PA outdoor recreation plan prioritizes local parks
CONNECTING
OUTDOORS
By PSAB Staff
22
Pennsylvania Borough News
MAY 2015
E
very five years, states across
the nation are required to
produce a new statewide
recreation plan to remain
eligible to receive federal
Land and Water Conservation funds
(LWCF). The plan is designed to direct
the use of LWCF funds that may come
to the state and are administered
through the Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources
(DCNR). The purpose of the plan is to
guide outdoor recreation programs,
policies, and projects for local and
state governments and outdoor
recreation providers.
The LWCF has supported local
parks and historic sites; conserved
forests, rivers, lakes and wildlife
habitat; and provided access to
recreation, hunting and fishing across
Pennsylvania for current and future
generations. Since 1965, Pennsylvania
has received almost $165 million from
the LWCF, which has supported more
than 1,500 local parks.
At the Pennsylvania State
Association of Boroughs’ (PSAB)
Annual Conference in April, you may
have learned more about the plan at
the workshop session, Connecting
Outdoors. The Borough News is
outlining some of the top priorities of
the plan, with a focus on local parks
and recreation.
“Local parks and recreation are
important to keeping citizens healthy
and connected to nature, but also to
providing the amenities and special
places that make communities able
to attract homeowners, businesses,
and visitors that keep them vibrant
and economically sound,” said Lauren
Imgrund, Director of the Bureau of
Recreation & Conservation at DCNR.
Pennsylvania’s 2009 plan was
awarded the Best in the Nation in
2011 by the National Park Service
and the National Association for
Recreation Resource Planners. The
2009-2013 outdoor plan outlined four
goals which were to:
• Strengthen connections between
outdoor recreation, healthy
COMMUNITY RECREATION Residents in Thompsontown Borough, Juniata County,
enjoy recreation close to home
lifestyles and economic benefits
in communities.
• Reconnect people to the outdoors
and develop a stewardship ethic
through outdoor recreation
opportunities and experiences.
• Develop a statewide land and
water trail network to facilitate
recreation, transportation and
healthy lifestyles.
• Enhance outdoor recreation
through better state agency
cooperation.
An outcome of the plan was
the expansion of the TreeVitalize
community tree-planting and
education program to communities
across the state in 2013. Brought
on by the plan’s recommendation
to develop a one-stop trail website,
DCNR launched www.ExplorePATrails.
com in 2009 as a central place to find
trails of all uses.
A Nature-Based Placemaking
Program, a comprehensive and
contemporary approach to
community revitalization organized
around an area’s natural and
recreational assets, was launched in
2012. The nature-based placemaking
strategy combines existing successful
programs like trail towns, river towns,
community gateways, conservation
landscapes, Elm and Main Street
programs and other economic
development initiatives into one
package. The concept is being tested
communities like Foxburg Borough,
Columbia Borough, Wrightsville
Borough, and Emporium Borough.
Moreover, many people are
expanding the definition of
“recreation”. For instance, the
Gettysburg Alternative Sports Park in
Adams County provides a venue for
BMX stunt riding, inline skating, and
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not safe on the borough streets. A
local advocacy group, Collaborating
for Youth, petitioned for a skate park
in the borough, and eight years ago,
the Gettysburg Alternative Sports Park
(GASP) became reality for $87,000.
Users pay a low registration fee to
offset some of the costs associated
with staffing the park, and the venue
can be rented for private functions.
A group, including a former BMX
professional, is currently lobbying for
longer hours and more activities at
the park.
Current Priorities
PSAB is a member of the Technical
Advisory Committee (TAC) that is
responsible for developing priorities,
strategies, and outcomes. For more
than 18 months, the committee has
met to discuss themes, research, and
public findings. Additionally, local
government officials, including many
boroughs and residents, participated
through public meetings and survey
feedback. The research traits also
included ethnic diversity, age, gender,
MAY 2015
www.boroughs.org
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Local Parks and Recreation Challenges
• Sufficient and stable funding sources
• Aging infrastructure and facility maintenance
• Positioning parks and programs as essential public services
• Non-traditional partners
Local Parks and Recreation Opportunities
• New funding sources to support local parks
• Sharing best practices
• New technologies for information sharing
• Intergovernmental cooperation
population growth, and other traits.
The five priorities outlined in the
current plan provide an overview of
the challenges and opportunities.
The plan shows that Pennsylvania’s
residents still favor walking as a
favorite activity, and residents use
their local parks more than any other
facility. The priorities in the 2015 plan
are:
• Health and wellness
• Local parks and recreation
• Tourism and economic
development
• Resource management and
stewardship
• Funding and financial stability
With more than 5,600 locations
across the state, our local parks and
recreation areas are perhaps our
most valuable recreation resources.
Pennsylvania’s outdoor recreation
plans have not comprehensively
addressed local parks since 1980,
when a priority called for “more
recreation facilities and programs
near or where people live.”
More than 90 percent of
Pennsylvanians visited a local park
last year. Local parks are as diverse
as the populations they serve, but
most face similar challenges –
limited funding, aging infrastructure,
maintenance, and capacity to carry
out programs and services. While
forming stable and productive
partnerships takes commitment and
creativity, new opportunities, and
expanded capacity are gained by
doing so. New funding sources and
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Pennsylvania Borough News
technologies are helping to improve
park and recreation officials’ abilities
to meet the recreation needs of their
citizens.
