AWC Municipal Achievement Awards
Submitted by Mayor Liz Loomis (360) 568-8483
Project Statement
The Snohomish Adopt-A-Park program grew out of the City eliminating the use of
chemicals and pesticides in City parks and facilities. To support City staff,
Councilmember Lya Badgley recruits and coordinates more than 40 volunteers –
including three councilmembers and the mayor – to help with park maintenance on a
regular basis.
Project Summary
What it is
Councilmember Lya Badgley started the Snohomish Adopt-A-Park program recruiting
more than 40 volunteers through the media and at the local farmer’s market to help with
maintenance duties in City parks. Volunteers mow, weed, lay mulch and beauty bark, as
well as employ non-toxic methods for managing noxious weeds and eradicating
blackberries. They have painted restrooms, benches and tables, and pick up litter when
needed. Every park in the City except for one has volunteers assigned to help with its
upkeep.
Why it was needed
In 2004 Councilmember Lya Badgley asked the Snohomish City Council to eliminate the
use of chemicals and pesticides in City parks and facilities. She worked for three months
to educate the Council and staff on the importance of implementing such an integrated
pest management program and eventually succeeded in getting support for the
ordinance, which passed in March 2004.
City staff was concerned that the weeds and noxious plants would become overgrown if
they didn’t have enough funding for labor to perform manual extractions. City Council
supported a partial budget increase, but Councilmember Badgley felt more needed to be
done to help support staff. That’s when she started researching Adopt-A-Park programs,
and started recruiting volunteer labor to help staff during the busy growing season as
well as summer months when parks are being used.
How it operates
Councilmember Badgley volunteers to coordinate the entire program, and this deserves
special acknowledgement. Interested volunteers are recruited through the local farmer’s
market and news media. City staff provides Councilmember Badgley with a list of
needed maintenance projects, and she then contacts Adopt-A-Park volunteers to
complete the work in a park of their choosing.
The 2004 program started in the fall with basic maintenance and bedding down certain
plants. The 2005 growing season was kicked off with a “Community Clean Up Day”
where Adopt-A-Park participants and other community members scrubbed our City from
head to toe on a Saturday. The day was broken midway through with a barbecue lunch
for all volunteers. More than 250 hours of volunteer labor were recorded for the day, and
several new Adopt-A-Parkers were signed up for the program.
Staff is also provided with training on how to replace commonly used chemical agents
with non-toxic alternatives. Councilmember Badgley and staff work together to research
appropriate methods to manage weeds and other pests when they don’t have the
answer.
A comprehensive effort also goes into educating the public about what the City is doing
by way of pesticide and chemical-free parks. News releases have been sent to recruit
volunteers last fall. Early this spring a reminder news release was sent to local media
channels to remind residents that City parks and facilities were pesticide free. A final
release was distributed in late spring encouraging local residents to “Run barefoot
through Snohomish parks”.
What it costs
The program is funded primarily with volunteer labor by Councilmember Badgley, and
Adopt-A-Parkers. The City has actually saved about $4,000 by eliminating the need to
purchase certain chemicals. There has been some miscellaneous costs for staff training
($500) and program t-shirts ($300), but that’s about it. Everything else, including the web
site, has been donated.
How it benefits the city/community
The Adopt-A-Park program provides three primary benefits for City residents. First, the
long-term health benefits of reducing one’s exposure to chemicals and other potential
toxins is substantial. Recent studies have shown that seemingly simple over the counter
pesticides can seriously injure the brain development of young children, who are the
most frequent users of the city park system.
Such chemicals do further damage by seeping into groundwater sources or running off
into rivers and lakes and harming fish and the environment.
The Adopt-A-Park program has also created a sense of civic pride. Through their
involvement we see a growing attachment between volunteers and their community, as
well as a better understanding of the cost and labor involved in maintaining parks. We
also help save budget money with all the volunteer time!
Supplemental Documentation
1. Home page of the Adopt-A-Park web site: http:/snoedc.com/adoptapark/index.htm
2. Herald news story “Volunteers Tend to City Parks”, October 14, 2004
3. Seattle Times news story “Adoption program benefits parks”, January 26, 2005
4. Photographs of Adopters on CD
5. Memo from Councilmember Lya Badgley on Adopt-A-Park Update, April 26, 2005
6. News release “Run barefoot through Snohomish city parks”