Austin Parks and Recreation Department

Texan by Nature is excited to recognize the City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department (PARD) as a 2022 TxN 20 honoree for their leadership in conservation and sustainability. Austin PARD’s commitment to conservation, their projects, programs, best practices, and lessons learned are an example and inspiration for us all.

Honoree Industry and Size: Municipal Services – Small

Company Overview: Austin’s park system began in 1839 as four public squares sketched on Austin’s original city plan. Today, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) oversees over 20,000 acres of land and water, 330 parks, and 200 miles of trails. The system includes 45 aquatic facilities, 172 playgrounds, five municipal cemeteries, six golf courses, 29 community gardens, and 49 facilities dedicated to recreation, culture, and the environment. It is the vision of the Parks and Recreation Department to be an innovative leader in parks and recreation experiences.

*Kayaking program, Austin Parks and Recreation Department*

What is Austin Parks & Recreation Department’s conservation and sustainability mission, and why is it important to your culture?

PARD’s mission is to inspire Austin to learn, play, protect and connect by creating diverse programs and experiences in sustainable natural spaces and public places. Well-managed open spaces provide critical ecological services to communities. Clean air, clean water, and native biodiversity improve our quality of life. Corporations often consider the quality of life when choosing a location for operations. Therefore, a healthy, safe, and clean environment makes us all healthier and happier and strengthens and stabilizes our local economy.

How is conservation and sustainability a part of Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s business strategy?
Conservation and sustainability are key focus areas in several city-wide policies and plans:

Green Building Policy Update: PARD worked with the City’s Office of Sustainability and other departmental stakeholders to update the City’s 2007 Green Building Policy Resolution. The previous resolution included provisions requiring a minimum of LEED Silver certification for most city buildings. The new policy encouraged all other projects to develop best-practice design criteria for achieving baseline sustainability standards. PARD advocated for the inclusion of SITES certification into the updated policy, which the City Council adopted in September 2021. With the revised policy, SITES is now a requirement for all park projects with a budget of $2 million and establishes Austin as the first municipality in the world to adopt SITES standards into local policy. Read more about the City of Austin’s commitment to developing sustainable landscapes.
Strategic Direction 2023: Accessible, diverse, and inclusive parks and recreation programs and amenities are a crucial strategy to achieve the desired outcomes under ‘Health and Environment’ in the City’s 5-year strategic plan, Strategic Direction 2023 (SD23). Other key strategies include innovative financing models and partnerships to support, maintain, and expand parks, open spaces, recreational facilities, and the urban trail network. The plan also supports integrating nature into the city by developing and implementing a green infrastructure plan that includes parks as part of a larger network of natural lands and open spaces.
Long Range Plan (LRP): Every ten years, PARD develops a long-range plan to guide the planning and growth of Austin’s park system. The 2020 LRP, titled ‘Our Parks, Our Future,’ provides goals and strategies to guide park land acquisitions, capital improvements, park design, and development of programs and amenities. The plan’s pursuit of sustainability and resiliency goals in all PARD parkland and facilities was a strategic goal. To achieve these goals, PARD partners with the Office of Sustainability, Austin Resource Recovery, and Watershed Protection to work towards carbon-neutral operations, implement composting and recycling standards, and ensure emergency operations and resiliency standards in all park planning efforts.
Public-private partnerships (P3s): To deliver the number of projects and maintain the high-quality programming and levels of service expected by the community, PARD enters into strategic partnerships with community-based private partners such as the Austin Parks Foundation, The Trail Foundation, Waterloo Greenway, and Pease Park Conservancy. Their capacity to engage with the community early and often, to activate public spaces with new programming and public art, and to help manage and maintain parks and trails long-term integrates a sustainable triple bottom line of prosperity, equity, and environmental stewardship. In 2021 the Kingsbury Commons redevelopment project at Pease District Park achieved Gold certification under the Sustainable SITES Initiative. This designation puts Pease Park in an elite group of local green spaces and makes it the first park in PARD’s portfolio to be SITES certified.

Comprehensive Land Management Plan: The plan will guide large-scale restoration across approximately 10,000 acres, or more than 15 square miles, of parkland and includes a first-of-its-kind climate vulnerability assessment. Once completed, the comprehensive land management plan will influence habitat management decisions over approximately 60% of the park system, equivalent to almost 6% of the entire incorporated area of the City of Austin.

