![](media/image1.png){width="6.497916666666667in" height="0.78125in"}

![](media/image2.png){width="0.7708333333333334in" height="1.0in"}U.S.
National Park Service

International Programs Quarterly Bulletin

January -- March 2008

Welcome to the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) International Programs
Quarterly Bulletin, issued by the NPS Office of International Affairs
(OIA). Additional information on NPS international activities can be
found at the NPS OIA webpage: <http://www.nps.gov/oia>

**In this Issue:**

-   NPS Director Represents U.S. at Memorial for Sir Edmund Hillary

-   U.S.-Mexico Sister Parks Conference

-   Everglades Outreach to New U.S. Citizens and Croatian Schoolkids

-   Qatar hosts NPS Park Planning Workshop

-   NPS Technical Assistance to Cambodia

-   Brazilian Deputy Environment Minister visits NPS

-   Canada-U.S. Cooperation on the Great Lakes

-   Support for Photo Exhibit at U.S. Mission to UN

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.2777777777777777in"
height="1.7201388888888889in"}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>.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="2.1805555555555554in"
height="1.7159722222222222in"}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>.

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="2.5in"
height="1.5645833333333334in"}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.

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="2.3048611111111112in"
height="1.55in"}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>.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="2.4027777777777777in"
height="1.5479166666666666in"}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>.

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="2.4305555555555554in"
height="1.7534722222222223in"}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>.

![](media/image9.jpeg){width="2.4305555555555554in"
height="1.4527777777777777in"}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
Visit![](media/image10.jpeg){width="2.0034722222222223in"
height="1.6701388888888888in"}s 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>

![](media/image11.jpeg){width="2.1805555555555554in"
height="1.6493055555555556in"}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>

![](media/image12.jpeg){width="2.2777777777777777in"
height="1.6069444444444445in"}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 4^th^ 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>.

*This newsletter is distributed quarterly to NPS staff, partners and
other interested parties. If you wish to be removed from the
distribution list, please contact Rudy D'Alessandro at
rudy_dalessandro@nps.gov. **We encourage NPS colleagues to submit brief
summaries of international activities and accomplishments suitable for
inclusion in this bulletin.***