60 miles at 102 degrees!

My wife and I just finished a two day ride on the W&OD Trail. Yesterday it was 102, and today it only got up to 95. We drank a LOT of water and needed every drop of it. We covered 30 miles each day and had a great time. At the mid point in our get away, we stayed in a bed and breakfast in Leesburg, and soaked up the history and charm of the town.

I was struck by how friendly all the other trail users were. Today we had two conversations with other bikers as we cooled off. Each came from a very different background, but they were both charming and friendly and helpful people. Many other people, we said hello to along the way. It is a great community that uses this wonderful trail.

The W&OD Trail is an amazing resource stretching 45 miles from Shirlington to Purcellville.

Is recreation too competitive?

This afternoon I had a conversation with Dean Tice, and he reflected that recreation may be loosing it primary purpose by becoming too competitive.

First a bit about Dean Tice. He is a former head of the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). He is also a retired three star general, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He is a brilliant person with interesting insight on the field of park and recreation. You can read more about General Tice at the link below.
http://www.aapra.org/Pugsley/TiceDean.html

The central point of General Tice's comment is that recreation has a real purpose, and that purpose is to relieve stress. In his military experience, when soldiers were burnt out, recreation was used to provide the mental relief needed to help them recover.

With people working more and recreating less, stress is a serious issue in modern life. While a little competition can be fun and exciting. Perhaps we should focus more on activities that are truly stress relieving.

I just recently read a study that compiled the increasing volume of scientific research on the mental and physical benefits of spending more time in a natural environment. My own experience is that time in nature is one of the best stress relievers that I know of.

Celebration of the Korean Bell

On Saturday the rain held off and we had a wonderful celebration of the Korean bell that was installed last week. Nearly 200 people showed up to be part of this historic moment. Five of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors were on hand for the occasion including: Sharon Bulova, Cathy Hudgins, Penny Gross, Pat Herrity, and John Foust. Other elected officials included State Senator Chap Pertersen, as well as Mark Keem and Vivian Watts from the House of Delegates. Former Governor and Senator George Allen was also there.

Bill Folsom took the following photos of the event:

Ms Hyunae Lee, the Master of Ceremony

Brian Knapp, Vice Chair of NVRPA

Cathy Hudgins, Hunter Mill Supervisor

Jin-Soo Nam, Director of Culture and Tourism for the Korean Embassy

Sharon Bulova, Chair of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

Dr. Mathew Lee, Executive Committee of KACC

Supervisor Penny Gross hugging Jeung Hwa Elmejjad-Yi, President of KACC

Jeung Hwa Elmejjad-Yi, President of KACC

Delegate Mark Keem

Sharon Bulova, Penny Gross, Pat Herrity, John Foust, & Chap Petersen

People in line for Korean food

Korean Bell Has Arrived!

The bell is here!!!!!!!

This week the three ton bell from Korea was installed in the custom built bell pavilion at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna Virginia. This is the crowing Jewel of the Korean Bell Garden that has been taking shape over the last year.

This is the only traditional Korean garden with bell in the western hemisphere, and the only Korean bell on the east coast.

The bell combines images of nature from both Korea and Virginia as a true symbol of the Korean-American population in this region.

May 14, 2011 at 11:00 A.M. is a free dedication event for the bell. This event will include free Korean food and cook books, as well as Korean artists. Please join us.

Spring Clean Up at NVRPA Headquarters

 

Yesterday was the annual clean up day at the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Headquarters. It was a beautiful spring day and everyone was working together to clean out old stuff that was not needed and spruce up the grounds with trimming and mulching and much more. It was a great team effort! And we all shared a great lunch together as well.

Blythe Russian, Superintendent of Operations wrote the following in an e-mail to Headquarters and Central Maintenance staff. She captured the best of the day.

Thanks to everyone who rolled up their sleeves and pitched in yesterday for the most successful Cinco de Mayo Cleanup yet! With a heavy task list, everyone truly performed miracles on the inside and outside of the building! Take a few minutes to see the handy work of your co-workers today. A special thanks to Central Maintenance for their back breaking work on the trees and trash removal- who knew we could have THAT MUCH to throw away!! We could NOT have done it without you!


I hope everyone had as much fun as I did working alongside different people and doing projects outside our normal comfort zone. Here are are few "superlatives" from yesterday that I hope you enjoy:

Best Mulcher- Becky Reynaldo (she was a non-stop machine with those HUGE bags and her scissors!)


Best Box Mover- David Zickafoose tied with Jake Bumbrey and Casey Pittrizzi


Best Thrower Awayer- Kathy Brooks and Edna Scott (we took no prisoners!)


