Nature-Based Solutions

By Clement Lau, AICP, DPPD

As planners know, parks do a lot more than just give kids and other community members places to play and relax. Park and recreation agencies are key stakeholders in addressing the effects of climate change.

From reducing the urban heat island effect through the creation of new parks and tree plantings to protecting water resources through green infrastructure practices, park agencies and the parks they operate play a vital role in building climate-resilient communities.

"Parks are particularly critical to maintaining healthy communities in the face of climate change," says Elizabeth Rhoades, PhD, director of the climate change and sustainability program at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Trees and vegetation help alleviate heat in parks and their surrounding areas, offsetting some of the higher temperatures caused by a changing climate. Trees also sequester carbon, she adds, "so planting and maintaining trees in parks and all throughout our communities is an important way to mitigate climate change."

With limited budget and staffing, it can be challenging for park and recreation agencies to incorporate principles of climate resiliency into their operations, programming, and management. However, despite the obstacles, some park agencies are proactively addressing climate change and its effects through their planning, design, construction, renovation, and maintenance efforts.

And they benefit from having planners and other professionals in leadership positions and on staff who recognize the seriousness of climate change and are committed to preparing and implementing plans to tackle this challenge.

To better understand the sustainability practices currently implemented by park and recreation agencies, the National Recreation and Park Association surveyed almost 400 agencies in the U.S. in 2017. It uncovered the five top ways that those organizations are taking action on climate change:

1. Offering trails and paths that serve as transportation alternatives, thereby reducing vehicle miles traveled and carbon footprint (77 percent of agencies)
2. Protecting watersheds by adopting natural resource management practices (70 percent)
3. Improving air quality by increasing tree canopy (53 percent)
4. Educating the public on sustainability actions and practices (52 percent)
5. Reducing stormwater runoff and flooding through green infrastructure (51 percent)

The results of the survey also reveal that while nearly all park agencies have implemented some sustainability measures, most of them do not have a documented sustainability plan. In fact, just 23 percent currently do, although 11 percent intend to put such a plan into place within the next year. Further, just one in five agencies tracks the cost savings that sustainable actions may generate.

Far Rockaway Beach in Queens received a sustainable makeover after Hurricane Sandy damage. The project, which included a new boardwalk, new parks, beach amenities, and performance spaces, opened in 2017. It received APA's 2018 National Planning Achievement Award — Silver for Urban Design. Photo courtesy New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Los Angeles County

The LA County Department of Parks and Recreation is one of those agencies working on a departmental sustainability plan, to be completed later this year. It will help DPR to be more sustainable and address the effects of climate change by setting quantifiable objectives and detailing actions for managing water, energy, waste, green purchasing, fleet, air quality, natural disaster resiliency, environmental justice, and staff training and organizational effectiveness.

"Our focus is on implementation. We are going to keep working with our field agencies and other partners to implement projects that improve the sustainability of our parks, and benefit the communities we serve and future generations," says Jim Smith, DPR's chief sustainability officer and head of the development division.

Some projects that are already under way include:

• Smart controllers automatically program irrigation system operations based on daily weather conditions data transmitted to the controllers via satellite. After 12 months of performance monitoring at the first seven parks where smart controllers were installed, DPR observed a 23 percent reduction in water usage, translating to 219 million gallons of water saved. More than 300 smart controllers have now been installed at over 40 parks.
• Turf removal replaces selected turf grass areas at parks with more water-efficient landscaping. About 280,000 square feet of turf has been removed at non-play areas at golf courses, resulting in about 11.8 million gallons of water saved annually.
• Recycled water systems now serve the irrigation needs of 23 parks and golf courses that were previously using potable water for all purposes.
• Light-emitting diode lighting retrofits replace old lighting with more energy-efficient and cost-effective LED lighting for outdoor and indoor uses at parks.

Stoneview Nature Center, the newest addition to the Baldwin Hills Parklands in the LA County DPR system, has above-parking solar panels, drought-tolerant landscaping, a demonstration garden, and other sustainable features. Photo by Clement Lau.

DPR sees its parks through the lens of sustainability, as evidenced by how it addresses climate change in its master planning (see Resources below). DPR has also prepared a Park Design Guidelines and Standards document covering expectations on topics such as landscaping, stormwater management, spatial organization, and plant palettes.

Smith emphasizes that collaboration is key to LA County's climate mitigation activities. DPR is part of multidepartmental efforts that include the county's Chief Sustainability Office, the departments of Regional Planning, Public Works, and Internal Services, and the Sheriff's Department. Also in the works are a countywide sustainability plan and an urban heat island reduction plan, both of which address open space, parks, and trees, among other issues.

The Department of Public Health is another critical partner. "The county is already witnessing unusual heat waves and increases in emergency department visits for heat-related illness," notes Rhoades. "It's important to put strategies in place that help us protect people's health."

New York City

An essential part of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation's sustainability agenda is "park resiliency," which is defined as the ability of parks and open spaces to withstand and recover from disruptive events such as coastal storms and catastrophic flooding. Resiliency also refers to these parks' ability to withstand more gradual threats, such as sea-level rise.

NYC Parks takes the task of planning for the long-term resiliency of its open spaces very seriously, approaching capital projects for individual parks with a goal of increasing resiliency as well as overseeing initiatives that support citywide resiliency measures.

A noteworthy effort is its Design and Planning for Flood Resiliency: Guidelines for NYC Parks, the agency's first comprehensive manual for developing resilient coastal parks.

