Since we found ourselves continually asking these questions, it made sense to create a Public Service Announcement video. In doing so, we hoped that the video would help encourage citizens to reflect on how they viewed and used parks. We wanted them to ask themselves: “What if we didn’t have parks and open spaces? Where would we play with our kids? Or exercise? Or simply appreciate nature? Where would we do the things we love?” We felt that the technique of using signs with different, real individuals would create a humanistic and personal feel for our audience. We modeled the video on the PR tactic known as the “Social Learning Theory.” According to this theory, people learn and become more involved and willing to join a movement based on seeing others participating in an action. You may call it propaganda, but it’s propaganda encouraging you to get out, get involved, and use the free parks and space provided by your community for what they’re meant for: living your life.

American, Oregonians in particular, often drive past hiking trails, running paths, and playgrounds. All that green can seem run-of-the-mill in Oregon’s lush, rainy climate, but parks shouldn’t be overlooked. Many citizens don’t realize that these open spaces are a vital component to the thriving  infrastructure of a community.

Parks give people in the neighborhood a place to be active, release stress, and spend quality time with their children or pets. The new spray play area in Washington Park in Eugene is just one kind of open space where adults can bring their kids. Spray play parks use clean water, aren’t bogged down with pricey disinfecting water systems (compared with wading pools), and are appropriate for all ages. Dog parks are also community spaces that allow people to bond with their pets. Owners exercise their animals, swap stories with other visitors, and make memories.

Open spaces promote healthy living practices for members of the community, just by virtue of their interspersed areas between neighborhoods and other locations throughout town. Childhood obesity is on the rise, but parks provide places where children can exercise and safely play in clean air. “Kids don’t necessarily constrain their physical activity to sidewalks, so it is important to look at greenness, which includes parks and yards, with respect to children’s health,” says Janice Bell, a health services expert at the University of Washington in Seattle. Bell recently conducted a study that showed children living in greener areas and closer to parks gained less weight over a two year period than children living in more urban areas.

Community gardens are another kind of public open spaces that promotes healthy living practices. All over the country citizens get their hands in the dirt and grow their own produce; in Eugene alone there are six different gardening communities. Gardening increases self-reliance, saves families money, and allows people to meet and interact with more people in their communities. Together gardeners learn about how things grow and create bonds with other citizens in the community.

Skateboarding has become a very popular sport for young teens; however, there are not very many places that welcome this activity. Luckily enough for Eugene skaters, a new, fresh, and well-designed skateboard park is in the process of being built in Washington Jefferson Park. This park will help clean up graffiti, control illegal skateboarding on private and other public properties, and promote positive activities for teens in the communities. A park designated just for skaters is valuable: they can improve skating skills, meet other skaters, and know they have a place to call their own.

Beyond physical activity, bringing together community members, and providing venues for people to pursue their interests, parks and open spaces also offer places for people to create healthy relationships with nature. The environment is an important aspect of our world. Open spaces allow us to teach youth how to treat the environment respectfully, to improve our observational skills and “discover” new things, and to savor the peace and majesty of the wild.The beautiful new Cooper Mountain Nature Park in Beaverton has 3.5 miles of gravel trails that take visitors through rare habitats that have been protected to save threatened species in the area. Nature parks, national wildlife parks, and hiking areas—like Eugene’s own Hendricks Park and Spencer’s Butte—preserve wild country and at the same time let people celebrate nature.

Our blog mainly focused on the city of Eugene. However, as we searched for current and up-to-date information concerning parks and open spaces in the Eugene area (such as developments and news), we thought it was necessary and smart to reach outside of the Eugene area and see what new and interesting things other communities were considering and planning. As a group, we decided it was important to use park news, developments, and links from around the country to educate the Eugene community.

As the term carried on, we realized that citizens in our community take for granted our abundant supply of beautiful parks and vast open spaces. Our goal was to create further awareness on the importance of parks in the Eugene area. Although some of our blog posts didn’t have to do with the city of Eugene, they were stories that we found interesting with innovative techniques that Eugene could use for current and future park developments. That included everything from using goats for natural, innovative brush maintenance, to park buildings being made from 100% recycled materials. We knew that incorporating natural and “green” ways to develop and maintain parks, was something that the City of Eugene would love and eat up (literally concerning the goats).

We are very thankful for the parks in our community, and we want to inspire others to support and use these important open spaces as well. Don’t forget to spread the word of our blog to your friends for local information on parks and open spaces in Eugene!

Thank you again from your bloggers!

-       Cody Dummer

-       Rebecca Sedlak

-       Erik Maurer

-       Jordan Roskelley

Updated Multimedia Piece for Gateway 3, J207 Winter 2010, Parks and Open Spaces. Long version.

What if we didn’t have parks and open spaces? Where would we play? run? bike? explore? We are very thankful for the parks in our community, and we want to inspire others to support their important open spaces.

Playing outside is key to the physical and mental development of kids.

Local parks provide wide open spaces where people can exercise.

Community open spaces are where life happens.

Here are pdf versions of the three promotional advertisements:

Where You Can Grow

Where You Can Move

Where You Can Live

Multimedia Piece for Gateway 3, J207 Winter 2010, Parks and Open Spaces. Short version.

What if we didn’t have parks and open spaces? Where would we play? run? bike? explore? We are very thankful for the parks in our community, and we want to inspire others to support their important open spaces.

Back in the day, it was normal for homes to have enormous yards ideal for sizable gardens. Families could inexpensively provide fresh, nutritious vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, or even raspberries for their families. Today, this is not the case. Today, society has shifted to pocket sized yards or simply no yards at all.

