EUROPARC Federation

**Memorandum of Understanding**

**with the United States National Parks Service North East Region**

EUROPARC Members' Questionnaire

  --------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
  Name:           Dr Rauno Väisänen

  Position:       Director of Natural Heritage Services, Finland, and
                  President of the EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic Section

  Organisation:   Natural Heritage Services, Metsähallitus

  Address:        PO BOX 94, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland

  Tel:            +358 205 64 4386

  Fax:            +358 205 64 4350

  E-mail:         <rauno.vaisanen@metsa.fi>
  --------------- ---------------------------------------------------------

 Yes, we are interested in an exchange programme with a protected area
in the United States (North East Region).

 No, we are not interested in an exchange programme with a protected
area in the United States (North East Region).

*Please state reason:*

**1. If yes, on which topics would you be interested in pursuing
cooperation?**

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
   organisational development         ecotourism

   sustainability                     marketing

   transboundary management           education

   financing                          other (please state)
                                      interpretation, research &
                                      monitoring
  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------

**2. If yes, what type of exchange would you be interested in ?**

 at staff level (professional development)

 at political level (Presidents, Board Members)

 other stakeholders (e.g. farmers, tourism businesses)

*continued \....*

3\. If yes, please give a [short]{.underline} description of the
features of your park and main areas of current work:

The Natural Heritage Services manage the Finnish protected area system
on state owned areas, covering about 3.5 million hectares of lands and
about 3.0 million hectares of waters, including a wide spectrum of of
different categories of protected areas from strict nature reserves and
national parks (at present 34 + Koli NP managed by the Finnish Forest
Research Institute) to wilderness areas and national hiking areas. For
more information on NHS, see our web site
(<http://www.metsa.fi/natural/index.htm>).

Rauno Väisänen and Stig Johansson visited the headquarters and NE Region
of US NPS in 2001 and discussed preliminarily the potential mutual
interests. In the travel report the potential fields of cooperation were
analysed in detail from the NHS point of view.The special interests of
NHS include interpretation, and (ecological) research, inventories and
monitoring. NHS would be very interested to cooperate with Stephen T.
Mather Training Center, Harpers Ferry Intepretative Design Center and
Interpretive Media Institute as well as with the Cooperative Ecosystem
Studies Units. In addition, there is some interest to fire management
and thus cooperation with National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) at
Boise, Ohio.

The EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic Section was established in January 2003 and
its statutes are likely to be endorsed by the EUROPARC Council in April.
The section includes the EUROPARC members Nordic and Baltic countries,
though it is very likely that the number of members will increase
considerably in the near future. At present the Section covers e.g.
about hundred national parks. There is a lot of interest to increase the
trans-Atlantic cooperation with the US NPS, e.g. in the field of
education (starting from the universal competencies provided by the
Horace M. Albright Training Center), financing and ecotourism. Marine
protected areas might be a new field of joint interest. However, at the
section-level the needs have not yet been analysed in similar detail as
in the case of NHS.

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
  Signed: Rauno Väisänen              Date: 3 March 2003

  ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------

Please return by 20 March 2003 to:

Patrizia Rossi

Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime

# Corso Bianco 5

12010 Valdieri

## ITALY

Email: <parcalma.rossi@tin.it>