Canada and Australia have two of the world’s oldest national parks systems. The first park Down Under was designated in 1879 just south of Sydney and six years later, what is now known as Banff National Park came into being. It’s no surprise, then, given the history and size of the two parks systems, to find that a pilot partnership between the management bodies is already thriving.

Sharing expertise and contributing new knowledge is not a new concept for either Parks Canada, or Parks Victoria, the partner organization from across the Pacific. The pilot project is small, but so far it has been very successful, according to the Canadian in charge.

Mike Fay, the Chief Administrative Officer for Parks Canada, was first part of discussions about a potential partnership in the spring of 2004, when the head of Parks Victoria toured North America and dropped by Parks Canada headquarters for a visit.

“He suggested that it might be worthwhile, they have a number of exchange programs and they were interested in a sharing of expertise,” Fay recalls over the phone from his office in Gatineau, Quebec. The idea appealed to him on several levels.

Parks Victoria is responsible for a wide range of parks in southeast  Australia and is on the cutting edge in the world of conservation management.

“They’re one of the more progressive parks organizations in the world,” Fay says. “They’ve got a lot of new ideas and new energy and their peak season is opposite to ours ... it really would provide good professional development opportunities for our staff, new knowledge, experiences and leadership skills.”

Encouraged by this initial exploration, Fay followed up with his counterpart in the winter of 2004. The decision was made to create a two-year pilot program that would see Australian and Canadian parks staff make two exchange trips.

“For the first four or five months you’re just learning and not able to participate as much, but if you’re back a second time then you’re more familiar and can make a real contribution,” he says in explanation of why two trips are essential to the program.

The Australians took the long plane journey first, spending time in several Canadian parks, including Jasper, this summer. The six Canadians, one of whom is Jasper National Park interpreter Brian Catto, departed for their exchange terms in early November.

Fay had the chance to meet with the Australian group in June and was impressed by their attitude towards the project.

“I think there is great enthusiasm from the staff on both sides. The Aussies were absolutely gung ho when I met them in June ... I’ve had a couple of email discussions with the Canadians since they’ve been over and the kind of hospitality and reception they’ve had has been fantastic.”

The exchange program is operating on what Fay describes as a “shoestring budget.”  Although Parks is able to cover travel costs for the Canadian participants, each employee has had to pay something out of their own pockets. That said, Fay doesn’t feel the financial constraints have been the biggest challenge so far. 

“The most challenging thing was to identify the candidates from Canada to go,” he says. “We had to do it in fairly short order ... we canvassed supers across the country to provide suggestions. Then we also had to make sure they were willing to take an Aussie in return and provide staff housing at a reasonable cost. With that there were about 13-14 parks who submitted a slate of candidates.”

In the end, participants emerged from diverse parks right across the country, from Gros Morne to Bruce Peninsula to Jasper and Elk Island in Alberta.

“I think it was very well received in Parks Canada. I got a number of emails saying that it’s a very exciting opportunity,” Fay says. “We had to work out some kinks initially, but it’s all come together very nicely.” 

The two parks systems are significantly different but with strengths in different areas come ample opportunities for learning, according to Fay.

“Being in Australia they have completely different issues to ours ... there are non-indigenous species that have been introduced so they have all sorts of resource management issues. They’re way ahead of us on the marine park system and they’ve done a lot on fire and we can learn from that,” he says. Canada, on the other hand, can provide some leadership when it comes to managing historic sites, for example.

“We can learn from one another,” Fay says.

Yasmin Aly, a Parks Victoria ranger who spent last summer working in Jasper, certainly echoes that sentiment.

“The diversity of my role in Australia as a ranger was different to the more focused role in Jasper,” she wrote the Fitzhugh in an email from Australia.  “As a ranger for Parks Victoria, my role is varied and I am involved with many tasks ... during my time with Parks Canada my role was far more focused, working with the wildlife management unit. It was a pleasant change to be able to focus more directly on one aspect of environmental management.”

Managing a townsite within a park and the issues associated with that also was a new concept for Aly, including the problem of wildlife and human interactions. There were more

basic differences as well.

“I was missing the hot weather I’m used to in summer as well,” she wrote.

Aly feels that the new experiences have helped her do her job back in Australia.

“Often having a change from your day-to-day role can make you look at everything differently.  I discovered that there are areas of my work that I would like to focus upon more carefully as a ranger. For example — threatened species monitoring and community engagement processes.”

Back in Canada, Mike Fay agrees that there are many benefits to the exchange program in principle. “I see it as an investment,” he says. Still, the program will be carefully evaluated at the end of the two-year pilot period to see if it should be continued.

“I think it’s got some potential,” he says. “They’ve been doing it longer than we have and they’re more than convinced that the paybacks are there.”