U.S. Nominates Sites to the World Heritage Convention
For the first time since 1994, the U.S. is submitting two new sites for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List. One is a mixed natural-cultural heritage site – Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (http://hawaiireef.noaa.gov/) in the northwest Hawaiian islands – and the other a cultural heritage site – Mount Vernon, the colonial plantation home of George Washington (http://www.mountvernon.org/). Both sites are among the fourteen that the U.S. placed on its recently published Tentative List and have strong support from their local constituencies. The nomination dossiers were prepared by the respective owners and management entities, with the guidance and coordination of the NPS Office of International Affairs The nominations will undergo a review by the World Heritage Advisory Bodies - IUCN and ICOMOS - and will be considered for World Heritage inscription by the World Heritage Committee in mid-2010. For more details, contact Stephen Morris at Stephen_morris@nps.gov or see the U.S. Department of the Interior Press Announcement here.
The U.S. State Department hosted a two-day U.S.-Chile workshop on parks management issues. Senior leadership and staff from NPS, Chile's CONAF (National Forest Commission, which oversees national parks), the State Department, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with representatives from the National Park Foundation and the National Parks and Conservation Association all participated. A list of potential future bilateral activities in the park management field is currently being developed. For more information, contact Jonathan Putnam at Jonathan_Putnam@nps.gov.
Workshop and field trip photos are available: http://web.me.com/mperozo/Carmen/Encuentro_de_parques.html
Funded by State Department and facilitated by the George Wright Society, three Afghan cultural officials embarked on a two month study tour with National Park Service archeology staff in the Southwest, California and Washington, DC.
Their program touched on all aspects of archeological site management, including planning, preservation, site survey and investigation, public education, tourism, and community relations. Afghanistan has a rich heritage with cultural sites that predate Alexander the Great. The southwestern U.S. offers examples of adobe and stone construction, standing historic buildings, and buried archeological sites that closely resemble the preservation requirements of sites in Afghanistan. Parks in New Mexico contain similar resources and offer management approaches to protection, preservation and interpretation of cultural resources. NPS units that participated in the training included El Morro, El Malpais, Salinas Pueblo Missions, Pecos, Bandelier, Casa Grande Ruins, Tumacacori, and Tonto. The Afghans also learned about visitor services, and monument restoration in National Capital Region parks and at Golden Gate. For more information, contact Barbara Little, at barbara_little@nps.gov
Mexico - NPS Adobe Restoration Workshop
National Park Service (NPS) staff from Casa Grande Ruins NM, Pecos NHP, Mesa Verde NP, Montezuma Castle NM, Tumacacori NHP and the NPS Intermountain Regional office participated in a cross-border workshop on Conservation and Restoration of Earthen Architecture (El Taller Internacional de Conservacion y Restauracion de Arquitectura de Tierra - TICRAT) jointly held in Arizona and Sonora. A field trip to Mexico was a key part of the workshop, which was hosted by Tumacacori National Monument and co-sponsored by the NPS and Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropolgia y Historia (INAH), with assistance from Preservation Studies-College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture-University of Arizona, and the Cornerstones Community Partnerships. Mexican representatives participating in the workshop included INAH and CONACULTA officials and agencies similarly responsible for conservation and preservation of Mexico’s cultural and natural resources.
The workshop was open to students, community stakeholders, preservationists, and building professionals to ensure the appropriate restoration, maintenance and stewardship of the integrated cultural heritage of Arizona and Sonora for current and future generations. For more information, contact Luis Florez at luis_florez@nps.gov
As set out by an agreement between the NPS, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF) and Lviv City Council, NPS Northeast Regional staff organized and led a delegation of Ukrainian heritage managers on a study tour of NPS sites to demonstrate environmental assessment, monitoring strategies and stabilization techniques in historic structures for application at historic sites within the Lviv World Heritage Site. The delegation included the head of the Lviv City Council’s Department for the Protection of the Historic Environment, the director of the Agency for the Revitalization of Historic Lviv, the director of the Central State Historic Archive, and the Cultural Advisor to Lviv’s Mayor. The team travelled to Sagamore Hill NHS, Frederick Law Olmsted NHS, Longfellow NHS, Salem Maritime NHS, Saint-Gaudens NHS, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP, and Saratoga NHP during the five day tour. NPS staff will travel to Lviv in Spring 2009 to work with the team in designing appropriate climate control strategies for historic sites in Lviv. For more information, contact David Bitterman, at david_bitterman@nps.gov
Middle Eastern Parks Fellowships
Two Middle Eastern interns completed endangered species fellowships at Bryce Canyon and Redwood National Parks. This program, supported by the Interior Department’s International Technical Assistance Program, together with the NPS International Volunteers in Parks program, places qualified candidates from Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain into intensive training programs on endangered species management in U.S. national parks. A natural resources manager from Morocco’s Souss Massa National Park was placed at Bryce Canyon NP to learn how the park manages its endangered prairie dogs and assist with a park deer study. A ranger from Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary worked at Redwood NP on fisheries and wildlife management projects.
