GRPL CESU: Partnership to Increase Recreation Opportunities and Access- RTCA

Description

A. PROJECT GOAL: The Goal of this Agreement is to provide a conduit between the NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) and the Recipient to streamline an outreach initiative providing technical, planning and design assistance in the Gulf Coast and Great Rivers CESU Regions. Projects may include........For the first project in FY 2020 would be in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the purpose of preparing a Conceptual Master Trails Plan that could act as a Prototype Plan and process for other communities in the region. 1. OBJECTIVE: Financial support allows the Recipient’s faculty and students to engage a community in meaningful work. This agreement will provide financial support to the Recipient’s Department of Landscape Architecture undergraduate program thereby allowing students to work with the RTCA alongside the community to develop a trails plan. The awarded project under this cooperative agreement will engage students in the varied components of trails and active transportation planning while making them aware of their potential to improve communities, and natural and cultural resources. 2. OBJECTIVE: This work would focus on but not be limited to trails, access and connectivity. This assistance will provide trail-related planning that can include system inventory/analysis and layout, best practices research, statewide and regional system analysis, urban/rural connectivity, access area improvements, design standards/guidelines, trails system plans, difficulty ratings, ADA access, project identification and estimated costs. 3. OBJECTIVE: Cultural Resources are a secondary focus. Cultural resource work can support the trail work through identification of natural and cultural resources education/interpretation opportunities expressed through signage, print or digital media. 4. OBJECTIVE: Continue the Recipient’s collaboration with the NPS. To date, the Recipient in partnership with the NPS, has provided to students and faculty cultural resources planning opportunities within and outside of Arkansas. This work includes Arkansas projects: the Buffalo National River, Pea Ridge National Military Park, and Fort Smith National Historic Site and out of state services for Carlsbad Caverns National Park, This work culminated with cultural resource inventory plans, historic documentation and interpretive materials, and iterative design concepts. 5. OBJECTIVE: Engage partners. Additional partners, such as City and County Parks and Conservation Departments and State Parks Departments, are often included as partners to participate in the planning and development phases as well as the long-term management of these outdoor spaces. The Recipient currently manages Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs, AR. Over the past several years, faculty and students have designed and implemented projects at the Garden helping to improve the site’s sustainability and the visitor experience. The Recipient is committed to a continued presence and engagement with Garvan Gardens. The Fay Jones School of Architecture & Design and Department of Landscape Architecture, in collaboration with entities such as the UArk Community Design Center produced several design projects for the City of Hot Springs in student studio settings. As a result, the Recipient maintains positive relationships with the City of Hot Springs. 6. OBJECTIVE: Serve a public purpose. This agreement serves a public purpose by directly enhancing access to and enjoyment of public lands. Broader benefits of better connected and accessible public trail systems within partner communities include stimulating economic development, promoting social interaction, improved personal and public health, promoting productive community engagement, and furthering the understanding, appreciation and conservation of natural and cultural resources. B. RTCA, as a major partner in this project, will work side-by-side with Recipient students, faculty and members of the partner community. The RTCA will work to organize these partnerships, manage the project scoping and oversee all aspects of the projects from beginning to end. RTCA will facilitate public participation, Recipient programming and coordinate partner participation from all parties involved. RTCA will work to guide all aspects of the process to assure positive outcomes and that all requirements of this agreement are met. The public purpose of this project is to provide technical, planning and design services to Hot Springs that may not otherwise have the funding and expertise. This project assistance can move the City of Hot Springs with the Hot Springs National Park to develop a vision, cost plan and cost estimates enabling them to move more quickly to the project funding and construction phases. Without this plan, Hot Springs may not have the ability to secure funding needed to implement the trail system. This would leave them without the ability to maximize the tremendous potential for outdoor recreation that would improve the region’s economic viability and public health. The primary goal is to provide a Conceptual Trails Plan that could help to improve the sustainability and resiliency of the Hot Springs region by developing synergistic relationships between the Recipient, the City of Hot Springs, regional neighbors, and various other local, state and federal natural resource related entities.This agreement with The University of Arkansas (UArk), will allow the NPS to work closely with UArk and their Department of Landscape Architecture to provide these services to Hot Springs. This agreement will streamline project work by having the work agreement in place prior to project start. This agreement will allow UArk the latitude to engage more faculty and students knowing that funding support is already in place.

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