Park Management Tour Program

Chilean Rangers Cesar and Erwin (Click images to enlarge)

A little bit Chile………….. (Article by Peter Cleary)

 It has been a little chilly lately on Phillip Island especially with two rangers visiting from Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, in the Patagonia region of Chile. With temperatures hovering around -4 degrees Celsius in their homeland, they have enjoyed “summer-like” weather on Phillip Island. 

Cesar and Erwin are on a three month Park Management Tour throughout Victoria and Queensland, facilitated by the Victorian Rangers Association and funded by a benevolent couple who met them, whilst traveling through their Park. The Chilean rangers have spent one week working with the PINP rangers and researchers and visited the many ecotourism attractions on the island. 

“Networking opportunities like this are great for our rangers to learn what type of work Chilean rangers undertake, which park issues are similar to ours and which ones are different. For example, they have very few introduced plants and animals and patrol on horses mainly. However, visitor management is a key duty and their peak season is short and busy like ours’, says ranger Peter Cleary from the Phillip Island Nature Park. 

Efforts of rangers throughout the world are to be highlighted in a documentary, The Thin Green Line, premiering at Banfields on Thursday the 2^nd of August. All profits from the night will be donated to the International Rangers Fund, which supports rangers and their families who have lost their lives or been adversely affected in managing natural and cultural assets in protected areas. 

For more information you can visit thingreenline.info