Becoming a Park Planner

As a child I loved walking up the street to the church on Fitzhugh Creek. Henrico County was not known for its parks in the 1960s and that was the closest parklike place to my home. At the church, I collected leaves and walked along the stream with Momma. I was not allowed to play in the water because it was not clean. The wooded area that ran beside the creek was hedged between Horsepen Road and the church on Grace Street. It was less than one half block long, at best a postage stamp - a pocket park of sorts. The size of the space did not matter. This was where I collected fall leaves that were carefully pressed between the pages of the Britannica Encyclopedia or layered between two pieces of wax paper pressed with the iron so we could take them to school.  This process of walking along the creek, collecting leaves and pressing them was how Momma taught me the names of plants and trees. She nurtured my love of nature in a city environment. It is where my love began for the outdoors and why I have had my career as a park planner - planning for public outdoor spaces. 

 When I was old enough, I became a Girl Scout. The troop met at the church up the street on Fitzhugh Creek! When I was old enough, I walked or biked to our meetings. I loved scouts and if the Gold Award had been a thing when I was a girl scout, I would have been one! I earned every badge as my paperback scout book became tattered. I might have been labeled an overachiever, but I was simply a nature lover. One of the best parts of being a girl scout was that I got to go camping. Camping was not something our family did so scouts was my outlet. My first camp experience was at Camp Pokie (Pocahontas) - now Chesterfield’s Juvenile Correctional Center. I remember my first two-week camp adventure to Camp Pokie when I first became a Girl Scout. While camp was only 20 miles or so from home and just across the James River, it seemed miles away! The next year the property was sold and the area Girl Scouts transitioned camping to Camp Kittamaqund in Burgess, Virginia. Burgess was so far away; they brought a James River bus to Northside Richmond to shuttle us to summer camp.  At the new camp, we could canoe, sail and look for oysters in the sand along the shore and swim in a lake! I went to camp every year until I was in the 9th grade. After my 7th grade year, I enrolled in their survival camp. This challenging camp was an experience. There is no way Moms and Dads today would agree for camp counselors to drop two girls off a boat on the shore of the Great Wicomico River for a 24-hour survival experience! We carried water in canteens and foraged for food along the salty shoreline. We were on our own to read the land and find the way back to the camp mess hall where we were greeted by our camp counselors and a grilled cheese sandwich. This experience was the culmination of my summer camp experience, but it marked the beginning of a lifetime of advocating for the outdoors.

Fast forward ……An undergraduate degree in biology led to graduate school in landscape architecture. Back to those plants Momma taught me to love and landscapes I experienced at camp and vacations.  I landed my first professional job as a landscape architect/planner for a large engineering company. As I began my family, I transitioned to public sector work so I did not have to travel and leave my two young boys. In the middle of that public service, I landed a position as the executive director of a small non-profit organization called “The Friends of Chesterfield’s Riverfront”. I was responsible for everything - the budget - the board - a part-time staff person - land acquisitions - environmental education programs. The board of directors supported and encouraged education. I was not trained as an educator, but I supported their direction and leaned on county staff and others more experienced than me. As I learned more about educational programming, I began doing a few programs on my own.  It was a challenge, but fun to provide education in my various roles with “Friends”. I learned that environmental education was fun and is the core of future successes for environmental awareness, sustainability, and land conservation.

 During my time at the Friends of Chesterfield Riverfront, I helped re-energize and organize a collaborative group - the James River Regional Cleanup. After years of successful collaboration with a number of partners, the common thread is environmental education. From the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to the James River Association to Maymont Park to each locality in the watershed, educating the public is paramount. By helping volunteers experience the river through service and environmental education, each group supports sustainability of the river and our region. 

 I love teaching! I especially enjoy my VCU students, both the graduate and undergraduate students who each year for the past 7 years have filled the URSP 520-Park Planning class I teach. I have learned much from my students and hopefully they take away planning tips relevant for parks that support environmental education. In class we employ environmental education strategies to nurture and grow a love of parks, nature centers and being outdoors with these students. It will be these students who will advocate at the municipal levels for outdoor spaces. These park planners will integrate the environment into urban spaces and naturalized areas. It will be the spaces and places they make where environmental education will continue in urban, suburban and rural areas.   

I retired from my day job in August 2023. I want to continue to educate - not only the VCU students, but our parks and recreational professionals, our citizens and our children. There is a need to get environmental education into the smaller localities where there are opportunities to conserve resources and save lands for wildlife, water quality and public parks. Environmental education has a long shelf life. It provides hope for future lands and resources by building support through outdoor experiences. As a park planner, I will integrate environmental education principles into plans for parks, into teaching, into sustainability planning, and into public advocacy.