Best Makeover- the closet by the board room- you can walk in, have a picnic, do a dance (I saw you, Edna) and it is even ready for MORE stuff- put away neatly, please!!


Best Coordinator of the Throwing Away- Charlie Anderson


Best Mulch Mover- Chris Pauley (150 bags, to be exact)- it was a close race with Paul Gilbert who also put a big dent in that pile!


Best Griller- Bobby Clark (and the best pulled chicken cooker!) What would we do without you?


Best Awards Room Cleaner- Sue O'Reilly and Todd Hafner (if you haven't taken a look, you will be pleasantly surprised!


Best Attitude- Jenny Hofler (even when her area was threatened by snakes, she powered on!)


Best Enforcer of Personal Protective Equipment- Derric Bolton (he HAD to- its his job!)


Best Chicken- Getters- Susan Chidakel and Linda Butterworth- who knew there could be that funny of a story just getting a bucket of chicken:)


Best Dessert-maker- Heidi Bates (requests for more cherry cheesecake and the hornets nest have been submitted)


Best Shoes- Azeana Roehn (what a beautiful pedicure!)


Best T-shirt- Cindy Hudson (Go Grave Digger!!)


Best Watchers of a Jazzercise Tape(yes, tape)- Kate Rudacille, Dan Iglhaut, and Susan Chidakel

For those of you that didn't get a superlative, you still deserve a big pat on your back for the great work you did yesterday, your positive attitude, and your delicious cooking (or buying of food) skills! Make sure to stretch tonight because tomorrow will be the big day when all of those new muscles you found yesterday will be screaming!

Thank you for bringing the delicious food and for all of your hard work! It is truly appreciated! I think we need to institute a Cinco de Diciembre to continue our hard work on the inside of this building....

Blackburn's Ford

Monday July 18, 2011 join us at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville Virginia for a special event to commemorate the first land battle in Northern Virginia during the Civil War, the Battle of Blackburn's Ford.

More information about the event:
http://www.nvrpa.org/park/main_site/events/view/1597

In addition to the commemoration we will also be dedicating replica winter quarters built at Bull Run Park to demonstrate how both Confederate and Union forces lived in semi-permenent camps in this area at different times during the war. This event is part of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.



winter quarters cabin

 About Blackburn's Ford:
Several days before the First Battle of Manassas, Union forces under General Irvin McDowell attempted to cross the Bull Run to engage the Confederate Army under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard. The two forces met and fought at a stream crossing called Blackburn’s Ford in Centerville.


This was the first land battle of the war. But within a few days the forces had met again in the First Battle of Manassas. Soon the Battle of Blackburn’s Ford with its 151 casualties was over-shadowed by larger conflicts in what would become the bloodiest conflict in American history.

Nature Nuts!

Nature Nuts Kick-Off With a Goal of Half a Million Kids Outdoors


On the eve of Earth Day week (April 22nd), The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and its Foundation formally kicked off its newest program, Nature Nuts, at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park on Friday, April 15th. Over 100 fifth graders from Herndon Elementary School joined NVRPA, the Foundation, Supervisor Pat Herrity and Dominion Virginia Power to kick-off this program, which focuses on engaging children with nature. The Northern Virginia Regional Park Foundation subsidized the trip for Herndon Elementary as part of the Nature Nuts program, and each child received a Nature Nuts t-shirt.

Richard Louv launched a national movement to better engage children with nature through his best-selling book Last Child in the Woods. Nature Nuts is a regional program that seeks to provide a meaningful outdoor experience to half a million children over the next five years throughout Northern Virginia. “A big part of the mission of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority is to ‘foster an understanding of the relationship between people and their environment,’ and the Nature Nuts program is going to be central to our efforts in this area,” remarked Paul Gilbert, NVRPA Executive Director. “Children today are spending less time in nature and far too much time in front of a screen. Our goal is to counter this trend,” continued Gilbert.

By engaging this many children in nature, this program will have a positive effect through education, health benefits and interaction and education of the environment. The Foundation has set up the Nature Nuts fund, which will support activities that further the goals of the program, including:

Grants to help elementary schools defray the costs of field trips to Hemlock Overlook;

Grants to help send kids to camps like the Junior Naturalist Camp at Potomac Overlook or Camp Grow at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens;

Expansion of NVRPA’s Roving Naturalist Program;

Facility improvements at youth camping sites;

Expansion of rental kayak and canoe operations;

Promotional materials and efforts to get children involved in Nature Nuts.

