VALPARAISO | Those who enjoy winter sports like sledding and ice skating will still be able to do so in Valparaiso's parks, but the park board adopted a new policy to no longer provide supervision.

The skate/sled at your own risk policy is a dramatic change from the full-time supervision provided years ago and even weekend and holiday supervision by parks employees the past few. The new policy is the result of many changes, including the changes both in the weather and in people's behavior, Parks Director Steve Doniger said.

"When the park offices were on Harrison Boulevard, because of the parking situation during the week with people coming and going to sled and staff needing to use the parking lot, we needed someone to monitor it pretty much full-time," Doniger said. "At Rogers Lakewood, it was the parks department's thought that we could get a return on the facility, so we had someone to collect the fee."

Not only did the department collect a fee, it also had staff to rent skates at Kirchhoff Park -- and, later, Tower Park -- cross country skis at Forest Park and inner tubes at Rogers Lakewood. Then the weather changed. Instead of the snow lasting for weeks or months at a time, it came in short, arctic blasts. The inconsistency made it difficult to hire staff to monitor the sites full-time.

Doniger said if people want to go skiing or sledding, they sometimes go to state parks in Michigan or elsewhere.

"It's tough to find staff that want to spend weekends or holidays standing out in the cold working for minimum wage," Doniger said. "We've always had a policy of supervisors going by the parks to make sure everything is safe. This year we will make more of an effort to make sure we are checking on things to see if anything is going on that might not be safe."

He said if someone is found building a jump ramp in a sledding hill, it'll be removed. He noted people weren't using the parks warming facility, but using cars to warm up and then leaving the park.

"It's not the all-day event like it was years ago."

Signs are posted at Forest Park Golf Course and Rogers Lakewood Park warning people the site is not monitored, laying out the safety rules they should follow and listing emergency contact numbers. When the weather is suitable for ice skating, the department will make ice at Tower Park, and the sign will go up there too.

"We have playground and basketball courts and an extreme skate park, and, if people use them correctly and within the scope of what they are designed for, everyone will have an enjoyable time," Doniger said. "That's what we find 99 percent of the time, and it should be the same in the winter."

He told the park board the new policy was reviewed by the department's insurance company, which said it would lower the department's liability.