Pictured: Fresh planting at Bensville Park, Charles County, Maryland. Photo courtesy of Resilience Authority of Charles County.
A few months ago, field staff from the Charles County (Maryland) Recreation, Parks and Tourism department walked around a retired baseball field with master naturalists from local nonprofit partner the Resilience Authority of Charles County, enthusiastically learning about the native plant species and sharing their recent encounters with wildlife.
In the past, all park-related maintenance at Bensville Park would be managed directly by field staff and changes to their routines were not well received. But this time, Operations Specialist Elena Gilroy encouraged a few members of their partner nonprofit organization to follow maintenance staff along a walkthrough and listen to their experiences.
The result? Staff had the chance to share what felt frustrating, where they saw opportunities and what changes they had been seeing in the area. Resilience Authority members listened patiently to these experiences and offered a few ideas in return. A positive relationship began to develop and perspectives were quickly shifting.
Over the next few months, they came up with a revitalization plan together for Bensville Park, fully equipped with pollinator meadows, a rain garden and ADA-accessible paths dotted with sensory nodes. They bought native plants together, shared ideas and resources and most importantly, they had fun! Staff who had once been skeptical about projects like field naturalization were suddenly at the table, not just implementing someone else’s plan, but actively involved in shaping it.
“Our parks staff would not have done [this] if it wasn’t for the Resilience Authority.” – Charles County Recreation, Parks and Tourism staff member
The Key to Success
Like many park and recreation agencies, Charles County doesn’t have a horticulturist or sustainability expert on staff to inform where and what to plant or mow. Their success wasn’t about having ample capacity in-house; it was about partnering differently.
Through NRPA’s Sustainability in Practice cohort program, Charles County Recreation, Parks and Tourism partnered with the Resilience Authority of Charles County, a newer nonprofit established to address climate resilience in the area. With regular meeting times embedded into the program, they built a strong, motivated and mutually beneficial partnership:
- Knowledge gaps narrowed: Park staff learned directly from the Resilience Authority team how to support biodiversity in their area, and the Resilience Authority team gained a deeper understanding of the everyday challenges that park staff face with limited capacity and often conflicting priorities.
- Trust was built: Staff felt heard, involved and respected, and feedback from their lived experiences was incorporated into project design.
- Project buy-in skyrocketed: Instead of resistance, there was growing excitement. Staff started sharing their ideas about where to place bioswales or how they might reduce long-term mowing needs through pollinator plantings.
Tangible Results
Any agency can replicate this approach. The key is not just partnering “at the top” but bringing ground staff into conversations early on, making them co-designers of projects, and letting community organizations serve as both trainers and collaborators along the way. This partnership has already produced visible results:
- Bensville Park Transformation – A degraded baseball field and basketball court are being redesigned into a pollinator meadow with sensory nodes, an ADA-accessible path, a rain garden and interpretive signage.
- Nearly $1M in Grants Secured – By writing proposals together, Charles County and the Resilience Authority have unlocked new streams of funding neither could have accessed alone.
- Green Infrastructure at Recreation Centers – Bioswales and stormwater features are being installed to manage runoff and improve habitat.
- Community Gardens and Stormwater Pocket Parks – Projects once considered “out of reach” are now thriving thanks to shared planning and resources.
- Workforce Development – High school students from the Student Conservation Association are planting trees alongside staff, learning about natural resources careers and strengthening the pipeline for the future workforce.
Perhaps most importantly, these kinds of projects are now embraced by the staff members who will be caring for them long after ribbon cuttings.
“I’ve been really excited about how so many of the rec and park staff are really embracing the work that we’re doing… there’s been a lot of enthusiasm for this kind of work and for us working together.” –Resilience Authority of Charles County member
Next Steps: Resources To Get You Started
If you’re inspired by Charles County and ready to garner support for your agency’s environmental initiatives while leaning into strategic partnerships to support the work, NRPA has developed several resources to set you on the right path:
- Training Centers: Curated collections of videos, one-pagers, and articles for NRPA members ready to take first steps in implementing community-driven environmental sustainability.
- Skill Builders: One-hour flexible, interactive online learning modules for NRPA members.
- Tools: Tools to support community and environmental assessments of parks.
These resources are designed to meet you where you are, whether you’re just starting or ready to scale your sustainability work.
Charles County aims to use the revitalization of Bensville Park as a demonstration site for many other collaborative sustainability projects to come, and several others already in progress. Their story is a great example of the inevitable transformation that happens when agencies invite maintenance staff into the conversation early on, equip them with the right partners and information and trust their expertise.
Steph Whyte is a program manager (resilience) for NRPA.