Nature Nuts will offer great programs and opportunities to reconnect children with the outdoors. Supervisor Pat Herrity reminisced that when he was a child they would spend all day riding their bikes and exploring and playing in parks and natural areas. Times have changed, but the need for children to have unstructured time in nature is just as strong today, but with fewer opportunities.

Currently 85,000 children a year explore nature through the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. Through a combination of child-focused programs and family outdoor activities, children are exploring the natural world at the regional parks. This program will build on this base and address barriers that keep children from having these opportunities.



48,000 children camp in NVRPA parks, nearly 3,000 through youth organizations like scouting and 45,000 through family camping.

Close to 10,000 connect with nature while boating in Regional Parks, over 1,200 local high school students row on the Occoquan Reservoir, and over 8,500 use rented kayaks or canoes or are boating with friends and family on boats they launch at a Regional Park.

Over 15,000 children go through the adventure course run by Adventure Links at Hemlock Overlook Regional Park.

Over 13,000 children learn about nature from an NVRPA naturalist or park staff as part of a children-focused nature education program.

Lead Like a General

I just published my first book. It is a leadership book that takes examples from the American Civil War. Most of the examples were also drawn from local history focused in the Northern Virginia Region. Although not explicitly about the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, many of NVRPA's parks figure into these storys.

Combining the best in modern research on leadership with real life examples from the American Civil War, Lead Like a General will help people in any field hone their leadership abilities. Using many engaging and untold stories of a day-in-the-life of a Civil War leader, this book shows how the research on leadership styles, organizational structure, brain dominance and other related fields can be seen in the actions of these historical figures. A must read for those interested in developing their leadership abilities, as well as those looking for new insights into some of the leaders, both north and south, from this pivotal period of history.

Here is what some leaders are saying about this book:

"Paul Gilbert has captured the essence of the best leadership, merging his personal experience with seldom-heard histories of Civil War generals. He offers powerful precepts for those who must lead today."

Donald S. Beyer, Jr. U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Former Lt. Governor of Virginia



"The American Civil War shaped modern America more than any other event since the American revolution. The length and scope of the civil war tested the leadership of Americans from both the North and South. Both sides learned that leadership is an essential foundation to success. Paul Gilbert's new book explains how leadership shaped events in the war and how these lessons apply to life today."

Brig General John W. Douglass USAF (ret) Former Assistant Secretary of the Navy



“Paul Gilbert’s Lead Like a General combines some of the best thinking on leadership with some of the tactics and strategies of the best Generals in the Civil War. So if you’re a history buff, you’ll enjoy the read. If you’re interested in leadership you’ll also enjoy it. And if you’re a bit of both, as am I, you’ll love it! ”

Dr. Steve Gladis Executive Coach, Leadership Development & Motivational Speaker and Professor, and author of 16 books on leadership and communication



“Paul Gilbert is a leader in public lands, and historic preservation and in Lead Like a General the sites of Civil War actions are part of the story. Gilbert does a great job of capturing the drama of this time, the key lessons and the important places that helped make America what it is today.”

Cate Magennis Wyatt President of Journey Through Hallowed Ground



“Paul Gilbert closely examines universal leadership traits, and offers sound advice for what it takes to be a successful leader. He reminds us that effective leaders focus on their natural skills and use them to their best advantage.”

Dennis H. Treacy Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and Chief Sustainability Officer Smithfield Foods, Inc.

For more information on this book, or to order your copy go to Amazon Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Lead-Like-General-Paul-Gilbert/dp/0615434460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1302548540&sr=1-1

News Release on the Book: http://northernvirginiaregionalparkauthority.createsend5.com/t/ViewEmail/y/75E46C160E9650D1

News on Occoquan Park Visioning

Mike Devine Wins Tourism Award

Visit Loudoun the tourism and marking organization for Loudoun County, presented Mike Devine with an award for the great work he has done at Aldie Mill to promote tourism. Mike is the miller at Aldie Mill and offers weekend milling demonstrations and tours from April - October.

Mike's wealth of knowledge about milling, and local history inform and entertain everyone that visits this great 200 year old grist mill along Rt.50 between Gilbert's Corner and Middleburg. Everyone at NVRPA is proud of the great work that Mike does!

Also receiving an award was the Aldie Heritage Association for the work they have done to host Aldie Harvest Festival. This same group is an important partner with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority with our programs and activities at both Mt. Zion Historic Park and Aldie Mill Historic Park.

Algonkian Regional Park was also nominated for the North Face endurance run that they host each year on the trails along the Potomac.

Tourism is one of the great value that great regional parks offer a community. Facilities and events that attract visitor from outside the area results in big tax dollars to help fund local priorities. We are proud to be part of the collection of attractions that make our area a great tourism destination.

