At NRPA’s Congress in Atlanta last fall, conservation got its much needed due. The Conservation Task Force on released a report and call to action which includes Ten Recommendations. The basis for the report should come as no surprise, given that environmental conservation has always been a third pillar in the NRPA mission “to advance parks, recreation and conservation efforts that advance the quality of life for all people.”
Yet, for years, conservation received less attention that it should have—not on purpose, of course. For various reasons, many agencies have found it difficult to get their arms around conservation. Quite often, agencies treated conservation as they did the fields of parks and recreation, relegating all three to a programmatic function. By explaining and promoting the programs and services in a micro sense, rather than the integral and essential relationship to their communities, they all too often miss the bigger picture.
The irony of this situation is that park and recreation agencies as a whole have all along fulfilled an integral role within their communities in providing essential services. It’s just that they seldom portray them in a holistic light.
The same applies to environmental conservation. Most likely, you’ve been practicing environmental conservation all along, though many of you have been articulating your contributions in quantitative and not qualitative ways. By virtue of such features as your trails, open space, community gardens, nature programs, storm-water systems, you’ve been solid green all along. The carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by your trees and foliage alone qualifies your park as a contributor to a greener planet.
The key point here is the need for agencies to leverage all the environmental good done by your agency into a leadership role. Good things happen to organizations when they are perceived in a leadership capacity. Not to be a leader puts any organization at the mercy of the organizations that do lead in their fields.
That’s why I believe you will find our cover story on environmentally sustainable facilities design, construction, and renovation so important. By certifying the many features your agency does toward greener operations, the more you will be perceived as an integral leader in your community.