According to the public survey
results, walking, scenic driving, dog
walking, and bicycling are the most
popular activities done on roads and
trails. Swimming and fishing are the
most popular water-based activities.
Visiting historic sites, wildlife
viewing, bird watching, visiting nature
centers, and night sky viewing all
hold top spots on the popularity
index. Taken as a whole, the top
five outdoor recreation activities
for Pennsylvanians are walking,
visiting historic sites, scenic driving,
picnicking, and swimming.
Local parks and recreation areas
still remain the top destination choice
for Pennsylvanians, proving that close
to home recreation is an important
consideration for Pennsylvania’s
outdoor recreation plan. According
to the Pennsylvania resident survey,
50 percent of visitor participation
days occurred at local and county
parks, trails, or recreation areas.
Overall, maintaining existing facilities
was highlighted as a main priority
for respondents. More than half of
respondents agreed that maintaining
the public recreation areas we now
have is more important than adding
new outdoor recreation facilities in
Pennsylvania.
The recommendations for local
parks and recreation include:
• Connect citizens to close-toMAY 2015
home recreational opportunities
and greenspace.
• Position local park facilities and
recreation programs as essential
services.
• Create and leverage partnerships
that expand outdoor recreation
opportunities.
• Coordinate strategic investment
in local priorities and respond to
emerging trends.
• Provide expanded parks and
recreation technical assistance to
communities.
Based on the best available
data through the PA Department
of Community and Economic
Development (DCED), from 20082012 municipalities spent about
$457 million on recreation, or $36
per capita. The median recreation
expenditure per municipality was
$13,627. This data also shows that
from 2003-2012, municipal recreation
spending declined an average of 12
percent.
In the 2014 Pennsylvania provider
survey, 24 percent of respondents
indicated their tax supported funding
for operational expenses has declined;
29 percent saying funding for capital
projects has declined. Nearly twothirds reported level funding for
operations over the past three years.
Municipalities spend an average
of just three percent of their total
expenditures on recreation.
Technology has greatly improved
our access to information over the
last five years. Websites like www.
ExplorePATrails.com make use of
interactive maps, user feedback,
directions, and photos to draw
people into trail locations. Mobile
applications and websites tailored for
smart phones provide fingertip access
to recreation information, and more
people are turning to this technology
to find their information.
Action Steps for Boroughs
“Plan implementation will be
advanced through collaboration with
state agencies, local governments
and non-profit providers. We
will work closely with the Plan’s
Technical Advisory Committee to
identify and advance priority action
items and monitor progress. DCNR
will be updating our Community
Conservation Partnerships Program
grant selection criteria and our
technical assistance services to reflect
the new plan priorities,” Imgrund said.
The plan outlines recommendations
and action steps that can be taken in
communities. They include:
• Collect nominations from local
communities to create a Top
10 most endangered parks list
and partner with state and local
agencies to target funding to
revitalize these parks.
• Launch a mobile application
for residents to easily find local
parks and collect photos, stories,
and amenities from users.
• Challenge local communities
to increase the portion of their
municipal budget dedicated to
parks and recreation to at least
five percent over the next five
years.
• Identify and promote strategic,
alternative and non-traditional
revenue sources for recreation
programming and local parks.
• Develop a unified brand for
local parks and recreation
with accompanying marketing
strategy, toolkit, and training that
helps providers communicate
the benefits and value of local
parks and recreation.
• Enhance DCNR’s local parks
web-based resources to
feature best practices and
resources on emerging topics
such as green and sustainable
practices, funding, partnerships,
technology, and stewardship
education.
• Encourage educational
institutions to partner with local
communities to share resources
through mechanisms such
as joint-use agreements and
collaborative programming.
“The plan identifies an ambitious
agenda for Pennsylvania over the next
five years,” Imgrund said. “Challenges
LOCAL PARKS Residents in Derry Borough, Westmoreland County, can take
advantage of local parks and recreation
Trends in Pennsylvania Communities
• Between 2010 and 2030, the Hispanic population is projected to
grow 184 percent, to a total of 8.5 percent of the state’s population.
• By 2030, people over the age of 65 will be approaching one quarter
of the state’s population.
• Between 2000 and 2010, Pennsylvania’s population grew 3.4 percent
to 12.7 million people, slower than the United States overall growth
of 9.7 percent.
• The average size of households in Pennsylvania continues to
decrease with fewer families with children and fewer children in
families. Between 2000 and 2010, the share of married couples
raising children declined by 12 percent; conversely, single parent
homes raising children increased by 12 percent.
Source: Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, www.paoutdoorrecplan.com
will include keeping the plan’s wellthought our recommendations and
actions at the forefront of our work.
Maintaining partnerships and focus
will require a commitment from all of
us who are involved in providing and
advancing outdoor recreation in our
state.”
To learn more about implementing
action steps in your borough, visit
www.paoutdoorrecplan.com. (B)
Editor’s Note: The article is based on the draft
plan of the 2014-2019 Statewide Comprehensive
Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP).
MAY 2015
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