Obama’s Budget Proposes $125 million in Additional Funds for National Parks
from The Examiner
 President Barack Obama’s proposed 2010 budget allocates $12 billion for the Department of the Interior, which includes an addition of $100 million to the national parks’ operations and maintenance budget. Obama also proposes $25 million to leverage private donations for national park projects. More
Skaters have an Ax to Grind
from the Pensacola News Journal
Mark Furches, 20, went from looking through the viewfinder of a camera to looking down the barrel of a shotgun. He had been filming some of his friends skateboarding at a makeshift skate park, and he didn't notice when two men, one armed with a shotgun, approached from some nearby woods. Word of the robbery quickly spread through the local skateboard community, but any given afternoon, nearly a dozen skaters can still be found hitting the homemade ramps and rails at the demolished warehouse slab. The reason, according to the skaters: There's no place else to go.
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Parks Make Use of Prisoners, Volunteers
from the Daily Progress
Albemarle, Va., officials are asking volunteers and jail inmates to be caretakers of county parks. “Especially now, during the hard budget times, we’re really trying to work with volunteers as much as we can,” said Tucker Rollins, a parks service officer. Volunteers have labored about 1,500 hours since the beginning of 2008, according to Parks and Recreation officials. Local inmates have clocked in about 19,000 hours since 2004. More
Economy Takes Toll on Florida Recreation Plans
from The Gainesville Sun
Alachua County, Fla., and its cities are preparing to see less funding than originally projected from the Wild Spaces Public Places half-cent sales tax, just as the first projects get under way this spring. "You project based on the economy, but it's never certain until the money rolls in," Ramesh Buch, director of Alachua County Forever said. "The slowing economy is having an impact on the amount of money we can raise, and it definitely has an impact on the amount of land we can protect." More
Group Forms to Promote Greenspace
from the Cherokee Tribune
A nonprofit organization to raise money for Woodstock, Ga.'s, planned Greenprints Project is taking root. A group of citizens is creating the advocacy group to help build more parks, trails and greenspace throughout the city. More
Program Gives Troubled Teens a Chance to Go from Probation to Vocation
from the Kitsap Sun
A corrections officer at Kitsap County, Wash.'s, juvenile detention center once held the keys to Shaina Schamp's future. Now, she does. A shiny keychain attached to her jeans allows the 18-year-old, employed by the county's parks and recreation department, access to many doors and closets around the Kitsap Fairgrounds complex. It's a large responsibility that she's earned. More
Michigan Bill Gives Locals First Shot at Buying State Parkland
from Spinal Column
Local governments in Michigan would have the first opportunity to acquire surplus state park land at fair market value so long as local officials agree to use the space as parkland for at least 20 years, under legislation recently introduced in the state House by a lakes area lawmaker. More
Building a Gem of a Park Just Because 'They Asked Me'
from Voice of San Diego
For decades, the Otay River Valley in California -- 11 miles of open space stretching from the Lower Otay Reservoir west to San Diego Bay's southern end -- has been treated like an unwanted, out-of-sight garbage can. Transient camps, illegal dumps and thick stands of invasive weeds littered the valley separating Chula Vista from Otay Mesa. That's slowly changing, and volunteer John Willett has been instrumental in its engineering. More
Maryland County Weighs Combination of Recreation Departments
from The Washington Post
Recreation programs including nature camps and sports activities could be consolidated under one department of Montgomery County, Md., government, eliminating duplication and probably saving money, under a proposal officials are considering. A County Council committee will take a look at the proposal next week, after a report last month by the Office of Legislative Oversight that recommended combining programs. More
Some Parks could Go Brown to Save Water
from the Petaluma Argus-Courier
Petaluma, Calif., parks officials want to give the public early warning: Expect to see some brown spots at local parks this summer. In order to reach an expected 30 percent cutback in water use and keep within its budget, the city’s parks and recreation department is considering a priority list of which parks get the best irrigation. More
Minnesota Parks May Join in on the Hunt
from the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Park officials in Minnesota are considering policies that would allow geocaching. Most Twin Cities county parks and a few cities allow the activity, in which people use handheld GPS (global positioning system) devices to find hidden, waterproof containers holding small toys, a log book and other items. Searchers start by checking a Web site to get a list of area caches, each with latitude and longitude coordinates. More
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