Week 6: Define for DNR, what is 'legacy worthy'.

I think we should help more endangered animals and save more trees every day, I think we should get read of newspapers. Because of everyone's human foot print, we kill hunderds of thousands of trees per year because of the newspapers. It takes about as many tree to cover Manhattan 30 times. Maybe there should be a day or days when newspapers are not being printed that day and no one could buy them either or anything.

I agree that long term spending is where the majority of the funds should be allocated, but short term investment is necessary to give Minnesota’s Legacy Project a boost. To start up a new company, there is a considerable upfront cost.  If participation is a major issue, acquiring land or investing in other long term projects won’t solve it, regardless of how necessary they may be. To build lasting connections while expanding the park service in any respect, the DNR has to reach out in some capacity.

What I would LOVE to see concerning the development of facilities, are green buildings. As green as possible, ones that use new green technology and innovation so that not only are these buildings making the smallest impact, but they rival green buildings of countless organizations and institutions. How awesome would it be if Minnesota was the first state with such a green over hall of its DNR? It would be quite a nice legacy to leave behind. How about giving teens and adults the opportunity to be directly involved with the implementation of each project and the chance to learn about how the green technology works, and include as many people as possible? Show how easy it is to be green, along with making a long term positive impact. If the development was large enough, local media attention could potentially alleviate some of the marketing burden that many people are concerned with.

I can see it now, school fieldtrips and partnerships with local Colleges/Universities up the wazoo. Don’t forget we have to go green eventually; we might as well pave the way! I know many teens and adults care about the environment, and the legacy funds demonstrate that. I can’t think of a better legacy than to over hall the DNR (of all government sectors) to go 100% Green (or as close as possible, kind of like an exponential function).  

Hannah's comments, "if kids are involved in the creation of new facilities and then are brought into the continual growth of the land and area, the goal of getting people to be more involved in the parks and trails and to start to really utilize the resources."

This is a strong recommendation for the Legacy Plan Effort.  This is a similar conversation that I had with many young people during my time with the youth and young adult outreach for this plan. (Click here to see a draft report and share your reactions.)

Engagement is one step and the idea you propose here to implement opportunities for young people in the creation of new facilities and ongoing engagement can also be represented in youth led evaluation of these projects, plans and activities.

I am, quite frankly, in agreement with previous speakers. 

Long-term goals are important, but they become useless if connections between MN citizens and their local or favorite distant parks aren't being made (what good is a legacy if there is no one to carry it on).  Inviting a news crew to do a story about a park event, or showing up to large events such as high school athletic games or scouting events are some possible ways to reach large groups of youth and families quickly, and free events could be a great draw.  In trying to mesh long and short, development projects involving members of a community (of all ages) could help achieve a balance.  Invite people to canoe on the lakes twice a month to help the DNR monitor biodiversity; create a legacy building in a park with a new garden/energy project/green building style project each year done by volunteers, and used to attract events to the park.  When my school goes hiking in the spring, we end with a service project (last year, it was hauling lumber a mile or two up trail for a bridge)- parks can host hike-bike-build events for fun and improvement.  Just my thoughts...

I didn't see the other comments before.

I understand what Peter is saying, that its easy to spend too much money on marketing while forgetting about the product. But without any marketing it's easy for a great product, like the parks and trails, to go unnoticed.  I believe that some money should be spent on marketing but definitely not all of it.

I think that those two things do go together.  It's important that the DNR uses the legacy funds in a way that will have positive effects on the parks and trails in the long run but, at the same time, not enough people are going to the parks right now.  At least some of the money should be aimed at events/projects/etc that can happen now and that will give people a reason to go to the parks and make them want to come back.  

I think it would also be helpful to focus a portion of the funds on advertising.  Not necessarily tv commercials and the like but getting people to notice the parks and trails.  I know a lot of people who don't use the resources that the DNR provides because they don't know they're out there.  

I agree that many teens don't know about the state parks and all they entail. I think some effort needs to go into marketing or the parks won't be used to their full potential. But I do see the point that too much marketing isn't worth it. 

Also, I agree with Hannah about the connection between short and long term. We need some short term benefits, more specifically some that target the teens. Otherwise the long term benefits won't be used by us. If you want people to use the parks that are there in the future, you need to have some draw now AND benefits later that will continue the use. 

I think legacy worthy is something that will have short term benefits to jump start the use and long term benefits to continue it. 

Peter, I also want to be careful to emphasize that teens were not just talking about marketing, but programming and activities as well.

Peter, According to what teens have been saying throughout these forums, the "if you build it they will come" idea isn't necessarily true. They repeatedly have said that they don't know about opportunities available to them. They have also stated that once they do know they do come, and that the opportunities are often great already. The teens have provided many great marketing ideas that are simple and not necessarily costly (one suggested visiting schools and handing out local maps).