HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s state park system earned a 2009 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management, said acting Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources John Quigley.
“On behalf of the men and women working in our state park system, we are very proud to receive this award in recognition of our skills at managing our state parks and for our innovative approaches that have drawn people into our parks in new ways and connected them to nature through outdoor recreation,” Quigley said. “This is truly an honor to be chosen from among the best systems in the country.
“We strive to help citizens build a personal connection to conservation through our parks that can be life-changing and that can help to ensure our natural resources are available for future generations,” Quigley added.
The Gold Medal Award was announced Oct. 14 in Utah at the annual meeting of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association. The other finalists were the state park systems of Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.
The award honors excellence in long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development and professional development.
Pennsylvania has 117 state parks and three conservation areas. The system’s nearly 300,000 acres and 1,800 full- and part-time employees play host to more than 35 million visitors each year.
From January through July this year, state parks saw more than 23.5 million visits, an increase of about 3.4 million visits, or almost 17 percent, over the same period in 2008.
Some of DCNR’s new and innovative state park programs include:
Get Outdoors PA, which offers hundreds of activities annually for people to learn about outdoor recreation opportunities such as kayaking, fishing and hiking, and learn about how the public can help protect Pennsylvania’s natural resources, their role and why they should care.
A joint effort of the Bureau of State Parks, city parks and recreation programs, and youth organizations to create the Adventure Camp program—a summer camp program that exposes urban area teens experiences in nature. More than 150 kids attended camp in eight metropolitan areas last summer.
A “green” parks initiative DCNR launched in 2007 to address climate change and energy consumption in Pennsylvania’s parks. The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of the state’s parks by 20 percent over the next five years.
New construction work on the system’s first nature inn at Bald Eagle State Park to expand overnight accommodations and attract new visitors.
“We see ourselves not only as land protectors and recreation providers, but also as a model of best practices, conservation advocates, and educators of our future stewards,” Quigley said.
There are some great opportunities for things to do and see in state parks, including running whitewater, seeing an old growth forest, observing the darkest skies in the East, watching wildlife including eagles and elk, hiking hundreds of miles of trails, viewing the fall foliage, thousands of educational and recreational programs, sunbathing on a Lake Erie beach, and climbing over rocks in a natural boulder field.
To see an eight-minute video about Pennsylvania State Parks that was part of the award application, visit here and choose the “Modern Day Legacy” icon on the homepage.
For more information about state parks call 1-888-PAPARKS (727-2757). For more information about the Gold Medal program, go to www.nrpa.org/awards.