To compensate for this change, the popularity of community gardens has increased, especially in areas where personal space is sparse and fresh produce is pricey. Community gardens allow urban dwellers and people fresh out of space to enjoy the numerous benefits of gardening.

Gardens come in a variety of types and sizes, each specially made for their location. Lets break down what a community garden can and cannot be. According to the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA), community gardens can be urban, suburban, or rural. They can grow flowers, fruits, and vegetables and can be divided into individual plots or can be one community plot. Plots can grow produce for the members of the plot or for markets.

The benefits of community gardens are endless. Besides the obvious benefits of nourishing, fresh produce, ACGA states that community gardens improve the quality of life for people who garden. They also provide a way to improve neighborhood and community development, encourage social interaction within a community, promote self-reliance, and not to mention, they simply make neighborhoods more attractive. Community gardens also reduce how much families spend on food, preserve green space, and even lower city heat from streets and parking lots.

Since 1978, Eugene has been creating community gardens and increasing community involvement and friendships. In Eugene there are six community gardens with a total of more than 300 plots. The average plot in Eugene is 20 by 30 feet and is individually staked and numbered so to avoid any confusion. To rent a plot costs $60 per year, which includes garden tools and water. Each individual gardener decides what to plant and how to help it grow most successfully. When you rent a plot within a community garden, you have a responsibility not just to yourself, but also to everyone who participates in that garden. The rules include starting your garden in the spring, maintaining your plot appropriately, keeping common areas and roadways clear, using organic gardening methods (no pesticides or herbicides) and being respectful to others crops.

Community Gardens are “springing up” all over the nation. They provide so many wonderful benefits with only one downfall- getting your hands down and in the dirt is fairly difficult. These gardens have become so popular that there are waiting lists a “yard” long. So get going, grab some seeds, find a plot near you, and gain some of the countless benefits community gardens can offer.

More Information:

Information is available about plots after March 1.

Plot assignments are made in the middle of March.

For more information or to request a plot, contact:

City of Eugene Parks and Open Spaces

1820 Roosevelt Boulevard

Eugene, Oregon 97402

(541) 682-4800

volunteersinparks@ci.eugene.or.www.eugene-or.gov/parks

1. About American Community Gardening Association

2. Benefits of Community Gardens

3. ACGA What is a Community Garden

4. Eugene Program Information

5. Eugene Community Gardeners

By: Jordan Roskelley

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.

1. Let’s Move campaign

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

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!

5. Sustainable Parks

6. Pictures from Wikipedia.com

Blog by: Cody Dummer

By Erik Maurer

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.

Eugene’s Parks and Open Spaces Division

Park Workers Respond to Call to Use Less Fuel

Getting Greener by the Day

Rental Goats Clear Brush Better, Beat Cosmonauts in Space Race

100 Goats are Put to Work Downtown

]]> http://g3openspaces.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/101/feed/ 0 erikmaurer Before After http://g3openspaces.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/park-of-the-21st-century/ http://g3openspaces.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/park-of-the-21st-century/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:53:35 +0000 jaroskelley http://g3openspaces.wordpress.com/?p=81 ]]> 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

http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=677&PageID=1657&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=6&cached=true&mode=2&userID=2

2. Spray Parks are Making a Splash Around the U.S.

http://govpro.com/news/SprayparksmakingsplasharoundUS/

3. Fountaineers

http://www.fountaineers.co.uk/playparks.htm

4. Regulations a Drain on Wading Pools in City Parks

http://www.kval.com/news/39809447.html

5.Spray Play Park Example

http://www.leeandassociatesinc.com/local_spraypark.html

Blog by: Jordan Roskelley

The main issue: whether to extend the University of Oregon’s (UO) 20-year-old conditional use permit over the land, which would allow construction until October 2012 without changing any of the original 1989 design plans. The extension was initially granted in December, and then appealed by Connecting Eugene, a group of faculty, students, and alumni at the UO, and other citizens, who contest the UO and the Oregon Research Institute’s (ORI) development plan of the park.

Hearing officer Jeff Litwak oversaw arguments for and against the extension of the permit at the meeting, which was the first formal outlet for community involvement and input.

The land in question lies on the south side of the Willamette River, north of the train tracks, and adjacent to the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) equipment yard. As of now it is a field bounded by a chain-link fence.

Over the fence boundary you can see the land in question, and the distant train tracks.

The UO plans to construct a $17 million, 80,000-square-foot building to house ORI.

Currently ORI is located in two rented offices near the UO and seeks a larger space. The ORI project design will situate the building 100 ft from the riverbank and aims to meet LEED Gold certification requirements, which are sustainable building practices that include energy-efficient lighting and plumbing, solar panels, and insulation. Additionally, the site plan will widen the South Bank Bike Path to 14 ft and provide path lighting and safety railings.

The South Bank Bike Path borders the fenced ORI site.

The building will also include a 200-car surface parking lot.

That’s not the only point that opponents object to. The surrounding properties have changed in the 20 years since the permit allowed construction. Any development on the land now will significantly impact these sites, especially if the design process for the ORI building and RRP master plan do not receive any public input or undergo any change.

After the comment period, the hearing officer will issue a decision in February regarding the extension of the permit. If the extension is granted, it could be appealed again.

The Register Guard’s report on the hearing

Connecting Eugene

ORI’s proposed building plan

From Connecting Eugene’s website, a map of the land

The Register Guard’s Op/Ed approving the ORI plan

LEED details

From ORI’s website, a sketch of the new bike path

Eugene Weekly’s 1/14/10 cover story opposing the ORI plan

Blog By: Rebecca Sedlak

Photos By: Rebecca Sedlak (taken 1/28/10)