Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation – �鶹��Ƶ

Tree Planting in Prince George’s County, Maryland: Case Studies and Benefits Assessment in Four Parks

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

The benefits of trees and forests and the ecosystems services that they provide is well documented. Ecosystems services include carbon sequestration, stormwater retention, water pollution reduction, air pollution retention and others. In addition, tree planting efforts provide numerous social benefits including improvement of community cohesion, increase in social capital, and environmental stewardship and education. In order to provide a greater understanding of tree planting efforts and assessing tree benefits locally, two major project components were undertaken: 1) the research and documentation using case studies of individual tree planting efforts, and 2) assessment of benefits of recent and proposed trees for four selected parks in Prince Georgeâ€s county.

Piscataway Valley Greenway

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

Piscataway Watershed encompasses approximately 67.6 square miles in southern Maryland just north and adjacent to the Mattawoman Watershed. The main stem of Piscataway Creek, centered in the watershed, flows approximately 20 miles from the upper creeks near Rosaryville, Woodyard and Joint Base Andrews west to Piscataway Bay – enframed by Mockley Point on the south and Fort Washington on the north and opening to the Potomac River below Washington, D.C. across from Mt. Vernon, Virgina. Other tributaries within the Piscataway Watershed include Tinkers Creek, Dower House Branch, Burch Branch, Butler Branch and many numerous smaller tributaries. Occupied by humans dating over 4000 years ago, some of the old and new place names include Clinton, Rosaryville, Woodyard, Piscataway, Accokeek, Thrift, Windbrook, Brooke Jane Manor, Cheltenham, Williamsburg Estates, and Fort Washington Forest. Roads spoking from greater DC and more developed middle Prince Georgeâ€s County mainly cross Piscataway Creek going north to south and include Indian Head Highway, Livingston Road, Piscataway Road, Brandywine Road, Branch Avenue (Route 5) and Surratts Road. Significant parks within or adjacent to Piscataway Watershed include Louise F. Cosca Regional Park (MNCPPC), Fort Washington (NPS), Rosaryville State Park (DNR), and multiple properties that comprise Piscataway Creek Stream Valley Park (MNCPPC). Portions of the originally planned trails proposed in the Prince Georgeâ€s County Trails Master Plan have been conceptually located along the spine of Piscataway Creek. The main segment of this concept trail from Indian Head Highway to Rosaryville is 99% in the floodplain. In addition, it was conceptualized at a time that some of the development patterns in the watershed had not occurred. The criteria for trail alignment have changed over the decades. Some of the overarching questions as the students explored the project were: â— Should the entire trail or segments of it be realigned out of the floodplain? â— Should there be additional cross trail connections in the scope of work? â— How can we better connect neighborhoods to a proposed trail system? â— How can we encourage hiking to promote health and stewardship?

Fitness Portal Needs and Feasibility Assessment for M-NCPPC Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

The Prince Georgeâ€™s County Parks and Recreation Department is seeking to develop an online portal to deliver fitness content. This report presents an initial needs and feasibility assessment of the opportunities and challenges that setting up a portal would involve. The report also includes information on how a portal could be implemented. [...]

User Research for Youth Sports Division Website: Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

In the last legislative session, a new Maryland law was passed addressing youth sports delivery that presents an exciting new challenge for the Prince Georgeâ€s County Department of Parks and Recreation. The Department is in the process of establishing a new division to meet this challenge while continuing to deliver a wide variety of sports through in-house programs and with partnership organizations. The new Division will feature â€œone stop shoppingâ€ enabling community members to to view schedules, register their children, and learn about opportunities for engagement. This projectâ€s survey was developed to gather community input to that can inform what content would best serve users.

Drainage Solutions

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

The purpose of this document is to provide a drainage plan for the Prince Georgeâ€s County Department of Parks and Recreation that establishes the purpose and reasoning for implementing new drainage technologies that use the most cost-effective treatment options. This report is based on drainage analysis tests performed at two County golf coursesâ€”Paint Branch Golf Complex, a nine-hole, par 33 course and practice facility, and Enterprise Golf Course, an 18-hole facility, par 72 championship course. This report and proposal contains: ï‚· a site analysis of each golf course ï‚· initial findings in our visits ï‚· the analysis and results of two separate soil tests ï‚· a list of the most effective and available drainage options ï‚· the recommended drainage option.

