Countryside Management Association News

Well, we all recovered from our field trips. And when I said everyone got back – I was wrong. In fact there weren’t enough seats on the last bus which left our field trip, so 2 people ended up taxi-ing their way home. Fortunately one could speak the language as he was Bolivian.

Friday (the last day) was a day of meetings and voting for various International Exec. Committe posts within the IRF.

Florin, (a Ranger from Romania), was voted-in as the next European IRF Representative, as Rigmor from Norway stepped down.

Deanne Adams from the USA is now the IRF President for the next 3 year term (until the next World Congress).

As yet there is no suggestion of where the next World Congress will be because no-one came forward with a proposal, but I think one or two countries are considering it. And I understand the next European get-together will be in Russia – possibly next year.

If you have the opportunity to attend one of these IRF gatherings, I would recommend you go. You’ll find it really interesting to meet so many other Rangers – some with quite similar roles to Rangers, Wardens and Keepers in the UK, whilst others are very different. The CMA website will always have information about future interational events, so keep an eye out.

The closing ceremony was on Friday 6th. Nov. and was due to start at 8 p.m.. Having got into the Latin American swing of things by this time, we strolled along at 8.20 p.m., only to find out we were still early. Proceedings finally got underway by 9 p.m. with a number of speeches, awards, and thank-yous. After that, dinner was served with the "Atkins Diet" theme continuing with Roasted Quail, stuffed with pate. My heart goes out to the vegetarians.

Dinner was followed by some impromptu dancing, although not everyone joined in as some people were staying at other hotels and their buses had arrived to take them back. I felt the finale at the Congress in Stirling 3 years ago (with a buffet and ceilidh, which some of you may remember) was more striking as a Congress finish, but the dancing was still good fun.

There’s some beautiful and dramatic scenery in Bolivia, and very different wildlife. The birdspotters had plenty to keep them occupied. Perhaps not surprisingly there’s quite a contrast between the 4 star hotel we stayed in and the areas of poverty elsewhere. While we had the comfort of a pool and air conditioning, we saw people getting around by pony and doing their washing in the river.

Congress delegates made their way home over the next few days, saying goodbye and looking forward to meeting again in Europe or elsewhere, or to stay in touch by email. Those of us who were still there on Saturday evening gathered for a meal at a local restaurant, which was another good opportunity for a chat and to catch up with each other. I hope my reports haven't sounded like we are a cliquey group, we truly are not and everyone we met during this Congress have been extremely welcoming.

Perhaps I’ll see you at the next one in Russia...?

Janice

CMA Roving Reporter

Well, the IRF Congress has continued with lots of interesting talks and workshops. Unusually for a conference, they’ve organised it so we get into discussion groups after a panel of speakers to identify issues the IRF can focus on and further questions, which is a nice idea.

There was a really interesting video from Rangers in Australia, focussing on the damage caused by the last massive bush fires there. It was made in memory of the Rangers, and other people, who died and was both moving and fascinating. Equally interesting was a talk on Volcano National Park in Hawaii, which showed how the lava damaged the site, then how vegetation managed to grow again. There are loads of sessions I could mention, but will leave it at just those two.

Thursday 5th Nov. saw us all going on field visits, generally with a 6.30 a.m. start (not a normal time to be awake as far as I’m concerned). The buses were slightly longer than our 17 seater minibuses, but held about 28 people, if you’d care to imagine that in 30 degrees of heat and high humidity..........phew!!!

Our transport for the last section of the route was in a 4x4 because of the rough terrain. As they didn’t have enough vehicles, we generally squeezed in where we could, with 8 of us in the back of a pick-up and 2 on the roof rack of a Land Cruiser. We forded several rivers and were told that once the rainy season started the people living on the far side of it would be cut off until the water receded again.

Organisation of the event happened in the loosest sense of the word, but as far as I know everyone got there and back again. My visit was advertised as being horse riding, but ended up being a walk in a rainforest for 3 ½ hours. It was a fantastic environment to visit, but very challenging with the heat and humidity. The noise was unbelievable from the insects and birds, but with some beautiful flowers around. We visited a lovely waterfall, and then walked to the top of it to get a great view down the valley. The walk continued up, including an almost vertical wooden ladder attached to the rock with rusting wire (didn’t realise that until I climbed past it. Mind you, it held for bigger people than me). We eventually made it down for lunch at 3.30 p.m. which was badly needed. There were plenty of offers of cocao leaves to chew along the way however.

We reached the hotel again at 9 p.m., having had to reverse the journey in 4x4s and buses, and sank gratefully into the swimming pool, followed by a very late dinner. And if you ever want to try the Atkins diet, South America is certainly a good place to do it (if you fancy 26oz steaks for lunch).

That’s it for now - but one last report to come.

Adios,

Janice.

It was pointed out to me that you may not want to know what a fantastic time I’m having in South America, and all the Rangers I’m meeting from around the world. So, I won’t tell you about the hotel pool with palm trees around the edge and a bar at the side. Or the fantastic buffet breakfasts...

Anyway, we arrived in Santa Cruz on Saturday 31st October after travelling for over 24 hours into temperatures of 42 degrees (a heatwave here apparently given it’s only spring). The opening ceremony took place Sunday evening, with welcome speeches (simultaneously translated from Spanish where necessary). The Bolivian people are very proud of their protected areas and culture, and we got an insight into that from the speeches, and from some excellent performances by local dancers and a band. As with a lot of South American countries the pace of life is relaxed, everything happens eventually, and so it was that we had dinner at 10.30 p.m., which nicely rounded off the first evening.

The first day got underway with a change to the programme due to the late arrival of some speakers. In multi-national groups we considered the effects of climate change on a Rangers job, and how Rangers could help address the issues. It was interesting that so many different countries came up with similar issues, like loss of habitat due to rising sea levels, and similar solutions, like leading by example. The speakers gave insights into how climate change affected the Bolivian environment and the importance of monitoring changes – not just to create statistics, but to inform decisions.

After some fairly lengthy negotiating, Nick Eade (the other CMA delegate) managed to secure some wall space and sellotape so we could finally put up the CMA poster. So that’s now available for delegates to look at.

More later, and thanks again to the CMA for the bursary to support my coming here.

Adios!

Janice