Olmsted Parks - Restore. Enhance. Preserve.

 

Fall 2006

Current project spending tops $1.5 million

Avidly pursuing our mission to restore, enhance and preserve, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy is working to complete eight major projects this year. Completed so far in 2006 are a variety of park plans and improvements in which we've invested $1,575,500 in private dollars. And we are just getting started on a number of multi-year projects that represent a $5.5 million dollar investment.

None of this would be possible without ongoing contributions to the Olmsted Parks Conservancy from individuals, foundations, corporations, and Federal grants. From this strong and vigorous platform of support, we are able to fund an incredible array of projects that fulfill Olmsted's vision for our great park system.

Take a quick look at our project list and see how every donation is making a big difference!

Shelby Park
Project: Phase I Park Improvements
Description: Carry out priority master plan improvements, including new bandstand, paths, traffic controls, sports courts, restroom and shelter renovations, lighting, benches, trash receptacles, and tree plantings.
Conservancy Investment: $170,000
Completion Date: December 2006

Willow Park
Project: Restroom Facilities
Description: Build new four-unit restrooms that are accessible and that meet Olmsted design standards.
Conservancy Investment: $80,000
Completed: June 2006

Iroquois Park
Project: Sunnyhill Improvements
Description: Innovative universal playground with spray features; new restroom building; historic shelter restoration; new paths, parking and landscape plantings.
Conservancy Investment: $850,000 (includes $200,000 federal grant)
Completion Date: June 2007

Seneca Park
Project: Multi-use Path
Description: Construct path for pedestrians and bicycles from
Taylorsville Road to Beargrass
Creek; design scenic landscape plantings; and locate benches and other amenities.
Conservancy Investment: $56,500
Completion Date: November 2006

Shawnee Park
Project: Rest Shelter
Description: Restore historic rest shelter at the edge of the Great
Lawn; create site plan for new entry drive and parking, new restroom building, and playground in surrounding Picnic Grove.
Conservancy Investment: $350,000
Completion Date: December 2007

Algonquin Park
Project: Create a Master Plan
Description: A blueprint for long-term improvements to this
1928 park, including a new family activity pool, walking track, and playground.
Conservancy Investment: $15,000
Completion Date: October 2006

Central Park
Project: Create a Master Plan
Description: A blueprint for long term improvements to this 1904 park, including tennis courts, perimeter plantings and ornamental fence, and amphitheater renovation.
Conservancy Investment: $34,000
Completed: July 2006

Cherokee Park
Project: Big Rock Playground
Description: "Landscape" playground and equipment, including climbing rock, drinking fountain and lighting.
Conservancy Investment: $50,000
Completion Date: October 2006

Federal Grants
In addition to other projects, the
Olmsted Parks Conservancy has received seven federal grants totaling more than $5 million dollars.
These projects include scientific research, engineering studies, and construction improvements that will take place over several years. One important goal is to establish "Best Management Practices" and advance knowledge, to the benefit of public properties and park managers nationwide.
The projects are:
  • Beargrass Creek in Cherokee and Seneca Parks
  • Central Park Pergola Restoration
  • Chickasaw Riverbank Access and Erosion
  • Historic Bridges Restoration Study
  • Iroquois Overlook Trail
  • Ponds Restoration in Iroquois and Cherokee Parks
  • Woodland Restoration in Cherokee and Seneca Parks


Restore. Enhance. Preserve.
Thank you for helping us fulfill our mission.

2006 Frederick Law Olmsted Award recipients

The Board of Trustees of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy has voted to give the 2006 Frederick Law Olmsted Award for Outstanding Leadership to Dan Jones, Chairman of 21st Century Parks and David Jones, Sr., treasurer of the organization that is leading the effort to build Louisville's new generation of parks in the "Olmsted tradition."

The selection of Dan and his father David Jones, Sr. is in recognition of their vision and their efforts to build a 27-mile stretch of parks and trails along the Floyd's Fork corridor running from Shelbyville Road to Bardstown Road. The Jones have already raised over $20 million in local donations for land acquisition and $32 million in Federal grants for construction of at least three major parks which will be connected by approximately 27 miles of trails for biking and hiking.

The project is scheduled for completion by 2010. The Trustees of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy were unanimous in their view that this new park initiative was a clear extension of Frederick Law Olmsted's legacy when he created Louisville's first major parks, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Iroquois in the early years of the 1900's. "Dan Jones and David Jones, Sr. are modern day examples of strong civic leadership that was so vital to the creation of the original Olmsted Parks that have given our home town the reputation as a 'City of Parks' around the country" said Bill Juckett, Chairperson of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy.

It is the mission of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy to restore, enhance, and preserve Louisville's 18 historic Olmsted parks and 6 parkways and to "extend this legacy throughout Metro Louisville." As such, the effort by Dan and David Jones is the basis of their receipt of the Frederick Law Olmsted Award for 2006. The award will be presented October 28 at the annual Halloween Ball.


Carnevale of Venice

The eighth annual Halloween Ball is just around the corner. Grab your mask and join us for Carnevale of Venice. In the spirit of the evening, guests will arrive disguised. The evening will sparkle with enchanting costumes, sumptuous food and drink, unexpected prizes and talented artists performing for your amusement. Saturday, October 28 with dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. Call the Olmsted Parks Conservancy office at 456-8125 or email at info@olmstedparks.org for more information.

