Last updated: August 3, 2023
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International Bulletin: January - June 2023 Edition
During the first half of the year, the US National Park Service has been able to undertake a growing number of in-person programs of international conservation engagement. Following are brief notes about notable cooperation between National Park Service staff and international counterparts between January and June of 2023. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for these and many other National Park Service international activities.
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Yosemite National Park is Recognized with 2023 Terra Award
Yosemite National Park was one of five UNESCO World Heritage sites awarded the 2023 Terra Award, sponsored by the Fundación Diario de Avisos. The Terra Awards “recognize unique initiatives for the improvement and conservation of World Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO, and that, due to their innovative nature and exemplary work, have contributed added value to the enrichment and protection of natural and cultural assets. Other sites recognized by this year’s Terra Award included Iguazu National Park in Argentina, the complex of the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada, Spain, the historic center of Florence in Italy and Silbo Gomero, a whistled language preserved on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands. The awards ceremony was held in the World Heritage City of San Cristobal de la Laguna on Tenerife island. Yosemite National Park is the first US World Heritage Site so recognized. World Heritage Site so recognized.
For more information about Fundación Diario de Avisos.
National Park Service Contact: Cicely Muldoon, Yosemite National Park
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Canadian Fires Enlist Help from National Park Service “Hotshot” Crews
In response to the wildland fires that continue to burn in Canada, the United States has sent over 1,700 state and federal firefighters to assist Canadian Firefighters. The National Park Service has contributed resources including the Alpine and Arrowhead “hotshot” crews to assist Canadian fire suppression efforts. These “hotshot” crews are typically teams of 20-22 elite wildland firefighters that mainly respond to large, high-priority fires across the country and abroad. They are assigned to work the most challenging parts of the fire and are considered strategic and tactical wildland fire experts. The Alpine hotshot crew is headquartered at Rocky Mountain National Park, while the Arrowhead hotshot crew is stationed at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.
Learn more about Alpine history at Rocky Mountain National Park, including about the wildland fire programs.
National Park Service Contact: Jim Schultz
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Two Chamizals Establish Sister Park
Chamizal National Memorial Superintendent Aaron Mahr and Ciudad Juárez Mayor Cruz Pérez Cuéllar signed an arrangement on February 14, 2023, to formally recognize their respective Chamizal parks as sister parks. Born from the same history, Parque Chamizal in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, Texas, were each established by their respective country to commemorate the historic 1963 Chamizal Treaty. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz met in 1967 at a new commemorative monument in Parque Chamizal to celebrate the formal exchange of land that would return the long-disputed Chamizal area to Mexico. In 1966, on a portion of Mexican land transferred to the United States under the treaty, the US Congress established Chamizal National Memorial under management of the National Park Service.
Read the official news release announcing the establishment of sister parks for the Chamizals.
National Park Service Contact: Aaron Mahr, Chamizal National Memorial
Image by the U.S. Embassy/Tokyo.
Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima Establish Twinning Relationship
During the Independence Day celebration at the US Embassy in Tokyo, US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima City Mayor Kazumi Matsui signed a sister park arrangement on behalf of Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. As Ambassador Emanuel wrote, the purpose of this twinning is “to embrace the power of peace and the promise of partnership. If we heed the lessons, the interwoven histories of Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor will define the future as much as interpret the past.” Both sites are dedicated to dialogue regarding peace and reconciliation.
National Park Service Contact: Tom Leatherman, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument
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Crater Lake National Park Renews Sister Park with Slovenia’s Triglav
Since 2017, Crater Lake National Park has maintained an active relationship with Slovenia’s Triglav National Park with various exchanges between the parks, including staff from each park visiting their sister park. Crater Lake National Park’s Superintendent Craig Ackerman recommended that Pamela Ziesler, program lead for National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics program, also participate in the visit as a subject matter expert on visitor use estimation in the National Park System. Their visit to Slovenia included participation in the EUROPARC European Charter for Sustainable Tourism 12th Network Meeting and the sister park renewal and activities. Renewal of the sister park agreement was attended by the US Ambassador to Slovenia, and participation in Triglav National Park’s Albin Belar Nature Science Days (Belar Days) celebrating Albin Belar, a Slovenian pioneer in nature protection and a key figure in promoting the concept of setting aside the area around Mount Triglav as a national park.