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department believes in the mission of Texan by Nature and is honored to be recognized for our efforts in sustainability. I am very passionate about this work and very proud of the team we have built and what we have accomplished. The programs and initiatives we have created together in the past few years will help ensure Austin parks will be loved for many years into the future.
– Liana Kallivoka, Assistant Director, Parks and Recreation Department

What are Austin Parks & Recreation Department’s short and long-term goals as they relate to conservation and sustainability?

In the short term, PARD will complete a land management plan and climate vulnerability assessment in January 2023. PARD will continue implementing ecological restoration projects such as brush management and prairie re-seeding, fuel reduction and forest biodiversity enhancements, applying prescribed fire where appropriate, and scaling up as operational capacity increases. Conservation outreach and engagement efforts through social media, educational materials, and public interaction will grow an ecologically educated constituency that understands the value of maintaining healthy ecosystems.

PARD is the long-term owner of all parkland and buildings. Investment decisions are guided by a long-term integrated approach that considers operational savings, durability, and resiliency. On a larger scale, City Council adopted the Austin Climate Equity Plan, aiming to reach net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Led by the Office of Sustainability, PARD was a crucial partner in setting the goals and strategies that consider natural systems and land management. PARD’s own Long Range Plan sets the goal to provide parkland within 1/4 mile of urban core residents and 1/2 mile for those outside of the urban core, which will require an additional 4,000 to 8,000 acres of newly designated parkland over the next ten years.

Who in Austin Parks & Recreation Department is leading your conservation and sustainability efforts, and what are some examples of employee engagement in conservation and sustainability at your company?

PARD Assistant Director, Liana Kallivoka, has implemented and supported several sustainability initiatives since joining the department in 2016. A LEED Fellow herself and the first City professional to be given the honor, Kallivoka and then Project Manager Lisa Storer were instrumental in including SITES requirements in the City’s Green Building Resolution. Today, SITES accredited Project Managers Lana Denkeler, and Patrick Beyer oversee sustainability certifications.

An early initiative was the creation of the PARD Sustainability Team, composed of Parks and Recreation Department staff who are subject matter experts in land management, recycling and waste reduction, green building, landscape development, water conservation, and energy efficiency. The Sustainability Team meets regularly to guide project managers and ensure sustainability is at the forefront of park development and maintenance. Kallivoka supported the creation of several new department roles, including Sustainability Manager, Recycling Manager, (Meredith Gauthier, Program Manager II), Land Management (Matt McCaw, Environmental Conservation Program Manager), and a Program Coordinator for the Cities Connecting Children to Nature initiative (Melody Alcazar, Program Manager, and Christine Chute Canul, Program Manager II).

Project Manager Supervisor Kevin Johnson and now-retired Division Manager Engineer Jim Clark created the framework for what became a City-wide initiative, the Resilience Hub Network Project (Council Resolution 20210408-028). Jim Clark also established PARD’s internal criteria for water conservation indoors (plumbing fixtures) and outdoors (irrigation, pools, etc.).

All Department employees are encouraged to participate in several sustainability efforts. These include the Circular Economy Program, where all City departments send out an alert if there is unused furniture, lumber, stone, concrete blocks, dirt, and other materials for other departments to use. Similarly, Nature Play installations in Austin parks use trees removed for safety or development purposes.

Demonstrating that individual efforts can make a big impact, two staff members of the Austin Nature and Science Center sheltered at the center during Winter Storm Uri to care for the wildlife. Because of their dedication, all 100 animals survived the extreme conditions and suffered no significant impacts due to the storm or stress.

Photo by Lauren Slusher

What conservation and sustainability programs and projects does Austin Parks & Recreation Department lead and participate in?

