Case Study CS156: Friends of Parks in South Australia
Author: Cordes, Dene D. (1998)
The amount of practical volunteer work in South Australia’s national parks had been very limited prior to 1980, and comprised one or two schools helping with weed removal, or bushwalking groups assisting with walking trails. Advisory help had been prominent in the form of a Board of Commissioners.
In 1980, the Minister of Environment opened the way for a Friends of Parks scheme to be introduced. Preparatory liaison took place between the National Parks and Wildlife Service and two Trade Unions, to enable an agreement to be reached on the security of the paid workforce.
A Community Liaison Unit was established to set up and co-ordinate Consultative Committees (there are now seventeen) and Friends of Parks (there are now over ninety such groups). The Consultative Committees, along with regionalisation of national parks management, paved the way for the receptive communities across South Australia, where previously the relationships between rural communities and parks had not been amiable.
The first Friends Group was at Fort Glanville where volunteers had already formed a Historical Association. The second group was instigated by the Nature Conservation Society at Ferguson Conservation Park in the eastern foothills of Adelaide. In 1983, the National Parks and Wildlife Service started up its first group, at Old Government House, Belair National Park. The first country group was formed at Butchers Gap Conservation Park near Kingston, where there was no resident ranger, and the park was sixty kilometres from any other staff. This experiment was most successful and opened the way for many more rural Friends Groups thereafter.
In 1985, under a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship, Dene Cordes researched in the U.S.A., Canada, and the U.K., the subject of volunteers in Parks. Each country had different systems. America with its diverse seasonal conditions had an informal system which allowed casual volunteers to be mobile and to be accommodated on-park during short seasons. A Co-operating Association of Board Members had an administrative role, and the U.S. Parks Service welcomed both types of voluntary assistance.
In Canada, a similar system was in operation. A fairly new initiative was the Campground Hosts Scheme which was also in use in America.
The United Kingdom has a well established network of Honorary wardens who are assigned to one particular park.
South Australia, with its small population, vast areas, distances between towns, and a lower economic base, would need a Friends scheme that was not seasonal, that would be ongoing, and which could be run without infrastructure such as hostels, bunkhouses, cabins, etc. It needed to involve the permanent, local population in a long term voluntary capacity, and to be financially self-supporting. These facts were readily recognised during the Churchill Fellowship research.
By late 1985, the Campground Hosts scheme was operating at Naracoorte Caves Conservation Park. Today, there are about fifty voluntary hosts who are rostered in campgrounds at twelve parks. The public is welcomed, allocated a camping site, fees are collected, and general assistance and information is offered by the friendly hosts.
The establishment of new Friends of Parks groups, after 1985, was accelerated with steady growth each year. The present day ninety four groups still allows room for more to be formed. There are 6000 people taking part each year.
The South Australian model has been most successful, culminating in the winning of the Banksia Environmental Foundation’s National Award for community participation in Australian conservation in 1997.
The network is co-ordinated by the Community Liaison Unit, centrally based in Adelaide. Each individual group reports to and is supported by its District Ranger. This ensures that projects are jointly planned in accordance with park management plans and philosophies, with consistent standards, designs, and sharing of expertise.
Each group is self supporting, and its members pay an annual subscription to belong to that group. Fund raising augments this revenue, and in addition the groups apply for grants from a number of sources. An amount of $60,000 per year is allocated by National Parks and Wildlife, S.A., in the form of Friends Grants for which groups apply on a project basis. Grants for botanical training have also been allocated, to the extent of $50,000.
The network of Friends groups became incorporated in 1994, and has a Committee of Management to administer constitutional, legal, and policy aspects.
After fifteen years of successful and expanding Friends of Parks activities, the objectives of the organisations have stood the test of time. These are:-
(a) Practical “hands-on” work
(b) Fund-raising
(c) Cultural and educational programmes
(d) Social activities
All four ingredients make up this scheme.
An Annual Forum is held in a different location, at which over 300 delegates come together. The popular event includes field excursions, forum debate and resolutions, an awards ceremony, guest speakers, a dinner, and a large number of group displays.
South Australian parks now benefit from the Friends network to the extent of over 120 full time equivalent staff positions, and in-kind voluntary labour valued at $3.6 million per year. In addition, the revenue annually raised by Friends is near to $200,000.
The degree of vitality and effectiveness of each individual group depends, greatly, on the support by ranger staff and Managers.
From the outset, some staff embraced the new concept and turned to their advantage this untapped source of community participation, particularly in view of shrinking resources in difficult economic times and dwindling rural populations. Some staff, however, felt uneasy about volunteerism, fearing a loss of control in management, and feeling job insecurity. Other staff openly opposed the concept.
Today, there has been a shift in attitudes. More staff have warmly embraced the scheme, and where once they fitting the community support scheme into a corner of their busy schedules, they now regard it as a priority in park management.
But there are sill some staff who are hesitant to embrace the use of volunteers, and who do not offer the degree of encouragement and recognition that these citizens would like to experience. This is a factor that must be allowed to evolve. A national parks agency can encourage its employees to welcome and embrace community support, but unless the manager feels comfortable in doing so, the partnership does not reach its potential. Where the local staff feel passionate about “their Friends”, the groups thrive.
Across the globe, the long term survival of a dynamic national parks system is more and more dependent on volunteer community input. In South Australia this has been proven, through Friends of Parks. Managers of protected areas must, and will, grow with this scheme, the majority already having thrown their 100% support behind their local Friends.