2011 Employee Achievment Awards

Today we had our annual All Staff Business Meeting for the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.
In addition to presentations on every aspect of our operations, the high point of this meeting is recognizing some of the great accomplishments from our staff through the Employee Achievement Awards. Every year staff are asked to think about who should be nominated for an award and submit those nominations. Then we create a cross-functional committee with different employees each year to serve as the committee to review all the nominations and make the selection of the achievements that deserve special recognition. This year we had a great group of award winners.

Below are the 2011 NVRPA Employee Achievement Awardees:

Amporn Ringenbach – Algonkian


Above and Beyond

From going the extra mile in providing home cooked meals for large groups cleaning the pool, to providing planters and flowers at her own expense to make the park beautiful.

Jake Bumbrey – HQ

Customer Service

Jake has shown the highest professionalism in serving the customers in all our parks. His attention to detail and consistent follow-through have helped countless projects reach a good outcome. All those who work with Jake say he has earned their appreciation for being such a solid team player.

John Houser – Occoquan

Community Partnership

From the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial to the Occoquan River Communities, to OWL and much more, John dedicates his time and great partnership skills to building NVRPA’s connections with external groups, in a way that is unprecedented in the history of the agency.

Robert Clark – Catering

Customer Service

Taking responsibility for the Catering Department’s picnic service has not only expanded revenue for the agency, but has provided seamless service to customers using many different parks. In addition to outside customers, park staff have benefited from the complete and self sufficient service that Bobby has provided.

Laurie Short – Meadowlark

Team Player

Through a period of great staffing changes and new initiatives at Meadowlark Gardens, Laurie has led the horticultural staff with calm and confidence that has been a unifying force.

Everett Shepherd – Occoquan

Above and Beyond

With enthusiasm and love for the park, Jack has set the standard of dedication, helping with park events on his own time, and taking on every task, large and small, with a positive attitude, while he looks for the next opportunity to make the park better.

John Woods – Pohick

Safety

Spending five days in the park to clear downed trees that posed a hazard to park patrons and staff is one of many ways Matt continues to put safety first in everything he does. When training other staff in safety sensitive jobs like propane tank operation and use of chain saws, Matt is always methodical in making sure the safety procedures are followed exactly.

Mike Devine – Aldie Mill

Programming

Team Player

Continually doing research about issues related to Aldie Mill, Mike educates and delights the public every weekend during the season with mill tours and demonstrations. He kept the mill and programming to the highest standards during a transition in management. During the construction of replacement milling wheels, Mike met with contractors and oversaw much of the installation of the new wheels.

Chris Stoudt – Temple Hall

Versatility

A favorite of the public for his great farm tours, and a favorite of his co-workers for cheerfully taking on dirty jobs and being there to work even unpopular shifts. Chris brought new energy and enthusiasm to the Corn MAiZE this year, including his lead on the pig races.

Kate Rudacille – HQ

Innovation

When the W&OD Trail was at risk of having a two mile section closed for a year, Kate took the lead in finding and negotiating a detour trail that kept all 45 miles open. This herculean effort included in depth work with county staff, VDOT, Dominion Power, a home owners’ association, as well as negotiations with public and private land owners. What seemed at times impossible, Kate was able to accomplish.



Axel Boy – Fountainhead

Programming

Versatility

As a seasonal ranger, Axel has taken personal initiative to do significant historical research into both the Davis-Lewis Family who owned the area of Fountainhead Park as well as the history of this area during the Civil War. Axel then has used this research to lead interpretive hikes for the public. In addition to the historical interpretation, Axel has led night fishing tournaments, kids fishing derbies, paddle tours and many other programs that have raised the profile of Fountainhead Regional Park.

Dan Iglhaut – HQ

Versatility

Cost Savings

From the widening of the Capital Beltway, Dulles Toll Road, Battlefield Parkway, Claiborne Parkway and Pacific & Atlantic Boulevards to cell transmitters on the W&OD, Dan is a one man show in representing NVRPA’s interest in these projects. Where most comparable agencies would have three or four staff to handle this complicated workload, Dan has the skills and dedication to handle an incredible array of projects, with great professionalism.

Award for the greatest % increse in net revenue went to Cameron Run Regional Park.

Award for the greatest % decrease in carbon footprint went to the Carlyle House Historic Park.

Rewarding success in both applying good business tools to improve the bottom line, as well as rewarding conservation of energy is part of what makes NVRPA such a model organization. We are both one of the most efficient park agencies in the nation, generating 82% of our own operating revenues, and at the same time one of the leaders in environmental protection among park agencies.