Filed under: Importance of Parks | Tags: Audubon Society of Portland, Childhood Obesity, Eugene, Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth, Let's Move, Portland
Childhood obesity is on the rise, and so are the diseases that can stem from it. Asthma, sleep apnea, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, gallstones, liver disease, kidney disease, and coronary vascular disease, which leads to heart attacks and strokes, are just some of the many problems that can result from obesity.
First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign has taken a stab at the growing problem, but the federal government can only do so much. Responsibility for offsetting the epidemic also lies with communities, city planners, schools, and parents.
Though studies have found that location plays a role in how often kids walk or play outside, there are multiple organizations that can help children explore the environment, engage in physical activity, and reduce risk of weight gain and obesity.
The Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth (LCHAY) is one such organization. Founded in 2004, the nonprofit seeks to prevent childhood obesity in Lane County. The LCHAY focuses its projects and advocacy campaigns on increasing kids’ physical activity and access to healthy foods, and reducing the amount of “screen time” spent with TVs, video games, and computers. Events sponsored by LCHAY include last October’s 3.1 mile RiverBend Run/Walk along the McKenzie River in Springfield, and this winter’s current film series (for more information check out the LCHAY website or their Facebook page).
Another organization that values the benefits of teaching children about nature is the Audubon Society of Portland. Dating back to 1903, the society dedicates itself to the conservation of Oregon’s wild places. Part of its work includes teaching children in the Portland area about the importance of nature and how to live alongside it responsibly. The Audubon Society offers school programs and spring, summer, and winter camps for kids.
Playing outside in parks and open spaces not only decreases risk of childhood obesity, but also improves kids’ emotional and cognitive development. Engaging with nature allows children to develop their sense of place, observational skills, and reasoning. Overall, running on the grass helps children grow in a healthy environment and leads them toward a brighter future.
2. Study: Traffic patterns affect childhood obesity
3. Green neighborhoods lower childhood obesity
4. LCHAY: Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth
5. Audubon Society of Portland
Blog By: Rebecca Sedlak
Filed under: Nature Parks, New Park | Tags: Beaverton, Cooper Mountain Nature Park
Majestic Views of the Tualatin and Portland-Metro Valley’s seem to appear once you arrive at the summit of Cooper Mountain hill in Beaverton, Oregon. Residents of this Westside Portland area have had quite a treat built literally right in there own back yards.
Just this past June, Beaverton’s Tualatin Park & Recreation District, in partnership with a privately owned company named Metro, have opened a new nature park atop Cooper Mountain.
Cooper Mountain is not only known for its Street of Dreams homes, but also its own winery and vineyard. It is known for being the highest point of elevation in Beaverton at roughly 1,000 ft. Its breathtaking scenery, along with neighborhoods right across the street from endless open terrain, make it a perfect place for the Nature Park.
View from the trail
The Cooper Mountain Nature Park boasts a variety of things to do. It offers a 230-acre park with 3.5 miles of gravel trails that take you through rare habitats and land that have been protected to save threatened species in the area.
The Nature Park also offers a lot more than just trails and tons of good ol’ open space. The property has a Nature House that provides information on the area itself. It’s also used for a weekly kids program that encourages growth and understanding of the environment along with the importance of living harmoniously with nature.
Something incredibly innovative about this park is that its Nature House and other “hardscapes” have been built using sustainable and energy-efficient materials. Atop the Nature House is a solar panel roof, which makes the nature park self-reliable on energy needs while supplying some of Cooper Mountain’s neighborhood energy needs as well.
The Nature House at Cooper Mountain
The benches, walkways, and bridges are made out of recycled plastic lumber. The paint on the Nature House is made up of recycled latex.
The park also boasts the first garden in the area featuring uses of native and drought-tolerant plants.
The Nature Park offers quite a variety of planned programs through the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District. Summer camps, bird walks, and photography development spots are all waiting to be filled!
According to Galen Cranz of horseshoefarm.org, “Sustainable parks build community, relationships, trust and goodwill. They educate the public about the value of natural resource stewardship.”
1. Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
2. The West Side’s Newest Park: Cooper Mountain
3. Nature and Outdoors: Nature Play Time
4. Cooper Mountain Nature Park Opens This Summer!
6. Pictures from Wikipedia.com
Blog by: Cody Dummer
Filed under: Park Maintenance | Tags: Eugene, Hendricks Park, Rent-a-goat
By Erik Maurer
Take a trip out to Eugene’s Hendricks Park sometime soon, and you might catch a glimpse of some interesting new members of the park’s maintenance crew. Why are they so intriguing, you ask? I’ll give you a hint: They are small, will eat just about anything, and they pack a mean kick.
