Regional Parks

Cate Magennis Wyatt 2015 was another excellent year for NOVA Parks, with progress and achievement in many areas. Here are a few of the highlights from the year. NOVA Parks Board: In Febr...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/2015-nova-parks-in-review.html

I like organizational budgets. There, I said it, judge me if you must. And for our 8th consecutive year NOVA Parks has won the top honors in public sector budgeting. This is the Distinguished B...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/budgets-are-good.html

Winter Walk of Lights The innovative holiday light shows of both Bull Run Regional Park and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens have transformed the holiday season for thousands in the Northern Vir...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/innovation-lights-way-in-premier-light.html

January 2015 Grand Opening of Tinner Hill Historic Site The Tinner Hill Historic District was just approve to be on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Places. This is yet another ackno...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/tinner-hill-historic-district.html

Yesterday we completed the acquisition of another future park! We will call it Springdale, and it is 150 acres on the Potomac River. The site includes farm structures from the early 1800s, a...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-new-park-on-potomac.html

Below is a report on the activities of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association over the last year. I highlighted all the parks that are owned by NOVA Parks to focus on just how much this trai...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/12/thank-you-phta.html

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) has a powerful data base that can compare park systems nationwide. They just released their 2015 data, and it helps tell the tale of what a di...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-nova-parks-difference-seen-in.html

Every year I get a letter like this with the total house of volunteer time that the PATC has donated to maintaining the trails. It is backed up with several pages of data with date and areas ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/10/patc-trail-success.html

Pirates Cove staff enjoy their well earned reward for selling the most mugs Customer service wins the day! There is a huge difference in the experience you have in a place where the staff is...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/08/customer-service-wins-day.html

Inherit the Earth, or borrow it from our Children? As park and recreation agencies, what is our role in solving the world’s environmental problems?  On one level, addressing issues like glo...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/07/parks-lead-on-sustainability.html

Last weekend we celebrated the third anniversary of the completion of the Korean Bell Garden at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna Virginia. This continues to be a very successful partnership between ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/05/korean-bell-garden.html

Most people sit through too many meetings. But there is one meeting each year that I can not get enough of. It is our annual "All-Staff Meeting" at NOVA Parks. This is the time when we review all...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/03/2015-employee-achievement-awards.html

There is no better indicator of a healthy park system, than one that is growing. Adding new public lands is vital to offset the affects of population growth. We need to be in the business of...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2015/02/expanding-parkland-healthy-park-system.html

2014 has been a troubling year nationally, and internationally, but in Northern Virginia it has been a great year for NOVA Parks. Our system of destination parks throughout the Northern Virginia...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-nova-parks-reached-new-heights.html

Here is an amazing video of the Winter Walk of Lights at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna. This show is just spectacular. We have been doing this 1/2 mile walk through show for 3 years, and...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/12/winter-walk-of-light-is-huge-hit.html

NOVA Parks (Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) is thrilled to announce that two members of its team took home the top awards given to individuals at the 2014 Virginia Recreation and Park ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/12/top-state-professional-volunteer-are.html

NOVA Parks (Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) has just taken the next step in becoming a truly high performance agency. It is all about boiling the strategic goals of the organizati...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/10/performance-goals-agency-success.html

I was extremely honored to have had Jean Packard as a friend and mentor for over 20 years. Her reputation as a civic and environmental leader was towering. But in person she was always kind, and ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/10/jean-packards-great-life-of-contribution.html

The City of Alexandria just concluded a survey of 915 residents concerning NOVA Parks. While it is odd that the City Parks and Recreation Department would pay for a survey of parks that they ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/10/alexandria-residents-flock-to-nova-parks.html

Fiscal Year 2014 (July 1 2013 - June 30 2014) was the best year in NOVA Parks 55 year history! Park usage was up about 9% overall topping last year's great numbers. In 1959 the Northern Virgini...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/09/great-park-performance-in-2014.html

"NOVA PARKS - THE BEST OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA THROUGH NATURE, HISTORY, AND GREAT FAMILY EXPERIENCES" This is the new Mission Statement for NOVA Parks (Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority). ...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/09/new-mission-new-look-new-brand.html

Park, Recreation or Tourism organizations have the potential to transform communities, and make the world a better place in numerous way. But this great potential can only be achieved if those or...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/07/high-performance-agencies.html

NOVA Parks, with its reputation for conservation and running world class public sites has attracted land donations for many decades. Counting full ownership donations, partial value donation...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/07/land-donations-for-parkland-leaves.html

Our great partners at the Journey Though Hallowed Ground have launched a remarkable effort. They are working to plant over 600,000 trees along Rt. 15 from Gettysburg to Charlottesville. These tre...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/07/journey-though-hallowed-ground-living.html

Recently new interpretive signs were installed at NOVA Parks land at the end of Wolf Run Shoals Road in the Clifton area of Fairfax County. Jim Lewis with the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable was i...

http://regionalparks.blogspot.com/2014/06/wolf-run-shoals.html