With over 160 miles of public coastline, the city's parks serve as its first line of defense against rising sea levels. The guidelines, completed in November 2017, draw upon the agency's decades of experience with waterfront park planning and design, including recent lessons learned from Hurricanes Sandy and Irene.

"Our guidelines were a collaborative effort amongst multiple divisions within NYC Parks," says Sarah Neilson, chief of policy and long-range planning. She sees an opportunity for it to be useful to a broad audience of planners, designers, academics, policy makers, and others, even beyond the confines of New York City.

NYC Parks has also developed the High Performance Landscape Guidelines, which inform the way the city's parks are designed, built, and maintained to ensure that they clean the air and absorb stormwater, reduce the urban heat island effect, provide habitat, and address the challenges of climate change. "Communities shouldn't have to choose between vibrant parks and a resilient coastline," says NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP.

He points to the newly reconstructed Rockaway Boardwalk as an illustration that the best coastal parks and public spaces are built for both recreation and resilience.

"Climate resiliency is at top of our mind at NYC Parks, in our planning office and throughout the agency. Our planners constantly consider the ramifications of future climate change in their daily work," Silver says, noting that the guidelines give "specific guidance for creating thriving public spaces that can face the challenges of flooding and sea-level rise."

San Francisco Bay

The East Bay area is home to the largest regional park district in the nation, with more than 25 million visitors per year to its 73 parks on 121,000 acres of regional parkland. The East Bay Regional Park District's top priority is to keep its parks, shorelines, lakes, and trails safe and well maintained — now and in the future. According to deputy general manager Ana M. Alvarez, DPPD, "as a large-scale public lands manager, the park district is seeing the effects of climate change every day." Specifically, sea-level rise has resulted in increased coastal and levee erosion and trail flooding, many of its lakes have suffered from toxic algae blooms, and the prolonged drought has had a severe impact on its forests and woodlands.

The EBRPD is a pioneering agency and serves as a national model for all park agencies in how it addresses the challenges of a changing climate. EBRPD's Climate Smart Initiative includes a strategic plan to generate most of its energy from solar panels on parking lot shade shelters at parks, integrated adaptive management such as wetland restoration at Dotson Family Marsh, wildfire hazard reduction practices, study and monitoring of harmful algae bloom, and expansion of its network of more than 1,250 miles of trails for green transportation.

In July 2017 the EBRPD board of directors voted unanimously to adopt a resolution in support of the Paris Accord. A month earlier, President Donald Trump had announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the global agreement that promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in average global temperatures.

"The board wanted to make it clear that climate change is not an issue of 'if ' or 'when' for the Park District," EBRPD general manager Robert Doyle told the Oakland Post at that time. "Climate change is happening now to our regional parks and 55 miles of shoreline. We have to address this now or taxpayers will be paying more in the long run."

The EBRPD board of directors went on to authorize the issuance of "Green Bonds" in November 2017. As part of its 2008 Measure WW regional park and open space bond financing, the board approved the issuance of $124.6 million in general obligation bonds, including $50 million in Green Bonds, which are dedicated to projects that reduce greenhouse gases, mitigate for climate changes, or provide other environmental benefits.

"Green Bonds are an emerging financial market," Alvarez said in press release. "The Park District is honored to be taking a leadership role in promoting Certified Green Bonds as a fiscally sound investment option, especially for environmentally minded investors."

In April 2018 the EBRPD board also adopted the Policy Framework for Managing Park Resources in a Changing Climate to guide the implementation of its master plan.

The framework ensures that the EBRPD will effectively adapt to a changing climate by building resiliency to climate impacts, minimizing its own greenhouse gas emissions, and positioning itself to develop and lead climate smart practices.

As Alvarez explains: "The district is shifting our perspective by looking at green spaces as part of a broader regional system of ecological functions and eco-benefits. We are tapping into existing nature-based solutions to address the effects of climate change facing our cities."

Clement Lau is a departmental facilities planner for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, and a member of the National Recreation and Park Association's Health and Wellness Advisory Panel.

Resources

"Park and Recreation Sustainability Practices: A Summary of Results from an NRPA Member Survey": http://bit.ly/2yHoR6j.

County of Los Angeles Park Design Guidelines and Standards: http://bit.ly/2KgYb0O.

"Framework for Addressing Climate Change in Los Angeles County": http://bit.ly/2lx6tUd.

Design and Planning for Flood Resiliency: Guidelines for NYC Parks: https://on.nyc.gov/2ttYZpm.

East Bay Regional Park District Climate Smart Initiative: ebparks.org/climatesmart.htm.

What Are Green Bonds?

A lone tree in the new Dotson Family Marsh extension of Point Pinole Regional Park in the East Bay north of San Francisco. The marsh underwent major habitat restoration and climate adaptation management to mitigate sea-level rise and coastal and inland flooding. "Lone Tree" by Ron Rothbart, via Flickr.

A green bond is a debt security that is issued to raise capital specifically to support climate-related or environmental projects. This use of the funds raised — to support the financing of specific projects — distinguishes green bonds from regular bonds. Thus, in addition to evaluating the standard financial characteristics (such as maturity, coupon, price, and credit quality of the issuer), investors also assess the specific environmental purpose of the projects that the bonds intend to support.

Source: The World Bank, What Are Green Bonds? (http://bit.ly/2lydif6)