Underutilized Spaces

From a filled-in swimming pool in the 1960s, to a revitalized park, Oregon’s DC Latourette Park has been transformed into a valued community space. The National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program collaborated with the community to create a revitalization plan.

With a goal to expand recreational and educational opportunities, the city of Corpus Christi, Texas recently began implementing plans for a 30-acre eco and birding park in North Beach that will cater to both their human and avian visitors. In 2019, the city requested The National Park Service - Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program to assist with the park’s design and organizational development for community partners.

In 2000, Groundwork Lawrence facilitated a community planning effort that became the Spicket River Greenway. Today, the Spicket River Greenway consists of 3.5 miles of new and restored parks and trails that connect multiple neighborhoods, schools and community centers.

The Anza Cultural History Park is a new park in Tucson, Arizona. Adjacent to the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, the park is designed to be accessible and enjoyed by everyone, including persons with disabilities of sight, hearing or mobility. The National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program (NPS-RTCA) collaborated with the school on design concepts and infrastructure improvements for the park.

Three-hundred miles west from Alaska’s mainland, the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island is honoring their connection to baseball by restoring the historic field that has actively been used for recreation and community gatherings since the 1880s. With assistance from the National Park Service, the community now has a master plan to begin developing the park.

The Tennessee RiverLine is a vision for North America’s next great regional trail system. In an effort to engage communities along 652-miles of the Tennessee River, project partners collaborated with the National Park Service to develop local access strategies. The RiverLine aims to celebrate the beauty of the river, connect communities to the waterway and each other, and catalyze health and economic opportunities for all.

NPS-RTCA collaborated with City of West Jordan in Utah, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, and 15 other partners to develop strategies for restoring the river and adjacent lands which became the Big Bend Habitat Restoration project.

The community of Moab requested assistance from the National Park Service – Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program (NPS-RTCA) to help revitalize Lions Park, the central hub for all roadways, and make it a welcoming gateway to the city.

With assistance from the National Park Service, the community of Kingston, New York, in Ulster County is well on its way to becoming a hub for outdoor recreation and active transportation. The Ulster County Rail Trail Connection Project seeks to expand the current trail system and convert abandoned rail corridors to create an interconnected network throughout the county.

For many students to get to class each day at Backman Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah, they must follow a dangerous path along the roads over the Jordan River. The National Park Service is helping Backman plan and develop open space and a footbridge to connect the students to their school and bridge the gap between the community and the outdoors.