Tag Archives: Richard Dolesh

A Child’s Right to Nature

Posted on by
1

This post was written by Richard J. Dolesh, Vice President for Conservation and Parks for the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

Parks, Urban Cities, and a Child’s Right to Nature

Just how hardwired are we to nature? Do we have an essential connection to green spaces? Is our health and well-being dependent on a regular dose of nature?

A growing number of researchers and scientists believe we do, and there is increasing empirical evidence of this connection. Studies are showing that access to green spaces and natural landscapes positively affect our moods, enable us to learn and retain knowledge better, and even are responsible for imprinting children with immunological defenses that make them more resistant to diseases and allergies.

While the evidence of the importance of a connection to nature as a vital component of a healthy life is becoming more compelling, so, too, is the belief that children throughout the world should have a right to nature.

The prestigious International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one of the oldest and most influential global conservation organizations, just adopted a resolution to that effect at its most recent quadrennial congress in Jeju, Korea. Building on work begun in 2008 by IUCN board member Cheryl Charles, President of the Children and Nature Network, and Richard Louv, author of the internationally known book, “The Last Child in the Woods,” the IUCN unanimously adopted the Declaration on Connecting People with Nature, and passed a motion in support of the child’s right to nature presented by Dr. Annelies Henstra.

So, what does this mean to children in densely populated urban areas with little or no green space and few designated parks in which to play?  It means that government officials, urban planners and community development organizations will need to use their collective will, enlightened leadership and creativity to design and develop these types of spaces.

One excellent example of how the challenge is being met is taking place in Los Angeles, California. Long recognized as a city that is ‘park-poor’ and lacking in green space in its most densely developed areas, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with support of the City Council embarked on an ambitious initiative, his “50 Parks” campaign, an effort to build 50 new parks in some of the most underserved communities in the city.

One of the new parks under construction which will be dedicated soon is in the El Sereno area of East Los Angeles. This area of Los Angeles has the highest percentage in the city of children under the age of 10. Even in this densely populated area, there are no parks within a half mile of the neighborhood, and only one park within a mile of the park site. More than 5,000 kids age 5 or younger live within two miles of the proposed park.  In partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association’s ‘Parks Build Community’ program and with support of the Trust for Public Land and the donation of a full, state of the art playground from Playcore, Inc. and donations from local businesses and philanthropic individuals, and aided by a grant from the First Five Foundation, a state fund for early childhood development projects, a new park has blossomed on a vacant lot. The El Sereno Recreation Area and Children’s Nature Play Garden will open in October 2012 to serve the children and families of this community. It is a great example how parks can build community and bring nature to children in even the densest urban cities.

For more information on the park and children’s nature play garden at El Sereno and NRPA’s Parks Build Community initiative, go to: http://www.nrpa.org/parksbuildcommunity/ and http://www.nrpa.org/About-NRPA/Initiatives/Parks-Build-Community/El-Sereno-Park-Revitalization/.

For more information on the Children and Nature Network’s Research Summary of Children and Nature Worldwide, go to: http://www.childrenandnature.org/documents/C118/.

This entry reflects the author’s personal judgments and does not represent the views of the United States Government or the Department of State.

 

A Living Room in the Woods: Six Great Ways that Parks Connect Kids to Nature

Posted on by
1

By Richard Dolesh. Check out Richard’s other guest blogs here and here.

A park manager from Five Rivers MetroParks in Dayton, OH, Todd Catchpole, recently told me about finding a secret nature place built by kids in one of their parks. This charming and unexpected construction, literally a little living room in the woods, was located near a stream, out of view, and known only to the neighborhood children who played there till it was accidentally discovered by the park staff. The tableau was constructed from grape vines, stones, and other natural materials gathered from the nearby stream and populated by small dolls and toy furniture and decorated with fresh daffodils. It was a delightful place, full of the imagination of children at play.

A play area created by children in the park. (Photo Credit: Debra L. Hensley-Lyons of Five Rivers MetroParks)

A play area created by children in the park. (Photo credit: Debra L. Hensley-Lyons of Five Rivers MetroParks)

Far from being an unauthorized use of the park, the ‘Living Room in the Woods’ was exactly the kind of nature discovery play the park staff had hoped would take place in this recently designated Nature Play Area.

Five Rivers MetroParks has recently designated a number of Nature Play Areas in their parks, and the one at Hills and Dales Park is just about ideal–a wooded finger of parkland that extends into a residential neighborhood which surrounds the parkland on three sides. It is so suitable for children’s play that the mother of one of the kids who built the living room recently contacted the park staff and expressed her appreciation that there was such a place in the park that her kids could safely play, and in a way that she felt was so important for their development.

