In 2006, the National Park Service entered into a formal agreement between Samlaut and Sequoia National Park. The sister park agreement encouraged the professionalization of the Samlaut workforce through shadow assignments at Sequoia with its park staff.
NPS has also been active in providing technical assistance to Cambodian World Heritage sites: Angkor and Temple of Preah Vihear.
In 2006, NPS worked with the South Korean National Park Service (KNPS) on an arrangement for five KNPS staff to work at U.S. national parks. The KNPS staff were from Deogyusan National Park, Naejangsan National Park, and Seoraksan National Park and underwent training programs at Valley Forge National Historic Site, Fossil Butte National Monument, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and Big Thicket National Preserve.
The U.S. National Park Service and the Korea National Park Service entered a more formal relationship through a “sister park” agreement. The “sister park” agreement was established in 2008 between Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Jeju Volcanic Lava Tubes.
The Rainier-Fuji ‘sister mountain’ relationship has supported annual summer study tours by up to 25 students of Waseda University, who spend 3 weeks of four 10-hour shifts working on waste removal projects at Rainier. Fuji has introduced ‘bio-toilets,’ a new type of composter apparently functional 10,000 feet above sea level, fueling a fruitful best practices exchange.
Since 1995, the National Park Service’s Albright Training Center, located at the Grand Canyon, has held an annual series of seminars and workshops with the Center for Environmental Studies, located in Tachikawa, Japan on visitor interpretation and management.
In 1998, the National Park Service and the PRC Ministry of Construction’s (MOC) Office of Scenic Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation in parks management. Since then, several U.S. and Chinese delegations have visited each others national parks. The MOU was renewed in 2002 during a visit by the NPS Deputy Director, with a work plan approved between the sides during a 2006 visit to Huangshan and Beijing by NPS and Yosemite National Park officials. The two agencies recently completed discussion to expand the agreement, by signing a 2009-2010 Action Plan, which reflects not only the Ministry’s new name – Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD) – but also expanded partnerships with The Nature Conservancy-China Program, the U.S.-based Global Heritage Fund, the World Bank and many provincial governments.
Recently, three sister parks have been established between Chinese & US parks, with a fourth relationship ready for signing in Yunnan and Beijing in mid-August 2009. Inquiries for further park twinnings have been received and are under consideration with MHURD officials.
NPS continues to host Chinese delegations totaling over 100 provincial officials annually. Requests for reimbursable technical assistance, from provincial Chinese park administrators, US NGO’s such as Global Heritage Fund, and now the World Bank, continue to raise the NPS profile in China.
