Parks And Recreation Seeks Volunteers For FMRP Turf Working Group In Missoula City

Press release from the City of Missoula:

January 15, 2021

Local sports players, coaches and organizers are invited to apply for a new working group that will discuss data-driven approaches to turf management at Fort Missoula Regional Park.

The goal of the working group is to facilitate communication and develop shared objectives between those who use and maintain FMRP’s multipurpose fields, including coaches, players, athletic directors, and Parks professionals.

Parks and Recreation has contracted with PRZ Consulting, a national leader in sports turf design and maintenance, to perform a customized scientific turf analysis on FMRP natural turf fields. The Turf Working Group will review the expert results, apply mutually agreed upon goals and priorities, and make recommendations to the Missoula Parks and Recreation Board regarding scheduling, maintenance and management of the fields.

Working group members will also consider turf traffic management strategies like rotating areas of play to allow for better turf recovery, finding alternate areas for some practices to preserve FMRP turf for competition, and restricting field use during times when damage to turf is more likely to occur.

Online applications will be accepted through Monday, February 1. The Missoula Park Board will review applications and select group members at its February 8 meeting. Working Group members should plan to meet at least 4 times for work sessions of 2-3 hours, plus shorter follow-up meetings or open-house type formats over the next year. The first working group meeting is set for Wednesday, February 24, 6 p.m., at FMRP Headquarters. The bulk of the work will occur from March through mid-June.

This press release was produced by the City of Missoula. The views expressed here are the author’s own.