Welcome to the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) International Programs Quarterly Bulletin, issued by the NPS Office of International Affairs (OIA). The following news items are noteworthy events undertaken by the National Park Service during the last three months that involve an international component.
NPS Director Represents U.S. at Memorial
for Sir Edmund Hillary
National Park Service Director Mary Bomar served as the official United States representative at the memorial service held in Auckland, New Zealand for the late Sir Edmund Hillary, first man to summit Mount Everest, along with Sherpa Tenzig Norgay. While at the service, Director Bomar met with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark (at far right), New Zealand Environment Minister Chris Carter, Norgay’s son Norbu, as well as many other conservation officials from around the world. For more information, visit http://data2.itc.nps.gov/release/Detail.cfm?ID=779.
U.S.-Mexico Sister Parks Conference
Grand Canyon National Park hosted a meeting of the NPS-Mexico natural "Sister Parks" sites. Representatives from the NPS, Mexico's Comision de Areas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), other U.S. federal agencies and NGO’s met to further develop existing U.S.-Mexican sister park arrangements and to explore potential new ones. Grand Canyon Superintendent Martin (far right) hosted the meeting, which was attended by Mexican parks chief Dr. Ernesto Enkerlin (middle). Conference participants discussed agency cooperation and how to incorporate NGOs and other federal agencies into the initiative. Each of the existing sister park participants left with draft action plans and specific potential projects identified for implementation. At the agency level, NPS and CONANP are now developing a framework, or umbrella action plan, that will incorporate both system-wide collaborative activities and the individual sister park proposals and projects. For more information, contact Jon Putnam, at jonathan_putnam@nps.gov.
Everglades Outreach to New U.S. Citizens and Croatian Schoolkids
Thanks to ties between staff at Everglades National Park and federal magistrates of the U.S. District Court, Miami, Florida, newly naturalized citizens will receive a copy of the National Park Owner’s Manual for New Citizens. The Manual provides a brief history and description of the U.S. National Park System and includes a System Map and a special congratulatory certificate from the NPS Director.
Also, staff of Everglades’ South Florida Natural Resources Center recently participated in a digital video conference arranged by the U.S. State Department for approximately 50 Croatian high school students from Zagreb and Zadar, and a few invited representatives of Croatia’s parks agency, interested in learning about national parks, conservation and biodiversity. Resource issues specific to Everglades, such as water quality, as well as the park’s budget and the administrative structure of the parks, were also topics of discussion. For Everglades, this marked a first successful participation in an international video conference. For more information, contact Larry Perez, at larry_perez@nps.gov.
Qatar Hosts NPS Park Planning Workshop
Building upon two previous successful technical assistance missions conducted by the NPS in 2000 and 2002, three National Park Service planning specialists conducted a park planning workshop for officials of the Qatari Department of Environment and Conservation. NPS planners initially had worked with Qatari counterparts to determine feasible sites in Qatar for national park designation in 2000, returned in 2002 to assist with the selection of Qatar’s first national park, Khor Al-Adaid, also known as the Inland Sea, and were invited back in 2008 to help with management planning for the Inland Sea. For more information, contact David Krewson, at david_krewson@nps.gov.
NPS Technical Assistance to Cambodia
Under the sister park relationship established between Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park (SEKI) and Samlaut Protected Area, six NPS staff undertook a planning mission to Cambodia to help provide a Statement of Management for Samlaut, serve as trainers for courses in the “Fundamentals in National Park Philosophy,” “In-Depth Ranger Operations,” “Concessions,” and “Basic Wildlife Monitoring.” For more information on the SEKI-Samlaut sister park relationship, contact Holly Bundock, at holly_bundock@nps.gov.
At the request of the U.S. State Department, an NPS planning specialist made two site visits with UNESCO and multinational officials to Preah Vihear, an ancient Khmer temple site (at right) located in northwestern Cambodia, along the Thai border. The focus of the two technical assistance missions was to assess the site and assist the Government of Cambodia with developing a General Management Plan for the Preah Vihear temple complex. For more information, contact Rudy D’Alessandro, at rudy_dalessandro@nps.gov.
Brazilian Deputy Environment Minister visits NPS
Deputy Minister of Environment Joao Capobianco led a delegation of Brazilian Environment Ministry officials on a study tour of natural resource management agencies in the U.S. Capobianco is also the President of the newly created Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation and Biology (ICMBio). NPS Director Bomar and Minister Capobianco enjoyed a brief discussion of NPS-Brazil cooperation, followed by a staff level briefing on U.S. national park management. The Brazilian delegation also met with representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and Assistant Secretary of State Claudia McMurray, before making a visit to Shenandoah National Park to observe national park management practices in the field. For more information, contact Rudy D’Alessandro, at rudy_dalessandro@nps.gov
Canada-NPS Cooperation on the Great Lakes
Staff of four NPS units around the Great Lakes - Isle Royale National Park, Apostle Islands and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshores and Grand Portage National Monument – have been reaching out to supportive industries and agencies to help prevent the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in Lake Superior parks. The parks have also been working with local tribal fishery biologists to collaborate on an emergency prevention and response plan to stop the deadly fish virus, VHS, from spreading into park and reservation waters through other vectors. Discussions with Canadian and American shipping companies regarding their disposal of ballast water from their shops and ways to reduce the spread in the absence of federal regulations have been fruitful. A subsequent meeting with U.S. Coast Guard and US and Canadian industry officials to discuss voluntary standards to reduce the risk of spreading VHS, has resulted in a commitment from industry to explore standardizing actions across both borders. Isle Royale is also helping scientists in the U.S. Geological Survey make critical contacts in the Great Lakes to discuss testing emergency ballast treatment options. Each of the parks has just published their plan to deal with VHS online at http://www.nps.gov/apis/parkmgmt/vhs.htm. For more information, contact Phyllis Green, at phyllis_green@nps.gov
Support for Photo Exhibit at U.S. Mission to UN
The National Park Service’s Washington Public Affairs Office contributed photographs of iconic American national park sites to a display at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva, Switzerland. The display will be the centerpiece of the Mission’s annual reception for America’s July 4th national independence day, the largest event hosted by the USUN Mission, with this year’s theme being, “America the Beautiful: Highlighting American Landscapes and Landmarks.” For more information, contact Shellie Purvis, at purvisSL@state.gov.
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