July is Parks and Rec Month Part 2: Park Professionals

Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Since 1985, America has celebrated July as Parks and Recreation Month to highlight local parks and recreation facilities, as well as the professionals who work there. Today, we spotlight the people we can thank for working locally for our various park systems.
Monticello Parks
Our county seat, Monticello, offers many park areas for residents to enjoy. City of Monticello Public Works Director J.C. Atkinson oversees the upkeep of these parks, including the Monticello Ecological Park on Water Street, the Chase Street Park/Clifford Brown Park, the Monticello Bike Trail and the Jordan Memorial Park on Pearl Street. City employees who form work crews to maintain the parks include Street Superintendent Rico Watkins, James Randall, Henry Wilson, Kelvin Homes and Jack Lacey, who takes inmate crews from Jefferson Correctional Institute to perform some park maintenance work as well. City parks require regular mowing, weeding, trash pick-up and maintenance of access areas.
Atkinson comments that the parks “give the community somewhere to go to have fun with friends and family, to get out of the house and enjoy themselves.”
Next time you're on an outing to one of our city parks, you'll have Atkinson and his crews to thank for that opportunity.

Boots Thomas Veterans Memorial Park
Monticello is home to a special park dedicated to Ernest “Boots” Thomas, who on Feb. 23, 1945, led his Marine brothers-in-arms to raise the first American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan. A different kind of professional group came together to develop this park and maintain it over the years.
Historian Dr. James Sledge explains that Pat Smith first had the idea of making such a park. Smith, who in 1979 was executive director of the Monticello-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, dedicated the 28th Watermelon Festival to Boots Thomas as a way to bring attention to his story. This helped build momentum for the funding necessary to create the monument. A triangle of land on West Washington Street was donated by Mahan Nurseries, and the eight-foot-high relief sculpture was erected, depicting the flag-raising with a bronze plaque at its base recording the history of the event. On February 22, 1981, the Boots Thomas Veterans Memorial Park was officially dedicated, with government representatives joining members of Boots Thomas's platoon for the ceremony.
Over the years since then, Dr. Sledge has been the primary person who lovingly tended the memorial. Eventually, the land was deeded to the City of Monticello, and now city crews help with the maintenance of the park property, along with volunteers like Dr. Sledge's son Morry Sledge and Bill Snyder. In 2007, a Commemorative Bricks program began, and now more than 400 bricks have been laid around the base of the sculpture to recognize veterans, living and past, who have served in the U.S. military. Lt Cdr, USN (Ret) Troy Avera, president of the Boots Thomas Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, coordinates the Commemorative Bricks program and organizes special ceremonies at the park.

Jefferson County Parks
For the parks operated by our Jefferson County government, we have Mike Holm to thank for his 14 years of service. As head of the Jefferson County Recreation Department, he administers all recreation programs and oversees the maintenance of all public recreational facilities in Jefferson County, including Hall Park on Hall Road in Lloyd and the Jefferson Recreation Park on Mamie Scott Drive in Monticello.
Holm has loved playing sports since he was nine years old and has been coaching since he was 18. He feels strongly that getting youth involved in sports at a young age will help them succeed in many other areas throughout their life. For this reason, he has put a lot of effort into providing a comprehensive sports program for the youth in our county, including Soccer, Spring Ball (T-Ball, Machine Pitch, Little League and Babe Ruth League), Flag Football, Adult Men's Softball and Adult Co-Ed Softball teams. Running these sports programs involves handling the registration, securing team sponsors, ordering uniforms, scheduling practices, scheduling the games, sometimes mediating between parents and coaches or umpires, and lining up community groups to provide refreshments in the new concession stand. Holm acknowledges that his days can get a bit long a few times a week, but it's worth it.
“I've always enjoyed seeing kids playing – on the playground or on the field,” says Holm. “You have to give kids something to do, something productive rather than destructive. It's rewarding seeing kids grow up through the programs and go on into high school and college sports.”
Beyond managing the sports program, Holm sees to the parks' maintenance. He often takes care of necessary repairs personally, such as plumbing, rebuilding dugouts, addressing woodrot and caring for the ballfields. He also has two full-time staff assistants, Jeffrey Prevatt and Chandra Tucker, who keep all those acres of grass mowed as well as do trimming, weeding, trash pick-up, pressure-washing, painting and more!
There have been many recent improvements to the county parks, but Holm has the vision for even more. Be on the lookout for upgrades to the basketball courts, a new soccer field and lights at the tennis courts.

