base of possible donors. It can be very beneficial to build your project around something compelling; an anniversary that is directly related to the project can generate a rally point that can greatly aid in generating funds.

Making contact with potential donors can be done in a variety of ways. The easiest method involves asking current donors or friends groups to ask their friends and acquaintances to consider potential donors; get to know what these people’s interests and passions are. When meeting and interacting with potential donors a person needs to remember to treat that person as an individual rather than focusing on the fact that they have money to donate. Asking people for donations the first time you meet them or, have the opportunity to tell them about a project, is never a good idea. Give the person some time to think about the project and decide if they are interested in donating. See the donors as people and not as dollar signs. If the prospective donor does not donate find out why; if they donate make sure they receive a written thank you and remain informed about the project through periodic updates. Once an institution develops a network on local donors, it gains the credibility to garner support from federal donors.

Major donations can be big sums of money or multiple small donations from one individual. Different ways for accomplishing major funding were discussed at this session including that of vision action groups, mile stones, and phases.

Vision Action Groups are groups of potential or previous givers along with staff that come up with visions for the future. These are not company goals but should be more broad and futuristic. This group not only comes up with visions but also ways of achieving them like drives, concerts, and other events.

Mile stones are things that naturally happen and can be celebrated, or create a cause for raising money. Examples of this maybe the community’s birthday or a 25 year anniversary of service from a community volunteer. Mile stones are great ways to generate money for a good cause and can also include a creation of a fund, scholarship, or donation.

Phase of the project are important when there is a lofty vision that is trying to be achieved. When a big project is given phases it makes it attainable. Each phase can be looked at as a separate goal to the whole vision. Being flexible in which phase is achieved first is helpful because some individual may want to donate to a specific phase.

A New Turf War: Synthetic vs. Natural Turf

In this session, the presenters Todd King and Matt Gaynor discussed the pros and cons of having a synthetic playing field instead of a natural turf. The presentation was well organized with lots of specific information that stemmed from their first had experience of converting natural fields into synthetic fields in Olympic Park, Schaumburg Park District, Illinois.

The Schaumburg Park District has 105 parks and 12 facilities and it owns roughly 1,100 acres. The Olympic Park opened in 1995 with 5 softball fields, 120 garden plots, 2 soccer fields, and a parking lot, totaling 1.5 million dollars. Over the next 13 years, the park was upgraded with two concession stands, installed irrigation on softball and soccer fields, added two full sized basketball courts, a skate plaza and added more parking spaces. In 2007, the park transition six natural turf fields to a synthetic surface.

The park has four primary user groups; the Schaumburg Park District adult softball and soccer leagues, the Schaumburg Park District Athletic Association youth soccer and softball leagues, private organizations, and adult independent team play.

Prior to transforming the six fields into synthetic turf, Olympic Park experienced high maintenance. Olympic Park had issues of patchy grass, puddles of water, small animal holes, muddy grass and constant tracker tracks.

When Olympic Park transformed their softball and soccer fields, they experienced many positives as well as negatives. Some positives received from installing artificial turf were lower maintenance cost, no down time for field recovery, less cancellation of rentals and never suffers during storms or a dry season. Negatives experienced were the turfs limited ability to absorb and filter rainwater, pollutants, playing surfaces are often warmer, and the high initial cost. Although, installing the turf involves high upfront cost, the future potential savings on maintenance cost according to the presenters over the 10-year life expectancy of the artificial turf is $380,710.

In planning a synthetic field, the presenters recommended several questions to ask your local artificial turf representative during a consultation. Some key questions were to ask for references, inquire about their experience and history, and have the representative to fully explain their product. Lots of good information was given in this session, especially in construction requirements and artificial turf company comparisons.

EAB: Important Regulation Changes and Updates

The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive insect that is killing ash trees in various areas of the United States.

·  Feeds on the leaves of Ash Trees for two weeks-infestation will start at the top of the tree making initial detection of the insect difficult.

·  Then will feed on the vascular tissue under the bark of the tree.

·  Zigzag patters filled with Ash Borer excrement (frass) will appear under the bark.

·  First discovered in Detroit MI in 2002

·  First discovered in Indiana in Stuban County.

·  EAB is found in north eastern Indiana and Marian County. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and The Indiana Department of Natural Resources are currently monitoring the spread of this invasive species.

·  EAB came to the United States from China.

How is EAB spread?

·  Natural Spread of EAB is one-fourth to one-half of a mile per year.

·  Human activities have exponentially increased this through movement of Ash wood products such as: fire wood, raw wood with bark, dun age and crating, and trees from nurseries.

·  There are regulations to prevent these products from leaving certain areas, however, it can be very difficult to monitor the movement of these products.

·  56% of all fire wood comes from tree services that cut down dead trees, Ash trees.

·  20% of this fire wood is used for camping, meaning that it is very mobile.

·  It only takes one careless person to cause this harmful invasive to spread.

·  Only one in five persons knows that the movement of fire wood from certain areas is prohibited.

·  The role of parks is to educate the public about the severity of the problem and way they can help save our Ash Trees.

Not Your Ordinary Hot Spot: Wi-Fi in the Parks

This session explained how and why the Ohio State Parks System has been phasing in Wi-Fi at the parks. Wi-Fi is internet that can be accessed wirelessly. The presenter Phil Hoffman, explained what equipment works best and the approximate costs of the products needed to incorporate Wi-Fi in public places. He compared some of the best well-known equipment and their advantages. Mr. Hoffman discussed how there may be some advancements of technology, and how that effects the Wi-Fi in parks, for example site filtering and the cost of that additional equipment. He discussed the possibility of charging customers, and explained how customers expect that the internet access is free. Mr. Hoffman gave many reasons as to why you would want to add Wi-Fi to your parks but the number one reason is that it is what campers are asking for. Providing the service can even get campers to stay longer or bring more people into the park. At the end of the session, there was a great deal of time for questions and other comments and conversation.

Boating Access:

The SS Minnow, the Skipper, and the Three-Hour Tour

This session started with attendees making a fun sailor newspaper hat before getting into the topic. The presenter, Julie McQuade spent some time discussing various options for creating better access and entry sites for boating around the Great Lakes region. While many may not realize it, boating registration revenues are important for everyone in a park district because the income is shared throughout. Julie McQuade then led the session in discussing different areas of concerns for creating access points such as accessibility, materials, slope, and blending in with the surroundings. She made it clear what boaters’ needs in terms of parking and discussed how the number and sizes of ramps will differ from each site. Mrs. McQuade then showed pictures of various projects from around the country that have recently been renovated or constructed with concern to the various issues mentioned above. She also mentioned the importance of seeking grants as a source of money for public access points for lakes and rivers.