County parks manager outlines reforestation, Southern Park build‑out and Red Lion demolition; council presses for maintenance funding and clearer reporting

Kendall Summers, parks division manager, briefed the Public Works Committee on multiple park projects and fielded sustained council questions about maintenance, signage, staffing and funding.

Wiggins Mill Park: Summers said Wiggins Mill Park — a large regional park outside Townsend that is currently under agricultural lease — has seen multiple years of reforestation work. In 2023 the county planted about 11,000 small nursery trees or “whips” in areas outside tillable farmland; staff noted those plantings are intentionally small to account for mortality and replacement. In 2024 the county, working with a vendor, planted about 50 additional trees in a different outlined area. Summers said the county partnered with DNREC (and the Department of Agriculture provided planting support in 2023) and received a reimbursable grant to fund part of the plantings. Summers said the county plans a volunteer tree‑planting event to coincide with Earth Day (April 2025) focused on the area outlined in the plan and cautioned that planting occurs outside active pivot irrigated areas to avoid conflicts with the agricultural lease.

Southern Park: Summers reviewed the concept plan for Southern Park, the county’s recently opened park south of the C&D Canal. The first phase, opened last…