Southeast region. (Regional Reports).

The 2002 Thomas P. Smith Award, sponsored by the Big Bend Chapter of the Florida Water Environment Association, was presented to Michael Murphy, vice president of Hatch Matt Macdonald, an environmental engineering company in Tallahassee, Fla. The award recognizes Murphy's leadership, contribution to the advancement of waste water design, operation and regulations, and his demonstrated willingness to help others solve problems.

In 1999, Mammoth Cave National Park (Ky.) installed a refueling tank in the park for flexible-fuel vehicles. No other Department of the Interior site had done this before. With the help of the Kentucky Corn Growers Association (KCGA), Mammoth Cave installed an ethanol refueling station in the park adjacent to its unleaded and diesel tanks. KCGA provided $5,500 of the necessary $18,800 to purchase and install the tank. The General Services Administration provides vehicles to Mammoth Cave, and the park is switching to bi-fuel vehicles (those able to run on gasoline or ethanol) as old vehicles are retired. So far, 16 of the park's 40-vehicle fleet (vans, sedans, and pickups) operate on E-85. When the tank was installed at the park, discussions already had begun about using biodiesel to fuel park mowers, heavy equipment and the two river ferries. The park's next order of biodiesel fuel will contain low-sulfur diesel. For more information, go to www.nps.gov/maca/home.htm.

In July, four members of the Ocean Rescue Section of the Boca Raton (Fla.) Recreation Service Department attended the International 2002 Clin-Con Basic Life Support Emergency Medical Competition and placed first out of 16 teams. The team comprised Ocean Rescue Supervisor Tim Fry, Ocean Rescue Lieutenant Frank Ganley, Ocean Lifeguard Jack Luka and an alternate, Ocean Rescue Supervisor Clint Tracy. The Ocean Rescue staff has 28 state-certified emergency medical technicians (EMTs). The competition simulates an emergency medical scenario, in which contestants use their EMT skills to assess and provide treatments to the mock patients. In August, 16 staff flew to San Diego to participate in the United States Lifesaving Association's National Championships held on Pacific Beach. In the Division II category (beaches with a staff of 100 personnel or less), Boca Raton placed first out of 29 teams. The operation has an operating budget of $1.8 million and a staff of 21 full-time and 21 part-time ocean lifeguards, six ocean rescue lieutenants, an ocean rescue supervisor, captain, office assistant and one equipment maintenance worker. All employees are year-round, providing beach coverage from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 365 days a year.

Dinwiddie County (Va.) is establishing a trail system that will link historic Civil War battle sites and other landmarks. Starting in 1999, the county has methodically worked on the project, securing grant money, gathering input from residents, and paying consultants to advise and educate about developing the network of trails. When residents were asked to choose between two trail concepts, they opted for neither. Combine the two, they said, and the county took the advice. Dinwiddie is making the transition from totally rural to mostly rural with some elements of suburbia.

Nashville's Mayor Bill Purcell gets it. He's funding $35 million to improve the parks and greenway system in Nashville. The appropriation is the largest in the 101-year history of the city's Parks Department, and part of Purcell's $262 million plan to update Nashville's park system over a 10-year period. The money will support existing maintenance needs, as well as the development of new parks, greenways, athletic activities, cultural activities and recreational programs for a growing population over the next 20 years. A major goal of the plan is to ensure the majority of the population is within a half-mile of a park and two miles of a greenway. This goal will be accomplished by adding 2,200 acres of new parkland and expanding the current greenway system to 200 miles of trails linking parks, neighborhoods and schools. The plan will also create links between parks and local institutions by providing playgrounds at all elementary schools and creating adjacent "community campuses." It also calls for expansion of educational, environmental, teen and cultural programming and five new regional community centers. For information on how to fund park development, go to http://pps.org/topics/funding/.

Fairfax, Va., a city of 6.2 densely packed square miles in the middle of a densely packed county, within the densely packed Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, is embarking on an ambitious program of buying land to preserve its disappearing open space. The purchase of 50 acres scattered around the city is being funded by a property tax increase Fairfax City voters approved two years ago. A 3-cent jump in the city's rate, now at 96 cents per $100 of assessed value, already has raised $1.5 million.

Greer, N.C., hopes to open up to six renovated or new parks in 2003. To lead the way to more facilities and recreation opportunities for its rapidly growing population, Greer has hired NRPA Member Brent Taylor to lead the city's parks and recreation department. Taylor's goals also include restructuring the department "to try to create a more professional growth path for our employees, and gaining national accreditation through NRPA."

Southeast Service Center Larry Zehnder, CPRP Regional Director 25 Cherokee Blvd. Chattanooga, TN 37405 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] [e-mail]