Parks Victoria Annual Report 2000-01

Clockwise from left: The Healthy Parks Healthy People partnership brochure was distributed to General Practitioners;One of our key media partners, FOXFM, at the Parks Festival; Mapping is a key activity in the Research Partners Program.Partnerships with Park AgenciesThe close relationship we maintain with other park agencies,nationally and internationally, allows us to conductperformance benchmarking and provides staff withprofessional development opportunities.We embarked on a staff secondment program withEnvironment Australia, for example, that saw a staff memberfrom Kakadu National Park working in Victoria and a ParksVictoria Ranger-in-Charge spending 12 months at Kakadu togain a better understanding of co-management.Parks Victoria staff supported the Olympic Torch Relay atUluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, while another three fieldstaff assisted the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service inmanaging the Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay NationalParks during the Olympic Games.Several government delegations from Japan, Taiwan andChina also visited Parks Victoria during the year, as did sixleading representatives from park organisations in Canada,the United States, South Africa and New Zealand. Theseincluded Parks Canada’s science advisor and the Directorof San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area.Providing for a Multicultural SocietyThe Healthy Parks Healthy People campaign was designedto inspire affection and support for the Victorian parks andwaterways system by linking the benefits of a healthy parksystem with a healthy community.To promote the message to the non-English speaking groupsin our community – who are generally under-representedamong the visitors we receive – Parks Victoria targeted theethnic print media to help us communicate the Healthy ParksHealthy People message.The Romanian community took the initiative in promotingVictoria’s parks by producing a colourful booklet in Romanian.Funded by a Parks Victoria Community Grant, the publicationwas greeted with much interest by other migrantcommunities, who we hope will consider similar projects.Media PartnershipsParks Victoria maintains strong media partnerships to helpcommunicate the custodial role we play in managing andprotecting our parklands while providing recreationalopportunities.One example is Parks Victoria’s partnership with the Herald Sun,which has been crucial to the success of Victoria’s Parks Festival.Another is Channel 9’s Postcards program, which allows us toreach a mass audience with important conservation stories suchas the Koala relocation program and features on parks such asGrampians and Little Desert National Parks.During the Parks Festival we were able to take our messageto a younger audience through our radio partnership withFOX-FM, while at the other end of the spectrum, regularweekly park updates on 3AK also ensured consistent exposureamong mature listeners.23