July is National Park & Recreation Month

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For 15 years, the TurfMutt Foundation has advocated for the care and use of parks, yards and other green spaces. Neighborhood parks are community connectors, and they offer a place for city dwellers and those without their own at-home green spaces to practice the art of backyarding – taking every day activities typically done inside, outside.

"Mulligan the TurfMutt and I love spending time in our community park where we can meet up with our neighbors, connect with nature, and visit the dog park for some off-leash fun," said Kris Kiser, President & CEO of the TurfMutt Foundation. "The benefits of green space are undeniable, and it starts in our own parks and backyards." 

In celebration of National Park & Recreation Month, the TurfMutt Foundation shares these "superpowers" of parks:

Promotes Physical Health
Access to neighborhood parks and green space is linked to higher activity levels in children in Norway. Researchers also found that people living near green spaces, including parks or forests, age slower than those in dense urban environments. Visits to parks, community gardens, and other urban green spaces may lower city dwellers' use of prescription drugs for anxiety, insomnia, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma. Children aged four to six living near parks, gardens, or fields have increased bone density, according to a study conducted in Belgium.

Boosts Mental Well-being
A study of more than 8,000-middle aged and older adults in China concluded that the greenness and proportion of public parks was related to a reduced risk of loneliness. People who visited urban parks for just 21 minutes showed a reduction in cortisol (stress hormone) levels and reported increased overall well-being. Mental health and youth development programs held at parks in Florida for at-risk youth were shown to have the potential to prevent violence among the kids. A longitudinal study of a park prescription program for low-income families found that increased visits to neighborhood parks significantly increased children's resilience while decreasing their stress levels.

Creates Wildlife Corridors
Community parks combine with the green space in our backyards and other verdant community areas to create wildlife corridors that link together fragmented habitats. Urban parks can also increase biodiversity. For instance, researchers found that birds rely on both public parks and private backyards in different seasons and for different reasons. Parks had a higher biodiversity in the summer and housed more ecologically rare species. Backyards had a higher bird abundance in the winter, as well as more urban-tolerant species and more resident generalist species.

Cools Heat Islands
Surrey's Global Center for Clean Air Research in the UK quantified the effect of green space on cooling urban areas. According to research: botanic gardens are 41 degrees cooler than their surroundings, green walls are 39 degrees cooler, parks are 38 degrees cooler and playgrounds are 37 degrees cooler. The bigger the green space, the bigger the benefits, and linked green spaces compound the cooling effects. Large parks or tracts of urban trees can cool daytime summer temperatures by about 10 degrees. Shaded ground can be up to 36 degrees cooler than unshaded ground.

To learn more about the many benefits of the green space around us, download the TurfMutt Foundation's International Backyarding Fact Book here.

For more, sign up for Mutt Mail, a monthly e-newsletter with backyarding tips and all the news from the TurfMutt Foundation here. To learn more about creating the yard of your dreams, visit TurfMutt.com. Look for Mulligan the TurfMutt on the CBS Lucky Dog television show on Saturday mornings.

Media contact
Debbi Mayster, Four Leaf PR on behalf of the TurfMutt Foundation, 240-988-6243, debbi@fourleafpr.com

About TurfMutt
TurfMutt, which is celebrating its 15^th anniversary in 2024, was created by the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute's (OPEI) TurfMutt Foundation and has reached more than 70 million children, educators and families since 2009. Championed by Foundation spokesdog, Mulligan the TurfMutt, and through education partners such as Weekly Reader, Discovery Education and Scholastic, TurfMutt has taught students and teachers how to "save the planet, one yard at a time." Today, TurfMutt is an official USGBC^® Education Partner and part of their global LEARNING LAB. TurfMutt has been an education resource at the U.S. Department of Education's Green Ribbon Schools, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Green Apple, the Center for Green Schools, the Outdoors Alliance for Kids, the National Energy Education Development (NEED) project, Climate Change Live, Petfinder and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 2017, the TurfMutt animated video series won the coveted Cynopsis Kids Imagination Award for Best Interstitial Series. TurfMutt's personal, home habitat was featured in the 2017-2020 Wildlife Habitat Council calendars. More information at www.TurfMutt.com.

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SOURCE TurfMutt Foundation