Parks: Made In The Shade

Award-winning nature park’s holistic approach to building shade structures inspires other communitiesBy Sarah YantFrom wildlife-viewing blinds to pergolas, shade structures in parks are essential features that not only enhance the visitor experience but also foster environmental awareness and stewardship. Horseshoe Bay Nature Park—an 11-acre greenspace on rolling upland prairie located in a small lakeshore town west of Austin, Texas—exemplifies this cohesion. The process of planning, designing, and building the park’s two shade structures—an observation deck and a bird blind—is a perfect model for other parks to emulate.