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Training Manual for Protected Area Personnel (English)

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Training Manual for Protected Area Personnel (English) National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior TRAINING MANUAL FOR PROTECTED AREA PERSONNEL Alan Moore, Editor National Park Service Office of International Affairs United States Department of the Interior Washington, DC USA 1995 Contents Acknowledgements 5 Preface 6 Using the Manual 7 Thematic Units 11 UNIT A: Orientation 29 UNIT B: Protection of Protected Areas 63 UNIT C: Environmental Interpretation 204 UNIT D: Resource Management in Protected Areas 380 UNIT E: Administration of Protected Areas 575 Bibliography 769 Prepared and published by: National Park Service Office of International Affairs United States Department of the Interior 1201 Eye Street, NW Washington DC 20005 USA This publication may be reproduced in its totality or in part for educational and non—profit purposes without special permission. If materials from this publication are reproduced, they should be properly acknowledged, as well as the original source of other materials contained within this publication. Citation: Moore, Alan W. (editor). 1995. Training Manual for Protected Area Personnel. National Park Service; Washington DC, USA. The designation of geographic entities in this publication and the presentation of the materials do not constitute an official expression of the participating organizations with regard to the legal status or boundaries of any country, territory or area. The interpretations and conclusions expressed in this document are those of the respective authors and not necessarily those of the National Park Service or other participating organization. DEDICATION This manual is dedicated to all those persons who are, or have been, involved in the training of protected area personnel, in recognition of the fact that their work generally has been undervalued and little supported. It is hoped that this manual will motivate them, and constitute an important step forward toward achieving a more effective and professional cadre of trainers and, ultimately, more efficiently and effectively managed protected areas throughout the world. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This manual is an abridged and updated version of a Spanish language version published by the United States National Park Service in 1993. At that time, many Latinamericans contributed to the content and overall format of the manual. Their contributions are still evident in the English language edition. In particular we would like to thank Luisa Alfaro and Gerardo Chavez of Costa Rica; Jesus Delgado of Brazil; Miguel Cifuentes of CATIE, in Costa Rica; Carlos Martin of Argentina; Luis Hurtado of Costa Rica; Cesar Ormazabal and Pedro Araya of Chile; and Arturo Ponce of Ecuador. The United States National Park Service (USNPS) has been a major contributor to both versions of the Manual: - Bill Wendt, now retired, was the original promoter and a major contributor to the Manual. Through his office (International Affairs), a number of interns also worked on the Spanish edition. - Doug Cuillard and Jim Bellamy helped conceive and then contributed to and reviewed the Interpretation and Protection Units, respectively. - Rick Smith has contributed to the Cultural Resource lesson. - Mike Watson and his staff at the Mather Employee Development Center in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, reviewed the Interpretation Unit, and generously provided USNPS materials which have been included in the English edition. In addition, Lisa Owen and Will Fontanez of the Cartography Laboratory at the University of Tennessee, did yeoman's work in preparing some of the materials and graphics for both editions. Paul and Elena Carlson did much of the translation needed for both the Spanish and English language editions. Sam Ham of the University of Idaho generously allowed the use of sections from his book: "Environmental Interpretation: A Practical Guide for People with Big Ideas and Small Budgets". Lastly, a special thanks to Rob Milne and his staff at the Office of International Affairs, USNPS, who have administratively and economically supported the preparation of this Manual through its various stages of development, in spite of its complexity and size. PREFACE During the last several decades, the United States National Park Service (USNPS) has been very active throughout the world in supporting the training of protected area personnel. The Service strongly believes that training constitutes an essential element of any institutional strengthening program designed to improve an institution's ability to develop and manage protected areas anywhere in the world. The importance of training and of the need to have written training materials has been emphasized most recently in the IUCN General Assembly held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1994, and in the IV World Congress on National Parks held in Caracas, Venezuela in 1992. All of the participants in both events recognized that, in general, there has been a lack of both quantity and quality of training for protected area personnel. The need for partnerships and collaboration between those more fortunate protected area systems and those less fortunate ones was emphasized. As a result, in 1993 the USNPS published an updated version of a 1989 Spanish language training manual. The focus of this Manual was on providing lesson plans and supporting documents for trainers involved in preparing training courses. Subsequent experience by both Latinamerican and USNPS trainers has shown that the Manual was an extremely useful tool for improving training quality. Due to the success of the Spanish language edition as a training support document, the USNPS decided to publish an English language version so that the materials could be available throughout the English-speaking world. Many changes have been made to the original edition in order to shorten it and make it more relevant to a wider audience. Chief among them are: - Less reliance has been placed on original Spanish language documents, and more on English language sources, especially USNPS. - An emphasis on those topics that are particularly relevant today: tourism; relationship of local people and protected areas; administration and human relations; and environmental interpretation. - While "Maintenance" has been downgraded in terms of its length and content and included in the Administration Unit, it is still considered to be a priority topic. To the extent possible, USNPS will continue to promote and support training programs which strengthen local institutions' capacity to carry out their conservation mandates. We hope that this Manual will be a valuable tool in achieving that goal. USING THE MANUAL A. OBJECTIVES OF THE MANUAL The main objective of this manual is to provide a curriculum which will serve as basis for the development of a systematic and permanent training program in the various protected area systems around the world where these programs are lacking. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that this manual is primarily concerned with the WHAT to train, and not with the HOW. The methods and techniques of transmitting the message (the WHAT) are just as important as the message itself. B. INTENDED MANUAL USERS This manual has been designed to be used by persons interested and/or involved in organizing training events for protected area personnel, i.e. trainers, heads of training programs, instructors. The persons who use the manual can be professionals of the central office of a protected area system, professionals in charge of individual protected areas interested in training their personnel, or professionals working for NGOs or local governments who manage protected areas. The ideas and the information presented in the Manual can be used by persons with a wide variety of technical and professional backgrounds, and by both public and private institutions. However, it should be noted that most of the Lesson Plans require that the user have some basic knowledge of the topic in order to use them effectively. The Manual is useful for organizing events for personnel of any management category, although its orientation is more towards the more protected categories: national parks, reserves, monuments, wildlife refuges, etc. The criteria and methodological proposals can serve as the basis for preparing training programs for other management categories by adjusting the content to emphasize the sustainable use and extraction of natural resources. C. MANUAL'S APPLICATION This manual is designed so that the trainer or instructor can take advantage of its structure in the organization of a training course and in the presentation of the selected topics or themes. Obviously each country's and each protected area's situation is different, in terms of the most appropriate topics and themes, the technical level of the personnel, and in the economic and administrative capacity to organize training events. The Manual recognizes this fact; what is presented in each Unit is an outline for a logical, systematic development of the Unit's theme. The training organizer must adapt the content of the Unit and Lessons to his own specific situation, taking into account: - the purpose of the event, i.e. general orientation, creating a particular skill, qualifying personnel for possible promotion; - most appropriate topics; - the educational level of the trainees; - the experience level of the trainees; - length of the training event; - available funding; - available instructors, and their ability to teach the pertinent topics. It is hoped that the Manual will become a working document for the user, and that he will make the needed modifications
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