Give up?
They’re goats.
That’s right, Eugene’s Parks and Open Spaces Division has employed these voracious farm animals in their new, eco-friendly strategies to combat the hordes of ivy and undergrowth that thrive in the Northwest’s fertile climate. They’re cheap, don’t require much supervision, and they free up workers who could be focusing their energy on other assignments.
Starting last summer, the nibblers have been munching away and clearing loads of pesky brush in places that aren’t easily accessible to the new bike maintenance trailers. These new, pedal-powered maintenance powerhouses are a part of the new sustainable maintenance initiative the Parks division has undertaken (check out this Register Guard article for more info on that effort). Their small size and ability to work easily on uneven ground allow them to whack weeds in places that crews would have a tough time getting to.
This creature feature isn’t just a phenomenon unique to Eugene, either. Park maintenance crews all over the country have employed this clever creature to keep their parks free from invasive plants seeking to overrun their neatly kept pathways and lawns. Parks in locations from Napa valley to urban L.A. have put the weed-munchers to work gnawing away at unsightly brush.
“They work long hours, won’t collect a pension or charge for working overtime and won’t call in sick,” praised L.A. rent-a-goat business owner George Gonzales.
The average herd of 100 goats can clear 2 1/2 acres in about 10 days. The cost for hiring workmen to do the same job would have been as high as $7,500. But the goat rental costs less than half of that, coming in at around $3,000. And it’s (practically) emission free. Check out these before and after images of a herd hard at work on a hillside.
Goat rental businesses have been popping up in cities around the nation, in response to country-wide efforts by park management to maintain their parks in a more environmentally conscious manner.
They’re cheap, eco-friendly, and always hungry. And instead of an afternoon of grueling hard work, the industrious herds see a tasty buffet in every new patch of pesky, overgrown weeds.
Munch on, kids.
Links:
Eugene’s Parks and Open Spaces Division
Park Workers Respond to Call to Use Less Fuel
Rental Goats Clear Brush Better, Beat Cosmonauts in Space Race
100 Goats are Put to Work Downtown
Filed under: New Park, Spray Play Parks | Tags: City of Eugene Parks and Open Space, Eugene, Spray Play Parks, Washington Park
Childhood memories of playing in the wading pool on hot summer days have become a thing of the past for Eugene locals. Recently, all wading pools in Eugene were required to install a pricey re-circulating and disinfecting water system or be closed after this past summer. This is the result of changing state health regulations, which were set in place to increase user safety when using wading pools.
But fear not, the city of Eugene has decided to convert these traditional wading pools into a park of the twenty-first century. Wading pools in the area will be transformed into interactive spray play parks, the first of which will be 5.5 acre Washington Park. Construction is planned to begin next summer.
Interactive spray play parks incorporate many different styles of user-activated fountains and jets to create a playful environment for summertime fun. There are elements for toddlers to play with, as well as older children. The upside to these unique, revolutionary parks is that unlike other water parks, they have no standing water, and therefore do not require chemical treatment, re-circulating systems, or lifeguards. Not to mention, for less restricted fun, they don’t run on a time schedule. These spray features are triggered by the touch of a button seven days a week.
According to the Eugene Parks and Open Space website, priorities of the park include:
* Visually appealing space both when in use and not.
* Age specific areas for safety and with good flow, fully accessible.
* Integrated landscaping.
* Comfortable areas for families and caregivers, plenty of seating and shade.
* Soft edges and curves.
* Stimulating, interactive, and unexpected elements.
* Use of the concrete surface as a design element.
* Inspired by nature and water.
* Incorporate local artists.
The Eugene Parks Foundation is working with the City of Eugene to raise $200,000 by this spring for construction of the new park. Sponsorship opportunities are available, including naming rights of the park for a $100,000 donation. Yes, the wading pools of old are gone, however, Eugene Parks and Open Spaces is very interested in the opinion of the public. They are welcoming suggestions or criticisms and very much want the input of the community for Eugene’s largest state of the art spray play park. Take a look at the design concepts and join the conversation!
1. Washington Park Information
2. Spray Parks are Making a Splash Around the U.S.
http://govpro.com/news/SprayparksmakingsplasharoundUS/
http://www.fountaineers.co.uk/playparks.htm
4. Regulations a Drain on Wading Pools in City Parks
http://www.kval.com/news/39809447.html
http://www.leeandassociatesinc.com/local_spraypark.html
Blog by: Jordan Roskelley