The Living Room in the Woods highlights an important truth—the immense value of parks to kids. Simply said, parks are one of the primary places that kids—and parents—can connect to nature and the outdoors. We take them for granted, but they may just be essential if we are to reconnect a generation of kids who have lost their connection to nature.

A Creekbank Living Room created by children in a park (Photo Credit: Debra L. Hensley-Lyons of Five Rivers MetroParks)

A Creekbank Living Room created by children in a park (Photo Credit: Debra L. Hensley-Lyons of Five Rivers MetroParks)

So, why are parks so important to kids?

• Parks are safe places for kids to go. Whether it is reality or just the perception of reality, many parents are fearful of letting their kids play unsupervised outdoors except in very controlled circumstances. Stranger-danger, fear of poisonous plants, fear of stinging and clinging insects—all of these are reasons why nature for some is a place to be feared not embraced. Parks are one of the few places that are generally very safe for kids to go. They are specially designated places for the public to enjoy nature, free from most hazards, and watched over by staff and the public. Park visitors promptly report unsafe conditions or hazards. Many eyes on the park make for a safer place for kids to play.

• Parks are one of the best places for discovery and play. Think back on your own childhood. The life of your imagination was a fertile place. Playing king-of-the-hill on a pile of dirt, building a fort or a clubhouse in the woods, flipping rocks over in a stream, exploring in uncharted territory—all were hugely enriching experiences. Natural parks are places for kids to discover the eggs of a frog in the water collected in a tire track and to see squirrels running through the tops of trees, jumping from tree to tree. Kids will load up their pockets with objects collected on a hike to later marvel at how interesting the things found in nature really are. Parks are places for kids to discover nature and exercise their imagination.

• Parks are places for families to connect – Parks connect kids and adults with nature and to each other. Perhaps more than ever, families need places to connect with each other. Parks are all-purpose places for kids to connect with nature and with families to connect with each other. They are one of the few places that families can go where there are no barriers to communication—no amplified loudspeakers, no big screen TVs, nothing other than the sounds and sights of nature. Parks enable connections between families, between generations, and to nature.

• Parks are close-to-home nature places. As open space is rapidly disappearing from our communities, designated public open space and places for nature are becoming all the more important for all ages. The power of local parks, even small neighborhood spaces, to connect kids with nature is not to be underestimated. Joe Elton, Virginia state park director, recently reiterated a long-standing observation about parks: “You visit your local parks daily, your state parks a few times a year, and your national parks perhaps but once in a lifetime.” Kids can find nature in almost every park, and there are parks and public lands close to where almost everyone lives. If there are not, become an advocate for them. They should be everyone’s backyard.

• Parks provide a sense of adventure for kids. Parks have the unique ability to provide kids with a sense of adventure. Every hike in the woods brings new things to see, and around every turn there is something new to discover. Kids gain a sense of accomplishment from challenges met outdoors, which leads to greater self-confidence and self-worth. Parks are a great place for kids to take risks, within acceptable limits, and to discover that the fears they have about the unknown are conquerable. The snake they encountered in the woods didn’t fall out of a tree and try to bite them. They didn’t get covered with ticks or bitten by wild animals taking a hike in the woods. Every successful adventure in the park that kids have contributes to their maturity and to their developing a sense of stewardship for wildlife, natural resources, and open spaces.

• Parks are a place to remember. Some of our earliest and most special memories were formed in parks—lifetime experiences that we remember the rest of our lives with great satisfaction. Parks were special places where we forged friendships, had adventures, and learned new things about life and ourselves. Parks still provide these kinds of experiences to kids, and they produce powerful positive memories, affecting kids in ways we cannot always easily perceive. These park experiences influence kids’ ethics, their career choices, and even how they will be as parents.

Parks connect kids to nature in all the right ways. Discover where your close-to-home local parks are and get to know the park personnel who supervise them. Enable your kids to play there—they will be grateful to you for the rest of their lives.

A slightly different version of this blog post appeared on the Children and Nature Network’s site, ‘The New Nature Movement— Field Notes from the Future’. www.childrenandnature.org/blog

This entry reflects the author’s personal judgments and does not represent the views of the United States Government or the Department of State.

This month’s theme is…Water!

Posted on by
1
Water is vital to us all.

Water is vital to us all.

Water is vital to all life, and this month we will explore its relationship with climate change and other environmental issues. There are organizations all over the world who work specifically on water issues, from giving grants to scientists in the Arctic to groups of young people educating their communities about cheap ways to conserve rainwater. We want you to use this forum to share your own tips on water conservation, your work with groups focused on any of these issues, and your opinions about what the most important water issues are and what we can do to start fixing them.

