You Are What You Measure

Publishers Note

Feb 2

We pulled into Revelstoke, British Columbia, ready to begin our Christmas ski vacation. The entire drive from central Idaho had featured rain, rain, and more rain. Just 16 miles outside of town, that rain turned to wet snow, which was good—kind of.

We chose Revelstoke because it sits on the famed “powder highway.” When I told friends where we were going, they laughed and said, “Be careful. We call that place Revelstuck because sometimes Mother Nature won’t let you leave.”

I smiled, kind of hoping that was the case. (It wasn’t.)

The mountain we skied had early-season conditions and local after local complained about the slow start to the season. Those same locals attributed the slow start to climate change—noting how weird the last 10 years had been. I asked them what they were doing to combat the change and they proudly listed off steps the town was taking to be more sustainable as well as steps they were personally taking.

It was rewarding to hear.

This issue is dedicated to just that subject and—in true PRB fashion—we’ve chosen to highlight efforts parks and recreation agencies around the country are taking to save our planet. There are lots of interesting ideas in this issue, but the one that hits closest to home for me is the award-winning sustainability initiative created by Tennessee State Parks. Once again, they’ve discovered you are what you measure. As Mike Robertson, TSP Director of Operations says, “We’ve had sustainability programs come and go, but once we developed a program that had established metrics to determine our effectiveness, [we saw success].”

I won’t spoil the surprise, but if you want to start with that story, it’s on page XX.

As we created this issue, we realized once again the importance parks and recreation plays in our local communities. Time and again, we heard how departments like yours were the driving force in cleaning up your community’s water, soil, and air—in addition to teaching citizens how to get fit and healthy. It’s a wonderful life calling—one we’re proud to support. Let us know how we’re doing—we love mail.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth
Publisher

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