D.C.: urban land activist dies at 64.

Michael P. Rogers, 64, who was instrumental in the development of the federal Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR), passed away Jan. 21. He was a long-time National Recreation and Park Association member.

Roger's 30-year federal career began in 1966 with the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation's Lake Central Regional office in Ann Arbor; Mich. After transferring to Washington, D.C., he continued his career in parks and recreation at the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service (HCRS), and in the National Park Service grants division when then Interior Secretary James Watt abolished HCRS, In 1985 he was assigned to the President's Commission on America's Outdoors where he contributed to important national policy research and decisions. Rogers also served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

In retirement, he donated time and counsel to the National Park Service urban park grants staff, and served on the UPARR program grant selection panel in 2000. He also aided NRPA's division of public policy in policy research, issue analysis and writing.

Rogers will be remembered as a dedicated and passionate parks and recreation professional. "No one ever served the American people with greater purpose and dedication than Mike Rogers," says Barry Tindall, NRPA policy director. "He put his heart and soul into the conservation of American cities and to public access to their recreation resources."

Contributions may be made in his name to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis, Md., or to the National Wildlife Federation in Reston, Va.