Information Seeking by Under-Represented Communities

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:20 +0000

Prince George’s County Parks and Recreation offers recreation programs, facilities, and services throughout the entire county to its residents and visitors. The county operates and maintains more than 27,000 acres of parkland for parks, picnic areas, athletic fields, historic sites, community centers, and recreation facilities. The county also seeks to preserve parts of this parkland as buffers and natural open space. Parks and Recreation services include art and nature programs, fitness and sports programs, live performances, more than 90 miles of hiker/biker/equestrian trails, outdoor festivals, self-improvement classes, summer camps, teen and senior activities, and trips. While the county offers these various services and programs, more initiatives are needed to understand how Prince George’s County residents are using these programs and services, or even if they are using them. Understanding how members of underrepresented communities use these services will allow the Department to better tailor what they offer for the benefit of all its residents. Through this project, the Parks and Recreation Department seeks to better understand how its residents, in particular how underrepresented communities, use its services and programs. The Department wants to know their information seeking behavior, whether different groups use the parks differently, and if certain parks features are being used more or less. To gather this information, an online and in-person survey, developed by the team member authors, was administered at various events, beginning in September 2019 and finishing in December 2019. The main point of contact throughout this project was Edith Michel, a certified Parks and Recreation Professional with more than 20 years of experience in local government within the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Other key Parks and Recreation staff who we worked with are Alex Teaff, the Community Outreach Manager and Kira Lewis, the Acting Chief of the Public Affairs & Marketing Division.

Playing Field Evaluations for M-NCPPC

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:19 +0000

Students in PLSC402 worked with Prince Georgeâ€s County Department of Parks and Recreation to assist the department in improving the maintenance practices on some of their sports fields to provide safe, agronomically sound play areas for county residents and amateur sports teams. Students provided assistance in creating a â€œturf inventoryâ€ on the countyâ€s recreational sports fields and Board of Education fields, which the Department of Parks and Recreation may take over in the near future. While it wasnâ€t feasible within the framework of the class to examine every sports field, PLSC402 â€œSports Turf Managementâ€ students examined and researched three fields, which were representative of other county field conditions and traffic and play patterns. The results of standard sports turf field assessment measurements, including shear strength, surface hardness, bulk density, and volumetric water content, are included in this report. Based on these findings, field visits, and observations agronomic recommendations were developed and included in this report.

Direct Annual Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Mobile Combustion Sources

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:19 +0000

Through their work with the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland (UMD), the Prince George’s County- Department of Parks and Recreation commissioned this report from the universityâ€s Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS). PALS works with local jurisdictions throughout Maryland to identify projects and problems that can be taught through university courses where students focus on developing innovative, research-based solutions. The Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation was seeking to reduce carbon emissions by 50% from 2019 levels within Division of Maintenance and Development. This report centers obtaining research on the consumption metric for the vehicles (ie., mpg) and equipment (ie., gal/hr) present within the inventory and use these values in combination with the equipment and vehicle use metric (ie., miles, hrs) to determine CO2 emissions based on type of fuel required to operate the equipment or vehicle for the Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation maintenance division .

Senior ID Access Card Research Report

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:17 +0000

The Department of Parks and Recreation is seeking to increase both the number of sign-ups and participation of seniors in the M-NCPPC Senior ID program. This project supports the Departmentâ€s mission of assisting the physical, mental and social needs of Prince Georgeâ€s Countyâ€s diverse and aging population through the Senior ID card. The shift to an online environment has created some barriers for seniors to enroll and stay engaged with the activities and events offered through the M-NCPPC Senior ID program. For instance, seniors in Prince Georgeâ€s County have different levels of access to and expertise with the technology required to participate in remote activities and events. The Department of Parks and Recreation is also aiming to mitigate social isolation during these difficult times. Although Department staff periodically perform wellness check-ins with seniors, the number of activities and events has significantly reduced. In-person activities like walking groups, also have limited space due to social distancing measures or have been cancelled altogether. Nonetheless, some of the seniors interviewed expressed an interest in staying active by walking or participating in the Club 300 Walk Across America program offered by the Department. Therefore, the Department of Parks and Recreation is looking for ways to keep seniors engaged by facilitating online sign-up for the Senior ID program and to hear from users about their needs and desires for the program. The goal of this research is to understand how the Department can increase the number of Senior ID users by providing activities and services that meet the diverse needs of the Prince Georgeâ€s County senior population. This research will identify barriers that prevent residents from signing up for a Senior ID and what opportunities exist to increase sign-ups. It will also highlight effective communication strategies to recruit new members and retain and increase participation in the Senior ID program. Finally, this research will explore how the Department can promote member socialization and connectivity in an online environment.

Special Project Division Grab-n-Go Meal Program

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:17 +0000

Working with The Prince Georgeâ€s County Department of Parks and Recreation Special Programs Division (SPD), students in INST490 designed surveys to track the effectiveness of SPDâ€s programs, specifically the â€œGrab-n-Goâ€ meal program. The meal program is a collaboration between the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Capital Area Food Bank to provide free meals to youth and teens in the county. The goal of these surveys was to see if the meal kits were making a positive impact on the community. In these surveys, questions gauged a food recipientâ€s experience with the Grab-n-Go service as well as their satisfaction level with the food itself. To go about this, three surveysâ€”of youth, seniors, and adults with disabilitiesâ€” were designed to elicit feelings about the program.