Countryside Management Association News

Those younger members of CMA and others under age 35 might like to consider applying for the 2010 Alfred Toepfer Scholarship (managed by EUROPARC).

Participation in the Alfred Toepfer Scholarship programme is open to all those under age 35 who are employed by any European protected area or a nature conversation institution as well as students and graduates of higher educational institutions. The objective is for awardees to travel to other European protected areas gathering experience which will be both of benefit for their future career and to the EUROPARC Federation and its members. Awards are of 3,000 Euros.

Applicants can apply for the following themes:

Biodiversity
Climate Change
Integrated Management of Natural Resources
(water,forest, etc.)
Rural Development (interaction between rural
and urban landscapes)
Renewable Energy
Sustainable Tourism
Food and Agriculture
Health and Protected Areas
Environmental Education and Communication
International / Transboundary Cooperation

For detailed information about applying for the scholarships please see the 2010 scholarship guidelines at http://www.europarc.org/uploaded/documents/280.pdf
Registration for 2010 will open on February 15th. when the online registration form will become available. Applications will remain open until 16th May 2010.

Previous winners from UK are Rachel Danneman in 2008 (Peak District NP) and Saira Sheldrake (New Forest NP) and Naomi Scuffil (Dartmoor NP) in 2009.
Rachel spent time touring the Greek National Parks looking at management of fire and water issues.
Saira hopes to develop a tool to predict disturbance distances of the recreational sport of Kite-surfing on wintering and wading birds in protected areas with coastlines
Naomi plans to study landscape-scale nature conservation projects in two German National Parks.

Roger Cole
CMA International Adviser

A 41-year-old National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger, Aaron Harber, was killed and a pilot seriously injured when their helicopter crashed during firefighting operations on December 9th 2009.

Police said the helicopter crashed in dense rainforest about 50 kilometers west of Coffs Harbour. Emergency personnel arrived at the scene to find the pilot suffering critical head, chest and back injuries. Harber was already dead. The pilot was taken by ambulance to Dorrigo Hospital.

On November 27th, a 50-year-old woman who was hiking by herself on the Angel’s Landing trail in Zion National Park fell a thousand feet to her death, evidently due to loss of footing. Angel’s Landing is a 1200-foot-high rock formation that rises up from Zion Canyon and is reached by crossing a narrow ridge. There are support chains along the way, but the path is classed as hazardous. It was the second fatal fall from Angel’s Landing this year. (Roger Cole CMA International Adviser was at Zion on the same day meeting with Jock Whitworth the park superintendent).
Then, on November 28th, a man visiting the South Rim of Grand Canyon with his family evidently lost his footing at a spot on the South Rim and fell several hundred feet to his death. A slip is suspected.