P & R THIS MONTH.

"For decades, developers and urban planners struggling to meet the demand for city expansion have dashed with environmentalists desperate to protect America's dwindling natural resources," reported Policy.com, an online source of policy news and information. "Recent years have brought increased cooperation between the two groups as they attempt to reconcile conflicting demands for land development and environmental preservation."

Ah, yes ... the dreaded urban sprawl. As America's expanding urban centers constantly require more room to stretch their legs, our natural environment continues to suffer. Parks, open-space systems, and trails are sacrificed in the name of development, all the while robbing citizens of the right to recreate and enjoy life outdoors. Through partnerships, education, and awareness, professionals, concerned citizens, and industry leaders can mount a formidable charge to combat the advancing sprawl and protect and preserve our natural areas for future generations.

Festivals and fishing clinics, rowing classes and regattas. The rebirth of recreational activity and reintroduction of the public to the Connecticut River's waterfront in and around Hartford is due to one thing: partnership. Last January, after 17 years under an informal arrangement, nonprofit group Riverfront Recapture was assigned management responsibility for the riverfront parks in the city of Hartford and town of East Hartford. A separate agreement made the Metropolitan District Commission, which provides water and sewer services for Hartford and its suburbs, responsible for maintaining the parks. Acting on behalf of the municipalities, Riverfront Recapture has raised some 842 million to design and build a network of riverfront parks and public recreational facilities along the river's edge. Joseph R. Marfuggi, Riverfront Recapture president and CEO, and Rick Porth, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, explain to P&R readers how the project has made waterfront recreation available to urban residents and set the stage for economic development on land adjacent to the parks. "It's what the public-private partners who created Riverfront Recapture envisioned when they launched this ambitious effort in 1981," said Marfuggi.

If paper, plastic, aluminum, cardboard, and glass can be recycled, why not recycle the landfill itself, asks Gaylan A. Rasmussen, MLA, a professor in the Department of Park, Recreation and Tourism Resources at Michigan State University. Rasmussen, who has spent the past 21 years with the MSU Cooperative Extension Services, poses an interesting point. A reclaimed landfill, fitted properly, can provide a site that may help meet community recreation needs at an affordable cost. The alternative? A 1995 study reported 12,000 active landfills in the United States.

Cities, counties, and states across the nation are experiencing a similar problem: how to provide and integrate trail systems and open-space areas locally and regionally. Master trail chef Steve Fiala, who spends his time acquiring and developing new trails and additions to fulfill the East Bay (Calif.) Regional Park District's Master Plan for Regional Trails, said that it's all a matter of following a simple recipe.

Fiala's list of basic ingredients, which includes planning, funding, and development, and important seasonings virtually guarantee a masterpiece for any interested district. The East Bay's regional trail system helps to link the 32 cities and two counties with the parks that serve them, while providing recreation and transportation benefits along its length. Sounds scrumptious to us. We encourage readers to dig in.

And finally, as public funding has decreased drastically, professionals have been forced to develop alternative tools for land acquisition and preservation. Dirk Richwine, director of parks and recreation for the city of Brighton, Colorado, has personally faced this situation ... and overcome it. Under his guidance, the Brighton Parks and Recreation Department, which serves a community of some 20,000 citizens, has relied upon a number of innovative land acquisition techniques to secure and develop park and open-space land for its system. Richwine's strategies have led to the acquisition of more than 150 acres of parkland for his community.