National Park Service Contact: Craig Ackerman, Crater Lake National Park
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Big Bend National Park & Mexico Sister Parks Conduct Joint River Trip & Workshop
In February, staff from Big Bend National Park and Mexico's Maderas del Carmen, Canyon de Santa Elena and Ocampo Protected Areas, all managed by Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), along with other National Park Service and CONANP staff and co-organized by Colorado State University, conducted a joint river trip on the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico). Each canoe was paddled by a joint National Park Service-CONANP team, providing many hours to get to know each other; every evening Colorado State University expert Jim Barborak led a series of workshops to identify key challenges and opportunities for collaboration in the Big Bend-Rio Bravo region.
National Park Service Contact: Jon Putnam, Office of International Affairs
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National Park Service Hosts Australia’s Parks Victoria
The National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs, along with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Joshua Tree National Park, Acadia National Park and Rock Creek Park hosted a trio of senior officials from Parks Victoria this spring. The delegation was led by CEO Matthew Jackson, Mark Norman, Chief Scientist, and John Pandazopulous, Board Chair of Parks Victoria. While in Washington, DC, the officials met with National Park Service Director Chuck Sams who greeted the officials. They were interested in learning how the National Park Service deals with climate change, works with Indigenous communities, and manages high levels of visitation, and other common challenges.
National Park Service Contact: Stephen Morris, Office of International Affairs
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National Park Service Support to United Kingdom National Trust Official
Staff from the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs, along with the National Park Service’s National Tourism Program and Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion Office hosted Rob Curry of the United Kingdom National Trust during his month-long sabbatical in the US. Accompanied by National Park Service Visitor Use Management staff on his travels, Rob also spent time at the National Park Service Denver Service Center. During his visit, the National Park Service also cohosted a webinar with Rob on the work of the United Kingdom’s National Trust.
Find more information about the United Kingdom’s National Trust.
National Park Service Contact: Zach Miller, Visitor Use Management Program Coordinator, Intermountain Region
National Park Service & Department of the Interior’s ITAP Host Georgian Ministerial Delegation
As part of the Department’s International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) in the nation of Georgia, funded by USAID-Georgia, the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs hosted a visit by senior officials from Georgia’s cultural heritage and natural resource agencies in Washington, DC, and Arizona. During the officials visit to DC they were joined by Georgian Environment Minister Otar Shamugia, who joined Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to sign a Statement of Intent to Cooperate between the US Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Georgian Ministries of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, of Culture, Sports and Youth, and of Economy and Sustainable Development, Concerning Natural, Cultural, and Tourism Resources Management of Protected Areas. National Park Service and DOI-ITAP then escorted the Georgian Deputy Minister of Culture and the Director of Georgia’s Agency for Protected Areas on visits to several natural and cultural heritage areas in Arizona managed by the National Park Service, as well as by the Navajo Nation.
National Park Service Contact: Rudy D’Alessandro, Office of International Affairs
Sharing National Park Service Visitor Management Expertise with Uzbekistan
Working with the US Department of State and the US Embassy in Tashkent, National Park Service subject matter experts took part in a forest management speaker series provided to officials of the Government of Uzbekistan. The embassy was pleased to see many participating parks, reserves, nurseries, and institutes, including Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Aktau-Tamdy, Southern Ustyurt, Zaamin, Pop, Borsakelmes, Kyzyl-Kum, Amankutan, Saygachiy, Surkhan, Ugam Chatkal, Khorezm, Gissar, Aralkum, Muynak, Bobotog, Zarafshan, Nurota, Sudochye, Yukori Tupalang, Jeyran, and Lower Amudarya State Biosphere Reserve. Participants learned how to estimate visitor park use and develop capacity management; how to improve accessibility for disabled park visitors; and how to develop wayside exhibits, signs and hiking paths in national parks.
View the US Embassy Tashkent’s Facebook post about the project.
National Park Service Contact: Rudy D’Alessandro, Office of International Affairs
Image by Kurt Rausch/NPS.
National Park Service Chief of Commercial Services Visits Georgia
As part of the USAID-Georgia funded national parks and ecotourism program managed in cooperation between the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program, the Chief of the National Park Service’s Commercial Services Program traveled with the National Park Service’s Pacific-West regional commercial services chief to Georgia to deliver training workshops and conduct a rapid assessment of current commercial service practices in Georgia. This work is being completed in accordance with the Fiscal Year 2023 Annual implementation Plan for this program, specifically:
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Component 2: Generate sustainable economic development through ecotourism; and
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Sub-component 2.1: Deliver best practice-based technical assistance on concessions management and commercial operations within and around Georgian protected areas to the relevant private enterprises, businesses, and friends associations, as well as gateway community small business groups.
