Letter to the editor.

I just finished reading NRPA Perspectives in the January 2002 edition of Parks & Recreation' magazine. The article, "ORRRC and Homeland Security", by Executive Director T. Destry Jarvis is great! It's the best message from NRPA leadership in the 30 years I have been a member, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Mr. Jarvis reminds us that this is the 40th anniversary of "Recreation for America," the Report to Congress of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission (ORRRC). He states, "In my mind, it is the single most important recreation study of the 20th Century, because of its tangible results." This would have brought a resounding endorsement from the late Dr. J. R. "Shocky" Needy, who was a beloved professor and head of the Recreation and Park Department at California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Needy not only helped prepare the report, he was one of its strongest advocates. You could never get through any of Shocky's classes without being acutely aware of ORRRC.

Mr. Jarvis offers a compelling call for Americans to "fight just as hard to maintain the quality of life that we enjoy through the natural, cultural and recreational environment around us, as we will to ensure our personal safety, our energy supply, or the human rights of the citizens of other countries around the world." NRPA members and all of those with whom we interact should take up this challenge, use it as our mantra, even consider it a Declaration of Dependence. For we are all dependent upon each other for inspiration, and those we serve are dependent upon us for leadership in this struggle. Moreover, the preservation of our natural resources and the enhancement of our quality of life are dependent upon our collective efforts in informing, enlightening and motivating the public to positive action in making the vision a reality.

A majority of our population is acutely aware of the ecological Armageddon that future generations will be facing unless we take appropriate action immediately. There is a common tendency towards separating knowledge and a feeling for the knowledge that we possess.

Those of us in the field of parks and recreation have, or should have, the knowledge of the importance of enhancing our quality of life and preserving our precious resources; but, we seem to be lacking the feeling or conviction to ignite public opinion in a manner that would influence the direction that our nation is taking in these matters.

The poet, Archibald MacLeish, stated profoundly: "We do not feel our knowledge. Nothing could better illustrate the flaw at the heart of our civilization ... knowledge without feeling is not knowledge and can lead only to public irresponsibility and indifference, and conceivably to ruin ... when the fact is disassociated from the feel of the fact in the minds of an entire people -- in the common mind of a civilization -- that people, that civilization, is in danger."

We have an obligation, greater than any of our predecessors, to respond aggressively and effectively to Mr. Jarvis' admonition in his closing statement that we "have a responsibility to present and future generations to actively work to assure that our legacy of local, state, and national parks, public lands and recreation sites all across America receive as active and diligent a defense network as does our Nation as a whole."

Chuck Davis
Mission Oaks Recreation
and Park District
Carmichael, Ca.