2007 Park Maintenance Service Level Gap Analysis

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Assumptions Made: • Only two RMPs have been completed for COE natural areas. One in upland forested habitat and one in prairie habitat. • Roughly 70% of COE natural areas are upland forested habitat and better represented by the upland forest RMP. Roughly 30% of the COE natural areas are prairie habitats and better represented by the prairie RMP. Thus, the analysis weighted the RMP estimates accordingly. • We selected mowing and trail maintenance as surrogates to estimate the total work we should be doing. These two tasks are important to the public both from natural resource perspectives as well as aesthetic perspectives. • Estimates do not include any time for planning, supervising, enforcement or administration. • Open waterway management is another substantial component of the NRM program but is not evaluated in this estimate as neither RMP utilized adequately captured the essential components of this program. Summary: With our current land inventory we have less than half the staff we need to adequately steward the natural areas under our purview. Thus, many tasks, such as invasive species management, are not being accomplished. As a result our natural areas are slowly degrading overall. This is consistent with our observations as the only areas that appear to be improving are areas where a significant capital investment has been made, such as wetland mitigation sites or grant funded restoration projects. Similarly, these estimates do not include supervision, planning, enforcement, administration or open waterway management. Thus, the estimated gap probably underestimates the actual gap. Similarly, it does not account for future increases in land inventory. CONCLUSIONS Through the estimating methodology outlined above, we have determined that a gap currently exists between the maintenance resources available and the system assets for both the Parks Operations Section and the Natural Resource Section. Currently, the core services expected by the public are being met at the expense of many other tasks that are not being accomplished. The tasks that are not being accomplished are not readily noticed by the public, but result in a slow degradation of the assets. For example, tasks such as fertilization, weed control, and invasive species management are not being accomplished. Our estimate does not account for future asset growth, nor is it a comprehensive and precise measurement of the gap. The estimate does show that a gap exists to an extent that is causing asset degradation. A more intensive evaluation could be done to help refine the value of the gap that exists. Additionally, the analysis could be extended to include all areas of our Division operations. This committee completed this estimate and fulfilled the assignment it was charged with completing.