Heather Dumais, an air monitor for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, bows her head during a Buddhist prayer led by monks in a ceremony at Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park. Fresno Bee photo by Eric Paul Zamora Wednesday, October 4, 2006
By Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Sequoia National Park -- A struggling park halfway across the world has turned to Sequoia National Park for help in preserving a war-torn region that covers thousands of acres of rain forest and is home to some of the last Asian elephants and Asiatic bears on Earth.
Cambodia's Samlaut park was a Khmer Rouge stronghold until 10 years ago, and today its future is threatened by poachers, loggers and public indifference.
On Tuesday, Cambodia's environmental minister, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia and the superintendent of Sequoia National Park signed a "sister park" accord under which the two parks will exchange expertise on park management, resource protection and wildlife preservation.
Cambodia plans to send a delegation of rangers to Sequoia early next year to learn more about the park's administration, its technology and its volunteer programs. The two parks were paired because both are largely forests and host many endangered species.
The National Park Service has a long history of international collaboration, and at least 32 U.S. parks have "sister park" relationships with 18 nations.
Yosemite National Park signed such an accord with Huangshan National Park in China in May, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area has collaborated with Parks Victoria in Australia for many years.
Park officials said such relationships allow them to share expertise with parks that share similar features, face similar problems and serve similar audiences.
"There's no question there are things we can learn," said Mike Tollefson, superintendent of Yosemite. The park will host a delegation from Huangshan this winter. "There are a lot of opportunities in both directions."
Never before has Cambodia sought such help, and never before has the United States' second-oldest national park mentored another park.
"This provides us with a blueprint for our efforts to protect Samlaut," said Mok Mareth, Cambodian minister of the environment. "We look forward to working with our new partner to make Samlaut a national park."
The National Park Service stressed that the relationship will be mutually beneficial although it clearly favors the country with little experience in environmental preservation and few resources with which to pursue it.
"Samlaut is the little sister, no doubt," said Stephan Bognar, executive director of the Maddox Jolie Pitt Project, the nonprofit organization actress Angelina Jolie founded to preserve Samlaut. "We have so much to learn from Sequoia."
The 148,260-acre park is in Cambodia's Battambang province in the country's northwestern corner. It is hilly, much like Mount Diablo State Park, and coursed by rivers that provide one-third of Cambodia's water. In contrast, Sequoia covers more than 400,000 acres.
Cambodia, which has seven national parks, granted Samlaut some protection in 1993 when it declared the region a "multiple use area," limiting logging and other activities in an area home to elephants, bears, Sumatran tigers and the Javan rhinoceros.
For political reasons, the government has been largely unable to enforce the regulation, and environmentalists said logging, poaching and mining are rampant. The region has already lost 40 percent of its timber, by some estimates, and it is littered with land mines and other ordnance left behind after three decades of civil war.
The Maddox Jolie Pitt Project -- named for Jolie and actor Brad Pitt's adopted Cambodian son -- has hired 30 rangers since 2003, started a survey of the park's wildlife and launched a campaign to educate people about the need to protect the park.
Bognar approached the National Park Service last year to enlist its help.
"We realized that we needed to form an alliance to better secure Samlaut's future," he said. "Sometimes you need to look outside to increase conservation inside."
Sequoia National Park was the obvious partner, park officials said, because the two parks were created to protect valued forests and important watersheds.
Craig Axtell, superintendent of Sequoia National Park, said he is particularly interested in how Samlaut addresses timber poachers, because some of their tactics might be effective in curbing marijuana cultivation within Sequoia.
"We see this as an opportunity to learn from each other," he said, adding that he'd like to send rangers to Cambodia. "We're going to share skills and knowledge."
The two parks also are linked culturally. Some 7,000 Cambodian Americans, many of whom fled Cambodia in the 1970s, live in the communities surrounding Sequoia.
"All of us see this as renewed friendship between our two countries," said Sopheaktra Nou, executive director of the Cambodian Reconciliation Committee, a community nonprofit in Fresno. "This will help our country heal, create a park all the world can see and help us protect and preserve our culture."
E-mail Chuck Squatriglia at csquatriglia@sfchronicle.com.
Cambodia's Samlaut park was a Khmer Rouge stronghold until 10 years ago, and today its future is threatened by poachers, loggers and public indifference.
On Tuesday, Cambodia's environmental minister, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia and the superintendent of Sequoia National Park signed a "sister park" accord under which the two parks will exchange expertise on park management, resource protection and wildlife preservation.
Cambodia plans to send a delegation of rangers to Sequoia early next year to learn more about the park's administration, its technology and its volunteer programs. The two parks were paired because both are largely forests and host many endangered species.
The National Park Service has a long history of international collaboration, and at least 32 U.S. parks have "sister park" relationships with 18 nations.
Yosemite National Park signed such an accord with Huangshan National Park in China in May, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area has collaborated with Parks Victoria in Australia for many years.
Park officials said such relationships allow them to share expertise with parks that share similar features, face similar problems and serve similar audiences.
"There's no question there are things we can learn," said Mike Tollefson, superintendent of Yosemite. The park will host a delegation from Huangshan this winter. "There are a lot of opportunities in both directions."
Never before has Cambodia sought such help, and never before has the United States' second-oldest national park mentored another park.
"This provides us with a blueprint for our efforts to protect Samlaut," said Mok Mareth, Cambodian minister of the environment. "We look forward to working with our new partner to make Samlaut a national park."
