FEBRUARY 2006

Our annual guide to everything you need to know about pools, waterparks and natatoriums. If it's about a wet facility, it's in here, from aquatic exercise to water slides.

We shift through some of the big issues regarding skate park safety. Find out how various facilities manage their liability—and keep a facility fun.

The quality of your dirt, grass and turf may be underappreciated, but they should never be overlooked. Make sure you're following some of the best field design and maintenance practices.

Numerous summer camps still operate a more traditional ropes challenge course as part of camp adventure activities, but in emerging markets, for adventure-seekers of all ages, the summer camps ropes course has certainly grown up.

Everyone struggles with it. What should be saved? Where to store it? Every recreational facility needs to order and maintain supplies, archive documents, and store parts and equipment.

One of the most exciting trends in parks and recreation is the popularity of new classes of independent climbers.

Berens Park in Elmhurst, Ill., has been a fixture for sports practices for more than 30 years. But since it was created, houses have encircled it on all sides, so other amenities—gymnastics programs, playgrounds, community meeting spaces—were placed elsewhere, leaving Berens Park as a well-loved facility but one not quite living up to its full potential.

It's hard to say which is more impressive: The Lewisburg Area Recreation Authority's new park or its moxie.

Shoreview, Minn., is a fitness-minded community, and it's also quite organized. These two traits have blended to give the city a wildly successful and well-used gathering place that just keeps getting better.