July is Park and Recreation Month and a time to celebrate and appreciate all the programs offered and maintained by the employees at your local parks

July is Park and Recreation Month and a great time to salute the people who work hard at your local, state and national parks all year long to create appealing spaces and programs for the public.

According to a recent study by the National Recreation and Parks Association, park workers cover a lot of ground. Literally.

The number of programs offered by local parks and their responsibilities might surprise the average citizen. It should certainly impress them.

The study reports on data obtained from 1,069 park and recreation agencies across the US from 2015 to 2017.

Survey reveals typical workload of parks and rec departments

Here is an overview of what parks

Jump for joy in a park today. It's national Park and Recreation Month 2016

Most people don't think about going to a park for medicinal purposes. But for Park and Recreation Month 2016, perhaps the public should pay attention to a recent study on how parks can actually have a positive effect on a person's mental and physical health.

The study was conducted by The University of Queensland in Australia along with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions. Lead researcher Dr. Danielle Shanahan surveyed more than 1,500 residents of Brisbane, Australia. The city was a perfect location for the research because

A list of park quotes and the beauty of open spaces for the public

This month is Park and Recreation Month, a time to celebrate and appreciate those little patches of green that WE ALL OWN where we can play, take refuge from the noises of the city and just hang out. Here are 15 park quotes we thought you might like.

"When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?" - Ralph Marston "You can't tell a kid that it's time to exercise; that's a turn-off…you have to say, "Let's go to the park and have some fun! Then you get them to do some running, play on the swings, practice on the balance beam, and basically get a full workout disguised as play." - Arnold Schwarzenegger "And I remember going to the record studio and there was a

July is National Park and Recreation month and time to get outdoors

Next month, "Out is In" as July is the 30th Anniversary of Park and Recreation Month. But how often are we "out?" You'd be surprised. The National Park Service conducted a study that has some very interesting findings about how we spend our time outdoors.

The bottom line: as humans, we need to spend more time on a park bench and less time on the couch because with the American lifestyle today - the electronic environment has replaced the natural one.

The National Recreation and Park Association study involved more than 1,000 people from all corners of the country and from different age groups and demographics.

Here are some of their findings:

Time outdoors - daily only about 31% of us spend more than 60 minutes outdoors. Twenty-two percent spend 31-60 minutes outside and 28% spend 11 to 30 minutes. When you take into account the time we use for routine