Photo Credit: Derek Brockbank, ASBPA
When you mention beaches to most people, they’ll likely conjure images of sun, surf, sand, swim suits, and fun; however, if you mention beaches to a parks and rec professional tasked with maintaining said beaches, their first thoughts may not involve the fun part.
The fact is, maintaining beaches for public recreation is a lot of work and not the kind many parks and rec staff members are accustomed to handling. However, there are more beaches in the parks and rec realm than first meets the eye. Some are “inland,” on the Great Lakes, but most of them are, of course, on the east and west coasts.
Miles Of Maintenance
For example, the Long Beach, Calif., parks and rec department has about six miles of beach under its watch. There are four miles of white, sandy beaches with a couple more miles along the inner bay, all open to the public. Factor in the nine miles or so of jetties and breakwater areas, and they add up to a challenging maintenance task for Donald Easterby and his staff. As superintendent of beach maintenance with the Long Beach Parks and Rec Department for the past 24 years, Easterby has seen the full gamut of maintenance issues.