European Ranger Federation
EUROPEAN RANGER FEDERATION
Newsletter 03 - March 2019
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Editorial

Welcome to the third edition of the ERF newsletter. In the following articles, you will find some very successful and inspiring examples of twinning programs, meetings and workshops that have happened around Europe. These are great ways to bring together rangers and to further the aims of the ERF and IRF.
Our Training Officers (Hrafnhildur "Habba" Ævarsdottir and her deputy Urs Wegmann) with the Training Working Group are working to establish a standard for ranger training, while some ranger associations are organising the first "ERF endorsed" training sessions.
And for more Ranger news, check out the articles on ERF website at the end of the newsletter. Happy reading!

Emmanuel Icardo, ERF Secretary


The President's Column

Frank Grütz

Dear friends, Ranger colleagues and members,

Hope this new edition of our ERF-newsletter finds you well and highly motivated for the upcoming ranger season.
Some of you already held their national Annual Ranger Congresses and some will hold it during the next weeks. Beginning of February our Project Officer Niki attended a fantastic and inspiring Portuguese Ranger Congress on which also a lot of guests from other Ranger Associations took part to use the chance to learn, offer examples of best practice and for exchange. And to share and pass on their motivation and passion. Next week our Vice-President Roger Cole will attend the first Annual Ranger Congress of the new-established Ranger Association of Ireland and I will follow the invitation of the Spanish Ranger Association to attend the Spanish Ranger Congress. Of course we will hold some presentations about the work of Rangers, the ERF and how to improve things. But we also want to learn about the successes, needs and duties of our hosts to find ways how ERF can offer support and give new motivation.
A couple of days ago I received the request of a big TV channel that plans to produce a documentary about the work of Rangers worldwide with the focus on how Rangers manage to get along with problems like pollution, increasing pressure of tourism and poaching in their protected areas. As you can see – nature protection and the important work of Rangers slowly find its ways to come to attention of the public – and hopefully politics also.
Facing all this problems I really am fascinated over and over again and bow deep in respect for your passion and motivation to go on day by day! But next to several events this year comes up with a special event – the World Ranger Congress in Nepal from 11. - 16. November. And this will offer a unique chance to meet Ranger colleagues from all over the world, to learn from each other and to celebrate the worldwide acting Ranger family. For sure you will return with new ideas and inspiration, regained passion and motivation for your jobs back home. Due to a doubled work load in my regular job for the last one year and arising health problems trying to carry out my duties as President of the ERF and European Representative of the IRF next to my daily job unfortunately I won´t candidate for the European Representative of the IRF at WRC in Nepal.
Last but not least – SAVE THE DATE for our 5. European Ranger Congress 11.-16. May 2020 in Bavarian Forest NP in Germany.
Thank you all for your dedication, passion and motivation for the most important job in the World! Be proud to be a Ranger – I am proud to be a Ranger!

But now – enjoy our ERF newsletter  and take care!

Yours

Frank


ERF Executive Committee: Personality Profile

Michael Großmann has just joined the ERF Executive Committee as fundraising/ sponsoring specialist. Welcome Michael!

Michael (Germany) has been holding various positions in the Bavarian Forest National Park since 1990; he has been head of the ranger team for 6 years now. For him, two major tasks are the preparation of „complex topics“ of nature and species conservation for the best possible information work of rangers, as well as the further development of the Junior Ranger programme. Michael is an active member of the working group „Parkranger Management” of Europarc Germany.


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Twinning Workshop in Denmark Report

Summary Report for the EEC about the Workshop of Twinning Partners held in Frederikshavn, Denmark 28.2. – 3.3 2019 Short summary Seventeen members of national ranger associations attended the 3-day meeting (Por 1, Den 5, Sui 1, Slo 1, Cze… Read More

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International Friends and Twinning Programs

The Ranger Association of Iceland has made two twinning agreements with two separate countries; first with Scotland later with Romania, because having one twin is not enough! The twinning made between Iceland and Scotland is an older agreement that started… Read More

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Twinning meeting in Israel

For a few days now Israelian Rangers have been hosting their twins from Germany, an extraordinary experience, a lot of conversations about preserving nature and especially the continuation and strengthening of the relationship. A good example for the exchange between… Read More

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XXII Portuguese National Ranger Meeting

Terceira – Açores From 30th of January to the 2nd of February of 2019 The Portuguese National Meeting of Park Rangers welcomed several ERF members (Albania, Croatia, Scotland, Spain, England, Iceland, Israel, Italy and Switzerland), who kindly participated in this… Read More


Recent news

image Countryside Management Association (CMA) 2019 conference

Theme - Engaging communities, enhancing lives Over 50 rangers attended the CMA conference in November 2018 which was based in the Lee Valley Regional Park close to London and was opened…

image ERF Anti-poaching “train-the-trainer” course

July 28 - August 3 2019, Carmel National Park, Israel This training course hosted by our ERF colleagues of the Israel Ranger Association is heavily over-subscribed and the course is…

image Malta recruits volunteer Park Rangers

The island of Malta (316 km²) has been recruiting volunteer rangers in the Majjistral Nature and History Park to help patrol the Park and to report any irregularity or illegality they…

image A new app to help Spanish rangers

Juan Manuel Alvarez Quiñones AEAFMA (Spanish rangers association) devolopped and launched an app to supply quick and easy access to most of the regulations and laws involved in nature protection…

image Salome Idoidze – one of the two only female park rangers in Georgia

Salome Idoidze is one of the two only female park rangers in Georgia. She works in the Tusheti National Park in Georgia, a large protected area on the northern slopes of…

image Making the case for Congress attendance

The 9th World Ranger Congress will be held in the village of Sauraha (on the border of Chitwan National Park), Nepal between 12th-16th November. The IRF World Ranger Congress provides…

image Recent deaths of European Rangers

We have sadly lost a number of colleagues over the past months....... In September Georgia Agency for Protected Areas lost a well respected ranger when Ivane Kupradze of Borjomi-Kharagauli NP…

image Rangers without borders in a Swiss landscape park

Rangers Without Borders Binational team of Rangers for Wiese Landscape Park (Landschaftspark Wiese) Landschaftspark Wiese is a popular recreational area for the tri-national agglomeration of Basel. To protect it from…

image Welcome to the Georgian Ranger Association

We welcome the Georgian Ranger Association into the European Ranger Federation. Their application for provisional membership of the IRF was approved last week and they are now starting to build…


Upcoming events

image Assembly and general meeting – Ranger Association of Ireland

The ranger association of Ireland will hold their annual meeting in Burren NP, County Clare from 2nd to 4th April 2019.

image V Spanish Ranger Congress

The V Spanish Ranger Congress will take place in April from 3rd to 6th 2019, in Gran Canaria island - Cannary islands Autonomous Community -

image Heritage Interpretation Workshop and annual meeting in Switzerland

10-13 April at Uster near Zurich

image Croatian Ranger Meeting in April

XIX ANNUAL SEMINAR OF CROATIAN RANGERS IN 2019. Nature park ZUMBERAK-SAMOBORSKO GORJE Date: 25.-26.April 2019

image International Ranger Training Course on Anti-poaching

28 July to 3 August 2019 in Israel

image 9th World Ranger Congress

12th-16th November 2019, village of Sauraha (on the border of Chitwan National Park), Nepal

image 5th European Ranger Congress

11 to 16 May 2020 Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany

Call for contributions: Do you have any reports, events or news to share?
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