2025 Natural Playscape Grant

For the third consecutive year, the RNeighborWoods team is thrilled to offer one lucky neighborhood a special outdoor park experience: a natural playscape! The winner for 2024 was the Historic Homestead neighborhood, where the logs have been enjoyed at Triangle Park.

The Park and Recreation Forestry Department crafted Lincoln Log-style logs, which stack together to create a natural play area. These logs are sourced from local Rochester trees that the Forestry Department must remove for various reasons. By building this playscape, the city repurposes wood debris from forestry operations. This helps avoid releasing carbon into the atmosphere where the wood would otherwise be burned at local brush dumps. This log play area is an environmentally friendly way to recycle a natural resource while providing an engaging play space.

The logs will remain at the winning neighborhood park for ten months, from June to April, until the next grant cycle. After that, the playscape will be refreshed before being awarded to a new neighborhood park.

Applications for the grant can be submitted until April 14 at 3 PM.

The Park and Recreation Forestry Department delivers and removes the playscape logs. As children enjoy the equipment, the logs naturally break down over time.

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