Recycling Implementation in Parks: In 2019, City Council approved $1.2 million for expanding recycling to parks citywide. The Recycling Implementation Plan focuses primarily on installing landfill and recycling receptacles as paired units on concrete pads with two-way dome lids and clear labels in English and Spanish.
Pollinator and monarch butterfly conservation: PARD has converted 97 acres to low-mow (reduced frequency of mowing between 1 and 4 times a year) and now has 82.5 acres of wildflower meadow pollinator-friendly managed habitat.
Community PARKnerships and Community Activated Park Project (CAPP) Programs: The PARKnership Program works with local nonprofits, volunteer and fundraising groups to coordinate efforts and leverage resources, volunteer time, and talent. Through the PARKnerships program, community members and business partners can adopt their park, participate in volunteer days, propose and advocate for enhancements at their local park, and donate resources.
Cities Connecting Children to Nature: Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN), housed in the City Parks and Recreation Department, seeks to create more equitable and abundant access to nature through a partnership between The National League of Cities and the Children & Nature Network. The initiative seeks to ensure that a connection to nature becomes an integral part of city priorities, planning, and policymaking across a range of areas, including community health and wellness, education, out-of-school time programming, job creation, transportation, and land use.
Solar lighting: PARD continues to enhance safety and security while extending the use of parks during operating hours in the dark using solar-powered lights. PARD will install 22 lights at nine parks in FY22, prioritizing projects through an equity lens.
Austin Civilian Conservation Corps (ACCC): ACCC is designed to help Austinites economically impacted by COVID-19 learn important job skills. PARD partnered with the nonprofit American Youth Works to hire and train crews to restore landscapes and conduct tree maintenance at City parks. These activities help create more resilient landscapes while providing quality jobs and a living wage. Overall, ACCC provided jobs to more than 100 individuals in FY21.
Water usage reductions: PARD Forestry uses reclaimed water to help establish their newly planted trees. Roughly 900,000 gallons of reclaimed water is used annually just for tree establishment rather than fully treated, potable water. For ongoing irrigation and maintenance, PARD connects to the reclaimed water network for the regular watering of park landscaping.
Brush and Wood Recycling: PARD Forestry recycles all debris from their tree maintenance program, with an average of over 980 tons of brush recycled annually. Brush generated by PARD is chipped and mixed with treated biosolids at the City’s wastewater facility and composted to create Dillo Dirt, which is then made available to city residents as a nutrient-rich soil amendment and mulch. Once a month, residents can take home free logs from trees that have been removed from parkland for safety reasons. PARD diverts an average of over 80 tons of wood to the public through this program annually. Conversely, PARD and Austin Resource Recovery partner together to collect trees after Christmas and New Year’s. Each year more than 2,000 trees are dropped off by Austin residents to be mulched, and that mulch is then distributed free to the public.

How do you see the future of conservation and sustainability evolving, and what role will Austin Parks & Recreation Department play in that progress?

The degradation and challenges faced by our parkland and natural areas will be exacerbated by climate change. For example, the extreme temperature conditions experienced during the drought and devastating wildfires of 2011 are projected to be the average conditions by mid-century. Without large-scale ecological restoration throughout the coming decades, extreme heat and drought stress will intensify wildfire and biodiversity impacts and create untenable recovery costs for the community. We must act now to prepare local ecosystems for the coming challenge. We must thoughtfully guide and manage natural areas to a future resilient condition. This is a science, practice, and philosophy that is only now emerging, but Austin Parks and Recreation Department is helping chart these new waters. The Land Management Program works with a consulting team to develop strategies and perform a climate vulnerability assessment for about 10,300 acres of natural parkland areas. This initiative will help guide future work on natural areas and meet goals in the Climate Equity Plan.

With the rapid development of Austin, residents are aware of an increasing need to steward and protect our natural spaces, and there is an increased focus on uneven access to parks and park amenities. PARD analyses data from multiple sources to ensure equitable implementation of new green infrastructure projects and amenities, focusing especially on parks in the eastern crescent of Austin. In the creation of the Long Range Plan, a PARD survey reported that Austin residents valued natural beauty, places to connect to nature, and cleanliness the most. Nature trails and natural spaces were also frequently stated to be the most desired park amenities. As Austin residents recognize the value of greenspace, PARD will play a critical role in the City’s larger planning and sustainability goals.

How does Austin Parks & Recreation Department quantify investment and return on conservation and sustainability?

Given the relationship between healthy and diverse native habitats and improved ecosystem services, acres of natural areas restored to a more functional and healthy condition is the primary metric for return on investment. PARD is currently mapping and defining both the relative vulnerability and resilience of natural areas. Our adaptive management framework will assess the current health of ecosystems to guide and prioritize successive restoration treatments.

Additionally, we improve return on investment by applying a simple construction/maintenance cost framework to the business of ecological restoration. With over two decades of professional restoration experience, we optimize the cost-per-acre for initial, expensive, restoration strategies as well as for ongoing, lower-cost management. Finally, we ensure our ability to maintain initial investments in restoration by not building something that we cannot maintain.