What problems are people having with water? And what are people doing to fix them?

In addition to exploring these questions and showcasing solutions, we will have a variety of interesting guest blog posts! From an Ambassador to a young woman in Brazil, and several others, their posts will give you different viewpoints about international water issues. We will also cover exciting world environment days this month: the World Water Forum March 12-17th, World Water Day on March 22nd, and Earth Hour on March 31st.

For background information on water issues and organizations working on them, check out our Resource Page.  Click here for our other blog posts on water, and do not forget to check out these great guest blogs by Gary White of Water.org and Richard Dolesh of the National Parks and Recreation Association.

Guest Blog: Let Them Flood

Posted on by
11

By Richard J. Dolesh, Vice President for Conservation and Parks for the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

A pristine lake reflects snow-covered mountains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

A pristine lake reflects snow-covered mountains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. (AP Images)

The destructive power of floodwater has been on full display in the U.S. this past year. From the damaging floods along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers this spring, to the coastal flooding and widespread storm damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, tens of millions of Americans have been inconvenienced or worse by flooding this year. The costs of damages will run in the tens of billions of dollars.

The U.S. has spent enormous sums to chop, channelize, and straighten rivers as well as to build vast levee systems to protect developed infrastructure built in floodplains. Yet in spite of these efforts, we continue to face grave threats and substantial destruction of property.

Extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and other climate change conditions are likely to only make conditions worse and federal funding to address these infrastructure issues is likely to decrease significantly.

There is a better way to coexist with our increasingly flood-prone rivers and waterways and that is to just let them flood– but in a designed, calculated way, allowing rivers and inland waterways to fill natural floodplains that have been set aside as public open space and parks. These floodable parks can then serve multiple purposes as a means of retaining and controlling flood waters and also as areas for active public use and conservation.

The United States must re-think longstanding public policies that allow and even encourage inappropriate development in flood-prone areas, and replace such policies with a strategic vision that combines public land-acquisition with restoration of wetlands and natural floodplains and which will allow our rivers and waterways to become assets and contributors to the health of our nation’s infrastructure, not liabilities that are increasingly expensive to maintain.

One proven method of reducing the impacts of flooding on developed infrastructure is the Dutch model of “Room for the River” in which flood prone areas are set aside for crops, conservation, and recreation. When flooding inevitably occurs on these lands, it does not cause the wrenching disruptions and loss of life and property that occurs annually in the U.S. In a country whose land is 60% below sea level, the Netherlands have adopted a sensible long-term vision that strategically allows flooding to occur, but which produces minimal damage to valuable infrastructure or public safety.

More floodplains and flood prone areas should be strategically set aside as public open space, designed to conserve natural resources and programmed for public use with trails, greenways, blueways, and other outdoor recreation resources that conserve wildlife habitat, improve health, and contribute to livable, sustainable communities.

Parks that allow Room for the River can be a key solution to improving our nation’s infrastructure, reducing property damage and loss, and saving billions in taxpayer’s dollars.

Discussion question: What has your experience with flooding been?

This week’s guest blogger is…

Posted on by
4

Richard Dolesh, Chief of Public Policy for the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) in Washington, D.C.!

Richard Dolesh, Courtesy Photo, National Recreation and Park Association

Richard Dolesh, Courtesy Photo, National Recreation and Park Association

Richard is responsible for national public policy development and contributes to the national legislative and advocacy program of NRPA.  That means working with elected leaders and national groups on how to save park lands and continue the legacy of having beautiful natural lands for the public.

He worked for 30 years in parks and natural resource management at the local and state level with a special focus on management of wetlands and riverine public lands before coming to NRPA.  He is presently working on several parks initiatives including the NRPA Conservation Task Force and the Parks Build Community project.  He represents NRPA on a number of national coalitions and advisory groups including the Sustainable Sites Initiative, the National Review Group for Safe Routes to School; the Sustainable Urban Forestry Coalition; and the Coalition for Recreational Trails.

Richard is a frequent contributor to NRPA’s Parks and Recreation Magazine, and has written numerous articles on parks and natural resources in publications that include The Washington Post and National Geographic Magazine.  He was recently featured in the New York Times and appeared on World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer discussing the future of the United States’ parks (click on July 4th Bummer: State Parks Closed video on left).

You can read one of his articles on hydraulic fracturing here, which we featured on the Global Conversations: Climate Facebook page. 

Don’t forget: his guest blog will be posted this Friday, September 16th, and will explore the idea of floodable parks like those used in Holland!