Date:  31 July 2015

The award will enable Mr Tremain to travel to Denali National Park, Alaska, to study some key similarities to Fiordland National Park. These include the management of single road access, delivery of safety messages, provision of campsites and assessment of visitor experiences on popular walks.

DOC Director-General, Lou Sanson says DOC's Stephen O'Dea Award offers the department a chance to support the development of its front line staff.

"Grant has worked for DOC for 16 years, 10 of these in Fiordland where he leads a team focussed on providing visitors to the area with the best possible experience."

"The award will allow Grant to build on his extensive expertise by exploring park management techniques in a highly comparable location overseas. It's fantastic that Grant's contribution to both the department and Fiordland National Park can be recognised and enhanced in this way."

DOC has more than 1100 frontline staff working from the sub-tropical Kermadecs down to the Sub-Antarctic Islands. They service New Zealand's conservation network which includes 14 national parks, 38 marine reserves, 326 camp sites, 967 huts and 13,429 km of tracks.

The intent of the annual Stephen O'Dea Developmental Award is to provide field-based staff with a professional development opportunity in conservation management.

DOC's Fiordland District Conservation Services Manager Grant Tremain, is presented with the department's Stephen O'Dea Developmental Award today by Stephen's mother, Linda O'Dea, and the Minister of Conservation, Maggie Barry

Background information

The Stephen O'Dea Developmental Award was established in 1996 in memory of Stephen O'Dea, the Field Centre Manager at Punakaiki who died along with 13 Tai Poutini Polytechnic students when the Cave Creek viewing platform collapsed on 28 April 1995.

World Ranger Day is observed annually on 31July commemorating rangers killed or injured in the line of duty, and celebrates the work rangers do to protect the world's natural and cultural treasures.

The first World Ranger Day was observed in 2007 on the 15th anniversary of the founding of the International Ranger Federation (IRF).

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