Bobcat Donates $250,000 to Parks to Promote Sustainability

Bobcat Company has extended five grants, each worth $50,000, to parks across the nation as part of its partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).

In addition to the grant offering, every park and recreation department that applied for the grant — regardless of receiving the grant or not — will receive a new Bobcat zero-turn mower to help them accomplish more for their community spaces.

“Our commitment to positively impactcommunitiesisingrainedin all of us at Bobcat, and we are humbled to give back to these deserving communities in support of this mission,” said Mike Ballweber, president, Doosan Bobcat North America. “By supporting sustainability efforts today, we can offer a better tomorrow to the generations to come.”

Through Bobcat and NRPA’s shared commitment to creating vibrant and sustainable community park and recreation areas, the grant dollars will support various restoration, sustainability, beautification or enhancement activities at these sites.

The grant recipients’ plans include:

• City of Stonecrest in Stonecrest, Ga.: The city of Stonecrest, located east of Atlanta, plans to develop a walking trail at Everett Park. The new trail aims to encourage community residents to engage with the outdoors and attend the park and recreation department’s programs, which include forest therapy programs, bird watching walks, summer camps, fishing and camping opportunities. The local park and recreation team will utilize the grant dollars, plus Bobcat equipment for forest mulching, grading and compacting to support development of this new ADA-compliant trail.

• Davidson County Parks and Recreation in Lexington, N.C.: A pollinatorgardenandboggardenis being developed at a newly created park calledYadkin River Park.The project is being led by the Davidson County Parks and Recreation Department in collaboration with the master gardeners of Davidson County, Catawba College Department of Environment and Sustainability, North Carolina state agencies, town of Spencer and Friends of Rowan County. The gardens will demonstrate the resilience of the native bog plants in North Carolina, and it will also protect the surrounding community from adverse effects like water pollution and flooding. Educational signage will be on display for the public and local educators to use these spaces to teach children as they play at the nearby playgrounds. The agencies will work together to plant, mulch, maintain and teach people how these plants help the environment.

• City of Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y.:The city of Buffalo Parks and Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust are partnering on a 22-acre conservation easement known as Houghton Park. What was once a dumping ground of large broken concrete slabs, bricks and stones, will become an open nature conservation area in a dense urban see BOBCAT page 82