 

Park Champions program blooms

The Park Champions volunteer program this past year has grown tremendously under the leadership of the Olmsted Park Conservancy's Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, Sarah Wolff. Her efforts have increased the Park Champions volunteer base, expanded the volunteer effort in more parks, and diversified the volunteer activities. In doing so, volunteers are making an even bigger impact on the health and beauty of our Olmsted Parks.

Beyond the efforts to increase individual volunteers, Sarah has fostered the Park Champions program with such groups as the Boy Scouts, Governor's Scholars Program, and other school groups looking to fulfill volunteer requirements.

Over the last year Sarah has also focused on developing the volunteer base for the Woodlands Restoration Project in Cherokee and Seneca Parks. The project demands consistent commitment from volunteers in order for the restoration to be successful. Therefore, Sarah has increased interest in the Parks Adoption Program. This program is designed for school groups, community groups, neighbors and families willing to make a long-term commitment to focus on one area of the park.

"The impact of Sarah's efforts to recruit groups for the Parks Adoption Program has been tremendous. We've seen our adoption numbers double since she's been involved," said Alan Nations, Conservancy Naturalist. Groups currently participating in the Parks Adoption Program include the Wild Ones, native landscapers, the Kentucky Mountain Bike Association, Assumption High School Environmental Club, DuPont Manual High School Environmental Club, St. Xavier High School, Seneca Gardens Neighborhood Association, Tyler Park Neighborhood Association, and our first adoption agreement with an individual, park neighbor Mike Spoelker.

Under the supervision of Alan Nations, Sarah trains volunteers in such skills as how to properly root out invasive plants, rebuild trails, and restore native plants. And recently, Sarah and Alan worked with over 80 volunteers from E.ON U.S. to remove invasive plants, pull weeds and mulch areas in Shawnee and Seneca parks. If you are interested in becoming a Park Champion or getting your group involved in the Parks Adoption Program, please contact Sarah Wolff at sarah.wolff@olmstedparks.org or call 456-8125 for more information.

An herbarium for Olmsted Parks Conservancy

As part of the plant inventory project currently underway in Cherokee and Seneca Parks, the Olmsted Parks Conservancy has just purchased its first herbarium case. This small step marks the beginning of a permanent repository for plants collected throughout our Olmsted Parks Conservancy, now and for years to come.

What is an herbarium? An herbarium is a collection of preserved plants, and an essential research tool. These "herbarium specimens" have been collected in the field, then pressed, dried, labeled, and mounted on a sheet of high quality paper, and filed in compartmentalized metal cases for storage. Properly cared for, these specimens may last for hundreds of years and be used for reference or study by botanists, land managers, naturalists, researchers, and others. The aim is to accumulate in one place all possible information about the plants of a given area - in our case, Louisville's Olmsted Parks.

The value of an herbarium specimen is that it never "lies." Even if it has been incorrectly named by the collector, it is still proof that a particular plant grew in a particular place at a particular point intimae. It is a repository of "original documents" upon which all our knowledge of floras, past and present, rests. Herbarium specimens are invaluable for documenting pristine floras of "by-gone" days. They also document the present...soon to be the past.

In 1937-1941, Mabel Slack, an Atherton High School teacher, undertook a floristic survey of Cherokee
Park for her Master's thesis at Cornell University. During this time, she collected 1,100 herbarium specimens that were housed in her personal collection. Today we are using her study to help locate present-day flora in Cherokee Park.

The formation of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy Herbarium is exciting, progressive, and timely. It is an important fixture that will benefit several programs and projects, providing:

  • Crucial data to the Woodlands Restoration Project managed by Alan Nations, Naturalist for the Olmsted Parks Conservancy
  • Offer hands-on teaching material for plant identification classes held at the Olmsted Parks Conservancy Center and elsewhere
  • Supply floristic data to the Atlas of Kentucky Plants, compiled by Dr. Julian Campbell, botanist, The Nature Conservancy and Atlas of the Woody Plants of Kentucky, by Dr. Ross Clark, botanist, Eastern Kentucky University (now Woodlands Restoration advisor to the Conservancy) both in progress
  • A basis of comparison between the 1941 botanical inventory of Cherokee Park and the current inventory, illustrating the changes in species composition over time
  • Support scientific and popular publications on the plants of Cherokee and Seneca Parks


The Olmsted Parks Conservancy Herbarium collection is small but growing daily. About 600 specimens have been collected in the past year; 338 have been labeled, mounted and filed and another 260 are waiting processing. This collection will become a recognized botanical resource for the citizens of this community and beyond.
Patricia Dalton Haragan, Botanist


1923 bridge damaged

On the evening of June 13, one of our most treasured bridges in Cherokee Park was damaged by vandals. The motive is unknown and unfortunately so are the perpetrators.

Cherokee bridge #4, known as the Alvin T. Hert Memorial Bridge was built in 1923 to honor a local businessman and civic leader. Although the bridge is structurally safe it will cost approximately $250,000 to repair the broken spindles and capstones.

With help from CrimeStoppers and the Olmsted Park Conservancy a $6,000 reward has been posted. "It's hard to fathom how someone could do this," said Bill Juckett, Olmsted Parks Conservancy Chairperson.

"It's a shame to think that the time and money Metro Parks will spend repairing this bridge could come at the expense of playground improvements or tennis court resurfacing."
 
We ask that anyone with information about the damage to bridge #4 be reported to Louisville Metro Police Department at 502-574-LMPD or 456-8125.