As a general fund department that is also tasked with delivering capital improvements throughout the park system, PARD regularly seeks efficiencies in our daily operations and returns on investment in our capital program.

Operationally, PARD conducted a water usage assessment at our aquatic facilities and determined that many water meters at aquatic sites were being billed at a “gallon-for-gallon” wastewater rate, despite the fact that only a small fraction of water usage at these sites was returning to the wastewater system. More intensive uses, such as pool backwash tanks and drains, all discharge to the stormwater system. PARD’s Sustainability Manager created a Water Balance Table, delineating each water input at all aquatic sites and quantifying their total annual use. Based on the calculations provided, the Water Utility agreed to reduce annual billings at these sites by nearly $100,000.

PARD manages capital projects with a similar focus. As one example, PARD is currently working on a significant facility expansion project at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC). Due to its downtown location, PARD investigated the potential to tap into the Austin Energy Downtown Chilled Water system early in the design process. Utilizing centralized chilled water requires a significant upfront investment, but total life cycle costs are less than that of constructing, operating and maintaining on-site chilled water infrastructure. Additionally, because of the thermal storage capacity within the chilled water system, Austin Energy is able to shift electric consumption from on-peak to off-peak periods. In total, this demand management results in reduced electrical rates and regulatory charges. Moreover, this network connection better positions the ESB-MACC facility for continued growth in the future. PARD plans to begin extension of this utility to the project site in early 2023.

It is a long-term goal that documented financial savings coming from conservation and life-cycle approaches noted above can be reinvested into PARD infrastructure to support revolving sustainability improvements.

What is the one lesson that Austin Parks & Recreation Department has learned from your conservation and sustainability efforts that others can take back and think about applying within their own space?

Retrofitting resiliency into a city is not an easy task. Climate change and its consequences affect everyone, but the impacts are not felt equally among all communities. The Austin Climate Equity Plan, adopted in 2021, sets an aggressive goal of equitably reaching net-zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. It envisions a future where Austin is a thriving, equitable, and ecologically resilient community.

Austin’s Parkland Dedication Ordinance (PLD) is a major tool for the expansion of the park and recreation system. Subdivision and multi-family developments must dedicate parkland and/or pay a fee in lieu to be used to acquire land and/or expand park and recreation facilities. The City of Austin passed its first Parkland Dedication Ordinance in 1985 and its revision in 2016 has resulted in the acquisition and investment of over 2,000 acres of parkland, including over 520 acres across over 70 new or expanded parks since 2016.

In ecological restoration, planning is easy; doing is hard. A plan that is written in a year, may require decades of commitment in time and resources to implement. Therefore, many plans sit on shelves. However, the following strategies, applicable in many contexts, help avoid wasted planning efforts and shift focus to effective production:

In restoration, success is measured in acres. The fundamental goal is to restore ecosystems at meaningful scales to provide ecosystem services to communities. Other activities, such as outreach, data collection and analysis, public meetings, new equipment, etc., should directly enable restoration at scale.
To ensure buy-in, fully integrate into the planning process those who will be expected to implement the plan.
Honor the work of planning professionals by implementing existing plans before creating new ones. Use the successes and failures of implementation to inform decisions about the possible need for new plans.
Do not underestimate the professional expertise and resources needed to accomplish ecological restoration at scale. Such restoration requires thought, patience, and an understanding of agronomy, hydrology, plant ecology, meteorology, fire behavior, sociology, and the highly complex interactions between those disciplines. Put simply, success requires professionally trained staff, equipment, and hard work.

Why is Texas an important home or base of operations for Austin Parks & Recreation Department?

Well-managed open spaces provide critical ecological services to communities. Parks reduce harmful carbon pollution that is driving climate change; they protect people and infrastructure from increasingly severe storms, sea-level rise, heat waves and droughts; and they also directly reduce some of the primary public health challenges that are exacerbated by climate change. As the largest city department landowner in Austin, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department is often on the frontline of the impacts of climate change. As the fastest growing city in the nation, it is imperative that the Parks and Recreation Department develop strategies and polices to help with addressing climate change.

But, perhaps most importantly, Austin’s park network is central to the City’s physical and cultural identity. While Austin will continue to navigate new pressures from growth and a changing climate, the parks system will play an even more critical role in offering a natural, equitable and sustainable respite for its residents.

Learn more about Austin Parks & Recreation Department’s conservation and sustainability efforts here: