4/15/04

Barnard Hired as Park Manager for Bass Lake
Barnard Sees Bass Lake as Recreation and Preservation "Oasis"

The grand opening of Bass Lake Park is more than a month away, but the newly hired park manager, Scott Barnard, already has big plans for the park’s future.

“The day it opens, I want the visitors to come out there and to say, ‘Wow. Holly Springs is really putting our dollars back into the community. This is a heck of a facility,’” Barnard said. “A year down the line, I want people to have a hard time separating life post-Bass Lake retreat center and pre-Bass Lake retreat center.”

Barnard’s plans for the park include more than providing public recreational opportunities, including fishing, boating and hiking, and a lakeside retreat center. He envisions the park also serving as a wildlife refuge that gives visitors the opportunity to learn more about nature. Barnard plans displays that educate park visitors about a variety of topics, including the natural and cultural history of the lake, and he’s already developing a variety of hands-on programs – from paddling workshops and kids’ fishing derbies to owl prowls and tree species identification workshops.

“We want Bass Lake to be refuge- or preserve-like with park-type access,” Barnard said. “We’re going to really try to walk that tightrope where we’re still an oasis for wildlife species but an oasis where people can see the wildlife.”

Barnard said that, in order for the park to serve both as a place for recreation and a place for wildlife, visitors would need to respect the parkland by not disturbing designated refuge areas, such as an island near the Bass Lake retreat center. However, Barnard still wants people to explore the park.

“We don’t want it to be one of those parks where people feel like if they step off the deck, they’re breaking the rules,” he said. “We’re going to work hard to educate people so they’re going to understand what we’re trying to do.”

Barnard, who graduated with a degree in parks and recreation from NC State University in 1998, has experience working for Lake Johnson, Lake Wheeler and Shelly Lake parks. He was assistant park manager at Harris Lake County Park, where he was responsible for both programming and resource maintenance and helped develop the park during its construction phase.

“My experience is within parks that have rental boats, concessions, conference centers, and lake and park management,” he said. “Basically, the job description for Bass Lake and my resume matched.”

He said that ever since graduating college, he had his eye on Bass Lake Park ’s progress.

“Really, this is an opportunity to work for a progressive department and a department that has a reputation for quality programming during years of rapid growth with few dollars,” he said.

Barnard said that he wants to establish partnerships to ensure Bass Lake watershed protection. Bass Lake Park is already partnered with The Nature Conservancy, but Barnard said he is working toward partnerships with local citizen groups, universities and schools, as well as the state history and natural sciences museums.

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us