New county parks director comes from top post at U.S. Forest Service New county parks director comes from top post at U.S. Forest Service (August 17, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

David Holland seems to be adjusting enthusiastically from being a top federal officer in the national Forest Service in Washington, D.C., to heading the parks and recreation department in San Mateo county.

"I want to be part of a community," he says in an interview on the eighth day of his new job as director of parks and recreation for San Mateo County. "I want to be able to accomplish something on the ground where you can see it."

A huge fan of volunteers, Mr. Holland plunged in on his first Saturday. He spent most of the day at the top of Edgewood Road, waving a sign to warn almost 3,000 bicyclists in the Tour de Peninsula to slow down for the long hill into Redwood City.

"It was great," says Julia Bott, executive director of the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Foundation, which supports county parks and benefits from the annual bike event. "He has a lot of good experience; he has a lot of good ideas, and he wants to listen first."

Mr. Holland brings extraordinary experience to the job of managing San Mateo County's 15,680 acres of parks in 16 park units, from Flood to Pescadero, plus nine trails.

For the last three years, Mr. Holland has served as director of recreation, heritage and wilderness resources for the USDA Forest Service. There he dealt with issues ranging from archaeology and pot farms, to off-road vehicles and wilderness protection, for the whole country.

A native of New York and New Jersey, Mr. Holland graduated with a degree in zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University. He began his 34 years with the Forest Service as a forest entomologist, specializing in bark beetles.

During his climb up the agency ladder, he worked in most parts of the country, dealt with all kinds of people, and participated in international efforts with China, Canada, Nicaragua and Mexico.

Why San Mateo County? "I was eligible to retire from the Forest Service, but I was not ready to quit work," Mr. Holland replies. "I wanted to make a difference at the community level."

Mr. Holland and his wife, Marianne, are buying a house in Half Moon Bay, where they will live with a dog. Their seven children -- six sons and a daughter -- are grown, with two still in college. "I think that gives you more training than working does," he says with a chuckle.
Open door

Mr. Holland is eager to meet all sorts of people who are interested in the county's parks -- friends of parks groups, members of special user groups, business people, anyone. He believes that working with these people and groups is key to improving parks in a climate of tight budgets.

"I've a very open door policy," he says. "Everybody is really welcome to stop by."

Working for the federal government in a low-priority field and in a time of tight budgets, Mr. Holland learned to leverage tax money by engaging with volunteers and special interest groups. Rather than whining about lack of funds, he says: "We had to look at solutions. We had to look for some different ways to augment federal dollars."

Mr. Holland says he hopes to apply some of the solutions used in federal programs to San Mateo County. He suggests increasing use of volunteers, looking for endowments, and seeking money from groups willing to sponsor a particular project. (No, it can't be named after Bill Gates or Chevron, he says with a laugh, but sponsorship can be acknowledged.)
Challenges ahead

Mr. Holland, who just started his new job August 1, says he's eager to take on the challenges of managing San Mateo County's parks, using the techniques he honed working in forests all over the country.

"I'm just learning," he says, declining to discuss specifics of the county's parks budget.

Among the challenges he sees are: finding ways to meet future demand; increasing volunteer programs; accommodating all groups of users, even bicyclists; maintaining facilities so they are safe; and tackling backlogged maintenance. "That's a challenge," he says.

Mr. Holland hopes to work with the parks foundation and friends groups to prepare a strategic plan to meet present and future park needs. He also enjoys working with user groups and special interest groups to broaden the park experience.

"We all have special interests," Mr. Holland says, admitting he is a hiker, backpacker, and runner. "We don't have to be exclusive of others."

Mr. Holland really likes the mix of parks in San Mateo County. "They have tremendous potential to serve the community," he says. "I think it will be fun."
Park tax

One of Mr. Holland's major challenges will be to help shepherd the county's "Parks for the Future" program to the ballot box in 2006, when county voters will be asked to approve a 1/8 of a cent sales tax to support parks in San Mateo County and its 20 cities.

San Mateo County is one of two counties in the Bay Area that does not have a source of funds specifically for parks, says Ms. Bott, the foundation director. And the county parks budget has been slashed 40 percent since 2002, although it is holding its own this year.

Planners of the Parks for the Future are working with the cities to work out details of how to divvy up the $16 million a year the measure would raise, Ms. Bott says. They hope to make presentations to cities and community groups this fall.
INFORMATION

For information on county parks, call 363-4020 or go to eparks.net. For the Parks and Recreation Foundation, call 321-5812 or go to supportparks.org.

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