OUTCOME: Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration
Problem
Opportunities for community members and visitors to engage with nearby natural lands through recreation, volunteerism, and outdoor programs are not distributed evenly in the North Coast region, and there are barriers to access to outdoor spaces and programs, particularly for remote and disadvantaged communities.
Solution
Recreation & Volunteerism - Support community and visitor engagement with natural lands through volunteerism and sustainable outdoor recreation.
Background and Context
Outdoor recreation brings many benefits to North Coast communities. Recreation is a significant economic driver in the region, creating jobs and tax revenue for local communities. Natural lands are outdoor classrooms that can provide educational and interpretive opportunities for communities to learn about Tribal land stewardship and the many functions and benefits of healthy ecosystems. Green spaces can be planned and managed as multi-benefit fuel breaks. In addition, outdoor spaces and programs can provide many health benefits to community members, including increased physical activity, reduced stress, enhanced sense of place, and increased social cohesion and cultural connections. Spending time in nature has also been shown to increase appreciation for the natural world and the benefits it provides and to increase support for local conservation and restoration of natural and working lands.
Recommendations
Increased access to volunteer opportunities, recreation, education, and community programming in local parks and forests will support a vibrant economy and increase appreciation for natural lands and the benefits they provide, thus supporting a culture of stewardship. NCRP will support development of a regional plan to increase access to sustainable outdoor recreation that respects cultural values, downscales the Goals and Key Actions in California’s Joint Strategy for Sustainable Outdoor Recreation and Wildfire Resilience and the CALREC Vision to the North Coast region, and specifically addresses improved access for disadvantaged communities, including signage and interpretive materials in languages other than English. Regional partners should increase public access to parks and open spaces by creating new parks in underserved areas and improving access, active and public transportation infrastructure, and amenities at existing parks and open spaces. Outdoor volunteer and community engagement programs should also be expanded to reach all age groups and communities within the region, and to reflect the unique history and priorities of the North Coast region, including the current active management of natural lands by the region’s Tribal communities. All expansion of public access should prioritize protection of Tribal access and use of ancestral lands for cultural and subsistence purposes.
Actions
- Downscale California’s Joint Strategy for Sustainable Outdoor Recreation and Wildfire Resilience to the North Coast region.
- Downscale the CALREC Vision strategy to the North Coast region.
- Downscale the CALREC Vision strategy to the North Coast region.
- Downscale the state’s Pathways to 30×30 strategy to the North Coast region.
- Coordinate with state Outdoors for All Initiative to bring, identify, and implement public access projects to the North Coast region.
- Conduct a regional assessment to identify and prioritize communities most in need of improved access to outdoor recreation and community programming, and solicit robust community input to ensure the plan prioritizes community preferences for types of recreation.
- Align local efforts with the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and the USFS Great American Outdoors Act.
- Align with North Coast Tribal priorities for land conservation, protection of cultural values, and interpretive and educational resources.
- Support new interpretive materials and signage in parks and other public lands that include local Tribal languages and incorporate Tribal perspectives on local history.
- Prioritize developing visitor systems that reduce GHG emissions and other negative impacts. Align plan with ecosystem health & impact analysis to ensure that natural lands and cultural values are not negatively impacted by overuse.
- Identify restoration, monitoring, and adaptive management strategies for parks and open spaces to facilitate climate and fire resilience.
- Public agencies and land trusts/CBOs should create new parks and open spaces in high priority areas identified in regional outdoor recreation plan, including long-term stewardship plans to ensure climate and fire resilience.
- Public agencies should prioritize transportation infrastructure upgrades, especially for active and public transportation, that link communities to parks and forests
- Support sustained funding for community programming in parks and forests by drafting and advocating for measures that advise cities and counties to direct transient occupancy taxes to outdoor recreation programs.
- Develop local outreach campaign modelled on the It’s All Yours campaign of USFS and National Forest Foundation.
- Ensure all public recreation sites have signage in a variety of languages, reflecting the diversity of speakers in the region or area.
- Expand existing community engagement and outreach programs to reach community members of all ages and backgrounds, especially disadvantaged communities.
- In places where there is an unmet need for outdoor community programs, extend programming into those communities.
- Foster connections between workforce development programs and public agencies to incorporate job training and experience for local residents into park infrastructure improvement projects including at the high-school level.
- Support programs that engage community members in park and open space maintenance and monitoring.
- Support programs to engage community members in restoration and adaptative management to support climate and fire resilience, including volunteering for projects on parks and other public lands.
- Explore ways to improve voluntary public giving to support recreation areas and getting outside.
Evaluate economic impact of wildfire-related park closures and smoke on regional recreation revenue and use data to help make the case for funding preventive forest and fuel management.
Evaluate economic impact of wildfire-related park closures and smoke on regional recreation revenue and use data to help make the case for funding preventive forest and fuel management.