More than 2,000 years ago, Pompey the Great built the first of what would become a series of urban parks within the city of Rome, where Roman citizens could enjoy a respite from the crowded city streets. During the Middle Ages, European aristocracy set aside parks as private game preserves. In time, many of these areas reverted back to landscaped public parks, where people gathered to enjoy the beauty of nature and engage in physical activity. When settlers migrated to the American colonies in the early 17th century, they often established commons, large areas in the center of a village or town where children played and families spent time with one another. In the following years, preserving unique landscapes for the pleasure of a nation's people accelerated under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, when in 1864 he signed a bill creating the Yosemite Grant, eventually leading to Yosemite becoming one of the United States' first national parks. Soon thereafter, U.S. Congress set aside over two million additional acres. More than 140 years later, 84 million acres have been preserved throughout the United States, and designating and maintaining areas for parks remains a national priority.

As basic human needs are met, attention increasingly focuses on improving quality of life, and there is a broad consensus that few areas are as important in this capacity as parks. Whether internationally recognized national parks like the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains, or regionally popular sites like the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area and Cape Lookout National Seashore, parks are valued and appreciated by all. In the United States, the National Park Service (NPS) manages a network of nearly 400 natural, cultural and recreational sites across the nation, where people from all around the world visit to experience America's past, marvel at its natural wonders and have fun. But the appreciation of parks is a worldwide phenomenon, and today, more than 100 nations have national parks, and the number of parks and protected areas set aside for user enjoyment has swelled to more than 100,000 globally.

In this issue of BergerWorld, we proudly highlight some of our recent accomplishments in this vital sector and welcome the newest member of the Berger family, RBA-a firm long recognized as an innovator and leader in the planning and design of regional and national parks and recreation areas.