Cashing In on Geocaching

Recently, John Buerkle from our office attended the Pennsylvania Wilds Planning Team 2010 Trails Conference, “Cashing-In on Geocaching,” workshop in Emporium, PA. 

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

 

The workshop focused on how trail groups, businesses, and communities can use geocaching as an economic and community development tool to improve foot traffic to local businesses, raise awareness about trail group activities, and express conservation and stewardship messages to visitors.

Geocaching is another avenue to promote tourism and economic development in conjunction with visitation to your region.  To learn more about geocaching’s potential for your projects, contact John at 412-321-6362, extension 102, jbuerkle@pashekla.com.

To learn more about geocaching, visit www.geocaching.com.

Project Corner: Whitehall Road Regional Park

We are proud to highlight this month’s featured project, Whitehall Road Regional Park Master Plan.  Located in Centre County, near State College, this future regional park is designed with sustainability and accessibility in mind.  The final master plan reflects the following project goals:

• Environment – Conserve and enhance natural conditions and features.
• Community – Respond to conditions and needs of adjacent and regional community.
• Program – Accommodate a logical mix and quantity of park uses.
• Economics – Maximize relationship between cost and benefits to community.
• Identity – Create a dignified and beautiful park space that improves over time.

The 100-acre park has to meet the growing demand for sports fields, while also accommodating those more interested in passive recreation such as walking, picnicking, and gardening.  The master plan includes soccer fields, softball and baseball fields, tennis courts, a football field, a lacrosse field, playgrounds, picnic shelters, walking trails, open space play, a dog park, and community gardens.  The existing site is open with dramatic distant views. The park is organized to respond to these conditions by creating a rectilinear pattern of outdoor rooms that connect directly to the adjacent agricultural context.  Proposed rows of trees extend the existing forest block to provide a pattern for the roads, walkways and athletic fields.  

 

Proposed stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) include rain gardens, permeable paving, vegetated swales, infiltration trenches, vegetated buffer strips, green roofs, and cisterns to name a few. The key is to work with natural ecological processes instead of against them.

Permeable paving and rain gardens reduce the amount of stormwater runoff

Located at the bottom of the hill, this cistern collects extra runoff for use in the community gardens

New Website Promotes Greenways in North Cental PA

As part of the North Central Greenways Plan, the website was designed by Pashek Associates as a tool to assist with the implementation of greenways and trails in the North Central Pennsylvania region. 

The website serves as a as a one-stop shop for organizations, advocates, and municipalities in the North Central Region. It provides the opportunity for trail organizations and other agencies and associations to: post information about current projects and activities; obtain information from the region’s greenway plan; provide trail groups, interested organizations, and citizens with contact information for potential partners; identify potential funding sources; and provide a toolkit of information where visitors can access topics ranging from the economic benefits of trails and non-motorized and motorized trail resources to environmental ethics.

 

Contact us if you are interested to learn more!

 

We are on Facebook!

Check us out on Facebook.  See what we're up to.  Find out about our latest projects and other news.