The National Park Service team was supported by Paata Shanshiashvili, DOI-ITAP’s Technical Advisor and In-Country Coordinator for Georgia, and Ani Tuchashvili, specialist with the International Relations and Project Management Division, Agency for Protected Areas. As a result of this visit, the National Park Service and DOI-ITAP are provided recommendations on best practices.
National Park Service Contact: Kurt Rausch,Business Services Division
Image by Tiwanaku World Heritage Site staff.
NCPTT Assistance to Bolivia’s Tiwanaku World Heritage Site
Simeon Warren, a stone expert and the Chief of the Buildings & Landscapes Department at the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), was recruited by the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs and the Bolivian Embassy to digitally document and assess the condition of the stone sculptures at Tiwanaku World Heritage Site in La Paz, Bolivia. Simeon documented, assessed, and later created a stone conditions assessment report to assist the site in creating a maintenance plan for the sculptures. He helped local and federal partners develop a scope of work for an Ambassadors Award grant proposal that would benefit the site and build diplomatic good will between the US and Bolivia. While in Bolivia, Simeon also presented to the local university UMSA Archaeology Program about digital documentation.
National Park Service Contact: Simeon Warren, National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
Multi-Country Moravian Church Settlements World Heritage Nomination Submitted
The National Park Service submitted the United States’ first multi-country nomination to the World Heritage List for the first time in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention’s 50-year history. The nomination is for Moravian Church Settlements, which include the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, historic settlements of Herrnhut in Germany, and Gracehill in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom.
The Bethlehem World Heritage Commission, established by the Mayor of Bethlehem, collaborated with representatives of Herrnhut and Gracehill to join the Moravian settlement of Christiansfeld in Denmark, which has been on the World Heritage List since 2015, to form a single World Heritage listing for all the Moravian Church Settlements. The settlements illustrate the global dissemination of the Moravian Church’s distinct religious and social ideals in the 18th century, which are expressed in the towns’ plans and architecture with many buildings still used for their original purpose.
This nomination will be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in the summer of 2024. The evaluation of the nomination by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which advises the Committee, is underway with on-site visits by an ICOMOS representative to each of three settlements in July. National Park Service's Office of International Affairs is the staff office for the World Heritage program.
Read the news release announcing the nomination.
National Park Service Contact: Stephen Morris, Office of International Affairs
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US to Rejoin UNESCO
On June 30th, the General Conference of UNESCO, meeting in an extraordinary session, voted to accept the proposal of the United States to once again become a member state of the organization after having withdrawn in 2018. Rejoining means that the US will once again be able to participate in the Executive Board which helps guide UNESCO's activities.
During its absence from UNESCO, the US continued as a signatory to the World Heritage Convention, for which the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is the secretariat, but it was barred from serving on the World Heritage Committee while not paying dues. Several US World Heritage nominations were put forward when the US was in arrears, which while technically allowed, was frowned upon by many countries. Becoming a member state of the parent organization of the Convention will eliminate concerns that US nominations might be turned aside for political reasons or otherwise suffer negative consequences. By rejoining UNESCO, the US also can once again fully participate in the UNESCO MAB (Man and the Biosphere) Program under which more than 25 US sites had been designated as Biosphere Regions, with many having a national park at their center. The Office of International Affairs is the staff office for the US World Heritage Program under the direction of the Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and oversees US World Heritage nominations. For more information: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/united-states-america-returns-unesco-very-large-majority-member-states-vote-favour
National Park Service Contact: Stephen Morris, Office of International Affairs
Image by the US Embassy/Hanoi.
US Embassy Features National Parks During Independence Day Events
Although United States’ day of Independence falls on July 4th, many US embassies around the world schedule their Independence Day receptions in late June. This year, both the US Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, as well as the US Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, chose to feature America’s national parks as the theme for their respective celebrations. Embassy staff sought advice from the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs, which shared examples of past Embassy Passport features and provided access to digital imagery of national parks.
National Park Service Contact: Rudy D’Alessandro, Office of International Affairs
Image by Rudy D'Alessandro.
