South Australia celebrates appointment of 100th volunteer park ranger

South Australia’s volunteer park ranger program has reached a significant milestone with the appointment of the 100th volunteer ranger since the program started in September 2019.

South Australian Minister for Environment and Water David Speirs said participants in the South Australian Volunteer Ranger Program have contributed about 2700 hours in 17 parks across the state, including at Adelaide’s newest national park, Glenthorne National Park, where celebrations were recently held.

Minister Speirs noted “it’s fantastic to be able to celebrate our 100th volunteer park ranger and recognise the work they do to protect our national parks alongside the State Government’s park rangers and existing park volunteers.

“The Volunteer Ranger Program gives South Australians with an interest in the environment the opportunity to contribute to nature and wildlife conservation, all while enjoying the state’s iconic national parks.

“We want to improve visitor experiences and increase the number of people who can enjoy our parks across South Australia and park rangers play a crucial role in this.”

Minister Speirs highlighted the significant investment from the South Australian Government to revitalise national parks and recognised the important role rangers play in park conservation and maintenance.

Minister Speirs also announced the opening of this year’s National Parks and Wildlife Service Volunteer Support Grant program advising “for the next three years this grants program will increase from $60,000 to $90,000 a year which will significantly increase the ability of community groups to undertake on-park projects such as biodiversity conservation, post-fire habitat recovery and threatened species monitoring.”

The Volunteer Ranger Program is currently run across 17 national parks in South Australia, including Glenthorne, Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, Morialta Conservation Park, Para Wirra Conservation Park, Onkaparinga River Parks, Granite Island Recreation Park, Montacute Conservation Park, Flinders Chase National Park, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Belair National Park, Sturt Gorge Recreation Park, Hallett Cove Conservation Park, Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, Moana Sands Conservation Park, Black Hill Conservation Park, Deep Creek Conservation Park and Mount Remarkable National Park.

Image: Covering 545 hectares, Glenthorne National Park - Ityamaiitpinna Yarta named as Adelaide’s second metropolitan national park