Photo Credit: Courtesy of DogParksUSA
This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues that may be common to many PRB readers and ask the leaders who are the readers to weigh in and share their knowledge and experiences.
It wasn’t long ago when maintenance for a dog park did not even have a page in recreation history; today, however, new dog parks are springing up somewhere nearly every day and maintenance has become a real and evolving part of doing business in the 21^(st) century.
It is no surprise that most dog parks start with the efforts of volunteer citizen groups. Volunteers have almost always been a vital part of any successful recreation effort.