International Woman's Day Brings together Women in Conservation
To honor International Women's Day 2023 and Women's History Month, the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs, with assistance from the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) International Technical Assistance Program, and staff from Japan’s national parks bureau, worked with staff from Rocky Mountain National Park and Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and the National Park Service’s Women’s Employee Resource Group to present a webinar that featured women rangers and staff from the countries of Georgia and Japan.
This international event provided an opportunity for connecting with women international park partners to share their stories of gender and equity in their workplace. Over 60 National Park Service and US Fish & Wildlife Service staff participated in the event. The inclusion of women rangers from Georgia owes to our support for DOI-ITAP's work under the USAID/Georgia National Parks and Ecotourism program. We are proud to join DOI-ITAP to promote #WomenInTheWild.
Find more information about International Women’s Day.
National Park Service Contact: Amber Nattrass, Rocky Mountain National Park
Flight 93 National Memorial Connects with Japanese Students
The National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs staff helped Flight 93 National Memorial Education Specialist Gregory Zaborowski connect with professors and students at Teikyo University in Japan to share with them the story of Japanese citizen Toshiya Kuge and the 40 passengers of Flight 93, as well as the 24 Japanese citizens who were killed during the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. Another Zoom call is planned for this September.
National Park Service Contact: Gregory Zaborowski, Flight 93 National Memorial
Image by NPS.
Assateague Island National Seashore Renews Spain Shipwrecks Agreement
The Spanish Government's Ministry of Culture and National Park Service's Assateague Island National Seashore renewed a loan agreement allowing the park to continue to exhibit and store artifacts recovered from the 18th-century Spanish shipwreck, La Galga, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean within the park's boundaries. The Spanish Ambassador, Santiago Cabanas, and the Director General of Fine Arts in the Ministry of Culture, Isaac Sastre, represented Spain while National Park Service representatives included park Superintendent Hugh Hawthorne and staff of the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs.
Learn more about this partnership and project.
National Park Service Contact: Linda Bennett, Office of International Affairs
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Scottish Volunteer-in-Parks Helps Sonoran Desert Network
Interns and volunteers have played a variety of essential roles at the Sonoran Desert Network & Desert Research Learning Center. Over the years, we have welcomed many international volunteers through the National Park Service’s International Volunteers in Parks (IVIP) program. Recently, Josh Richards, a PhD student from Dunfermline, Scotland, undertook a project aimed to establish a protocol for the collection of environmental DNA in Sonoran desert springs, to attempt to confirm the presence of elusive wildlife (e.g., jaguars) and also monitor diseases (e.g., chytrid fungus, ranavirus) that threaten native species of the Sonoran Desert. Josh helped with vegetation mapping, deploying and retrieving wildlife cameras, monitoring water quality, surveying the Rio Grande, and saving endangered turtles. Through his internship, he learned new skills, gained an appreciation for unfamiliar disciplines, collaborated with scientists from other fields, and greatly helped the work of the Sonoran Desert Network.
National Park Service Contact: Linda Bennet Office of International Affairs
Image by NPS.
Podcasts Highlight International Volunteers-in-Parks!
To commemorate National Volunteer Week, the National Park Service’s Office of International Affairs worked with our Office of Communications and Interpretation, Education and Volunteer Directorate to produce profiles of five recent NPS International Volunteers in Parks. The podcast series includes recordings of interns, volunteers and employees who share their passion for protecting national parks as well as their views on the importance of engaging youth in the stewardship of protected areas. International volunteers bring unique perspectives to challenges in national parks. Listening to their voices is truly inspiring. These are now featured in the Conservation Diaries podcast series.
Listen to episodes of the Conservation Diaries podcast series, including five episodes featuring international volunteers!
The International Volunteers In Parks Program places international students and foreign park staff in US national parks. Until the pandemic, an average of 100 international volunteers from thirty to forty countries contributed their time and talents to forty to fifty parks. National parks host IVIPs in a variety of career fields providing training and mentoring. International volunteers can stay for up to 1 year and fund their own expenses. The programs are a win/win for parks and IVIPs with parks gaining an extra pair of hands and international volunteers gaining new skills and insights. These experiences for IVIPs are profound and are often the catalyst to pursue careers in conservation.
National Park Service Contact: Linda Bennett , Office of International Affairs