The National Park Service stressed that the relationship will be mutually beneficial although it clearly favors the country with little experience in environmental preservation and few resources with which to pursue it.
"Samlaut is the little sister, no doubt," said Stephan Bognar, executive director of the Maddox Jolie Pitt Project, the nonprofit organization actress Angelina Jolie founded to preserve Samlaut. "We have so much to learn from Sequoia."
The 148,260-acre park is in Cambodia's Battambang province in the country's northwestern corner. It is hilly, much like Mount Diablo State Park, and coursed by rivers that provide one-third of Cambodia's water. In contrast, Sequoia covers more than 400,000 acres.
Cambodia, which has seven national parks, granted Samlaut some protection in 1993 when it declared the region a "multiple use area," limiting logging and other activities in an area home to elephants, bears, Sumatran tigers and the Javan rhinoceros.
For political reasons, the government has been largely unable to enforce the regulation, and environmentalists said logging, poaching and mining are rampant. The region has already lost 40 percent of its timber, by some estimates, and it is littered with land mines and other ordnance left behind after three decades of civil war.
The Maddox Jolie Pitt Project -- named for Jolie and actor Brad Pitt's adopted Cambodian son -- has hired 30 rangers since 2003, started a survey of the park's wildlife and launched a campaign to educate people about the need to protect the park.
Bognar approached the National Park Service last year to enlist its help.
"We realized that we needed to form an alliance to better secure Samlaut's future," he said. "Sometimes you need to look outside to increase conservation inside."
Sequoia National Park was the obvious partner, park officials said, because the two parks were created to protect valued forests and important watersheds.
Craig Axtell, superintendent of Sequoia National Park, said he is particularly interested in how Samlaut addresses timber poachers, because some of their tactics might be effective in curbing marijuana cultivation within Sequoia.
"We see this as an opportunity to learn from each other," he said, adding that he'd like to send rangers to Cambodia. "We're going to share skills and knowledge."
The two parks also are linked culturally. Some 7,000 Cambodian Americans, many of whom fled Cambodia in the 1970s, live in the communities surrounding Sequoia.
"All of us see this as renewed friendship between our two countries," said Sopheaktra Nou, executive director of the Cambodian Reconciliation Committee, a community nonprofit in Fresno. "This will help our country heal, create a park all the world can see and help us protect and preserve our culture."
E-mail Chuck Squatriglia at csquatriglia@sfchronicle.com.
2 comments:
Bravo! H.E. Mr. Mok Mareth
Good idea to make such a good deal with your US partner in terms of environmental protection.
Please learn from them as much as you could on how the US government manage their parks and how many[long term] benefits the US could earn from such spots of tourist attraction. Please bring all the truth you have seen in the US Parks to tell and teach your fellow [most corrupted] government officials [in particular those working in the Min. of Agriculture, Dep-t of Forestry]. They must understand that the current out-of-control deforestration in Cambodia is likely of such a criminal act against humanity [,not only against the nature]. They should stop blaming poor peasants for just having cut some small trees near their rice fields for cooking food or even build their small huts and shelters. The real concerns should be about unfair concessions that the Government have signed with foreign companies after UNTAC time. I'm sure you know what's wrong in a fight between your SuperBoss and the Global Witness a few years ago.
Summer last year, my friends and I have paid a visit to the Sequoia National Park and the Grand Canyon National Park in the US. We stayed overnight for a couple days in a camp ground. I enjoyed so much the beautiful nature of the Parks. It's a paradise on Earth. Giant Sequoias, mountails and hills, valleys and lakes, waterfalls and cascades, wild animals and birds, wild colorful flowers, and many more are being well preserved in their natural shapes. I miss some high spots of the High Sieera where we can see the sky and stars lower than other areas. At night, gentle and disciplinable rangers patrolled the jungles but did not forget to guard camps and protect us. I feel very safe like at home. While enjoying a camping fire in the Parks, we talked about Cambodia ... All felt sad while comparing the fate of Cambodia Parks with those in the US. In the US Parks, visitors are happy to pay fees for their visits and stays. Some commit to come back again.
For decades I have been travelling troughout Cambodia to most remote areas and often had opportunities staying overnight with loggers, rangers, deminers, soldiers in jungles, some other times in tribe villages. I can't denie the exceptional beauty of Cambidia forest. Unfortunately I can't see any milestones in efforts of the [current] Governement to preserve our forests. Instead anarchic deforestration everywhere.
Now, Excellency, it's time to tell our Cambodian Elites to open their eyes, clear out their mind with reducing personal ambition and watch the World to see in what direction people around the Globe are marching up?. If the US Parks are too far from Cambodia, they may also visit VietNam or Thailand national parks and forests and compare with what we did.
We have a hen that gives one gold egg every day. Be smart to feed it well. We will become rich with its gold eggs. If we cut its neck hoping to get more gold fast, we won't get anything.
Greed and ignorance will push us into self-destruction.
A retired Khmer citizen
To A retire Khmer citizen,
Thank you for your fine writting and comment. You have played a huge part in restoring our country.
To Mr. Bognar,
Please tell Ms. Jolie that she is our CAMBODIAN PRINCESS.
To your Excellency Mareth,
This is the first positive step that our government have taken or done something good and meaningful to us in a long time. May your project continue to grow and be sucessful for many many years to come.
Thank you all so much! and God bless!
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