Three fellows had participated in the program earlier in 2008 and the program hopes to host two Middle Eastern fellows in Spring 2009. Parks willing to host the incoming fellows should contact David Krewson, at david_krewson@nps.gov.
NPS Support to U.S. - China Bilateral Meeting
The annual U.S.-China Executive Secretaries Meeting (ESM) was held at USGS offices in Menlo Park, California on October 27-29, 2008, with participation by NPS staff. A
ranger from Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park made a presentation on National Park Emergency Search and Rescue Response and NPS Environmental Management staff participated in the Natural Resource Conservation panel discussion. NPS presentation was of interest to Chinese and U.S. sides, and showed the breadth of services offered by the National Park Service. NPS also arranged site visits for the Chinese delegation to the Alcatraz Island unit of Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Muir Woods National Monument. For more information, contact Carl Wang, at carl_wang@nps.gov
Sustainable Tourism Training for Cambodian & Vietnamese Reserve Managers
NPS staff served as instructors for training courses on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island and Cambodia’s Koh Kong Island, as part of an International Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management Capacity Building Training Program coordinated by NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program. Training courses had participants from local, provincial, and national natural resource agencies and protected areas, as well as other environmental professionals and stakeholders. Natural resource agencies and NGO’s are concerned about the affects of rapid tourism development on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity in both of these natural sites. The training group worked with members of small fishing communities on the An Thoi Islands off the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island to conduct community asset inventories and visioning exercises. In Koh Kong, the training group worked with a small community-led mangrove forest reserve to develop a community vision for sustainable tourism activities that maintain and enhance local ecological features (through restoration) and contribute to community livelihoods. These trainings continue efforts to build capacity among protected area staff and their partners aimed at coastal and marine resource management and sustainable economic development across the South China Sea region. For more information, contact Tom Fish, at tom_fish@nps.gov.
Beringia Days is a gathering of NPS staff, Alaska and Russian Natives, governmental and corporation officials, as well as researchers, local school groups and university Russian language students, who report on activities that take place in northwest Alaska and eastern Chukotka, Russia. Beringia Days events are funded by the National Park Service’s International Shared Beringian Heritage Program and the government of Chukotka. The first Beringia Days conference was held in Anchorage, Alaska in 1997. Since 2003 it alternates between Alaska and Chukotka. This year’s event was held in Fairbanks, Alaska in conjunction with an International Polar Year Park Science Symposium for U.S. National Park units in northern and western Alaska. The next Beringia Days Conference will be held in Anadyr, Chukotka, Russia. The NPS Alaska Region annually funds 10-15 projects to support research and community projects throughout the Beringian region, all with a Russian component in the project. For more information, visit the 2008 meeting website at http://nps.arcus.org/, the Shared Beringian Heritage Program website at http://www.nps.gov/akso/beringia or contact Peter Richter at peter_richter@nps.gov.
Mammoth Cave Hosts Chinese Science Staff
As part of an ongoing effort to establish a sister park relationship between U.S. and Chinese national parks that preserve and interpret cave and karst landforms, Mammoth Cave National Park hosted the Science Counselor and First Secretary (at right) of the Chinese Embassy to visit the park to become familiar with how the U.S. manages a natural World Heritage site. Embassy staff met scientific, academic and local officials working on international karst research both at Mammoth Cave and abroad, including a USAID-funded project in China. The site visit was co-hosted with Western Kentucky University and the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning. For more information, contact Superintendent Pat Reed, at pat_reed@nps.gov.
Iraq Cultural Heritage Project Announced
First Lady Laura Bush announced the launch of the Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP), a State Department initiative to assist in Iraqi cultural heritage preservation. As part of its ongoing support of Iraq’s cultural heritage, State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will provide funding to this new initiative and lead efforts to secure private sector contributions. Iraqi resources are anticipated to complement the ICHP, as the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage plans to request enhanced funding from the national parliament. The National Park Service will provide expertise in establishing the historic preservation and archeology program of a new Conservation and Preservation Institute in Erbil.
For more details, visit http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/oct/111017.htm, or contact Dan Odess, at Daniel_odess@nps.gov.