Florida State Parks
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) manages our Florida State Parks system, including two state parks in Jefferson County, the Letchworth-Love Archaeological State Park and the Econfina River State Park. Park Manager Lance Kelly oversees these two local state parks along with the other eight state parks in the Tallahassee—St. Marks Geo Parks group. Kelly became involved in the park service nine years ago because he wanted to serve the people of Florida by protecting valuable resources and providing outdoor recreational opportunities.
“I enjoy connecting people to nature,” says Kelly. “I’m passionate about parks, and a rewarding part of my job is the ability to interpret valuable natural and cultural resources to park visitors. I get to work outside with people who are equally passionate for the parks and the outdoors. I get to teach about Florida’s ecosystems to a receptive audience.”
The job of managing natural resources also includes some challenging aspects, including the complexities of using prescribed fire and dealing with invasive plant species. He's also in charge of facility and infrastructure maintenance, including groundskeeping and litter removal, which are important to ensure that visitors enjoy their time in the parks.
“I also get to interpret cultural resources,” Kelly adds, “educating visitors of the importance of Florida’s previous inhabitants and the valuable lessons we can learn from them. The mission of the Florida Park Service is to provide resource-based recreation while preserving, interpreting and restoring natural and cultural resources. I take pride in knowing my efforts to carry out this mission will allow others to enjoy these wonderful resources for generations.”
In his work, Kelly is assisted by a large and diverse staff: George Royal, Michael Gee, Randy Rabon, Leeanne Chandler, Jessie Burch, Billy Harrison, Brian Keefer, Ricky Lewis, Evan Martin, Mark Stevenson, Malyce Collins and Jeff Johnson. They all make important contributions to accomplish the needs of park operations, so that visitors every day can make memories that will last a lifetime in Florida State Parks.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)
FWC oversees the Aucilla Wildlife Management Area, which lies between State Road 59 and the Aucilla River in southern Jefferson County. This area offers incredible recreational opportunities for hunters, anglers, paddlers, bikers, birders, boaters and hikers. Biologist Morgan Wilbur supervises an FWC team of four people and joins them in handling a wide range of responsibilities in the Aucilla area. The team includes Biologist Joe Davis of Monticello, Biologist Amanda Smith, Technician Steve Lafreniere of Wacissa and Technician Jeremy Nix of Jefferson County.
Davis, who has worked for FWC for more than 15 years, explains that every wildlife management area (WMA) under FWC is different. Managing the Aucilla WMA includes not only species management but also restoring land from pulpwood pine plantations back to naturally diverse woodlands; monitoring and protecting unique, nonrenewable cultural resources such as archaeological sites; maintaining roads through the area; and coordinating work across the boundaries with other nearby protected lands to monitor water quality and habitat.
“Jefferson County is a really special place,” says Davis, “in its history and people, its farming and outdoor way of life. I'm glad that we can keep that old Florida going in these management areas. The more land you can put in the public domain, the better.”
Habitat management activities undertaken by the team include removing exotic species, thinning timber, conducting prescribed burns, replanting native species like longleaf pines and conducting wildlife surveys. All this work contributes to the overall health of the ecosystem, which makes the area attractive to its various types of visitors. Unlike state parks, the Aucilla WMA has no visitor center, nor are rangers present to assist, although the law enforcement arm of FWC does perform routine patrols. The management team for the Aucilla WMA has no field office, just an equipment compound, and they work primarily from their trucks. This suits Davis just fine.
“I'm not stuck in an office all the time,” he says. “It's great to see the improvements on the property that will hopefully last down through the generations.”
He and his team are understandably proud to be a part of creating increased opportunities for the preservation of all species, for the continuation of the sport of hunting with dogs and for protecting sensitive archaeological sites.
As Parks and Recreation Month winds down, county residents can look forward to summer heat giving way to fall – one of the best times of year to enjoy these local resources. Next time we venture out our local parks or recreation areas, we can be thankful not only for the place itself but also for the people behind the scenes who work hard to protect, maintain and improve them for our use.