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SISTER PARKS Crater Lake may soon have China connection Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted May. 7, 2015 at 5:40 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 3:14 PM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted May. 7, 2015 at 5:40 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 3:14 PM » Social News Crater Lake National Park may soon have a sister-park relationship with a park in the Fujian Province of China. The U.S. was the first country to set aside parkland for preservation and recreation. As a result, Crater Lake Superintendent Craig Ackerman said, other countries have looked to the National Parks Service for expertise and guidance. "Now we're getting information and exchanging practices with national parks in other countries," he said. But Crater Lake's relationship with Wuyi Mountain has far more potential than a mere pen-pal connection. An official Chinese delegation visiting Southern Oregon in 2010 ventured to Crater Lake, and in 2012 Ackerman was among a group visiting China, a trip that included a stop at the Mount Wuyi World Heritage and Cultural Site in Fujian Province. Chinese foreign affairs representatives once again visited Crater Lake earlier this year, and a return engagement to work out a formal agreement could take place as early as next month. "We're hoping to have a signed agreement by November," Ackerman said. "We would like them to see our operations and our issues. We can look at where they might collaborate with us." Mount Wuyi is both vast and varied, with three distinct heritage, ecological and nature reserve zones comprising a park area of 247,000 acres that attracts 9 million visitors annually. By comparison, Crater Lake calls it a good year when more than 500,000 people visit its 183,000-acre park. "We're not to our capacity yet," Ackerman said. "Our roads and facilities are not designed for a million people all at once during the summer. But we certainly could accommodate them with expanded spring and fall visitation." Mount Wuyi's culture area, Ackerman said, includes a 2,000-year-old city, and the park contains a massive tea plantation. What the Mount Wuyi lacks, however, is the extensive interpretive system characterizing American national parks. "There are 5,000-year-old engravings on the rocks and multiple cultural resources that are thousands of years old," he said. "We could benefit them with our cultural resources specialists and historians." "They don't have the wayside education system you see here," the superintendent said. "The have virtually no search and rescue capability, and we can lend a hand in developing those areas." One of the motivators on both sides of the equation is the growth of international tourism, Ackerman said. China is on target to surpass Japan as the top source of overseas visitors by 2017 and would trail only Canada and Mexico. Crater Lake is already planning to translate park brochures to Mandarin to accommodate Chinese visitors. China isn't the only region asking for technical advice in running parks. "We've had requests from Rwanda to develop commercial services in the national park, and in the Middle East," he said. "We've worked with African and South American parks to prevent poaching." Among other national parks, Yosemite recently hooked up with Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Redwood National Park has a connection in Chile, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks have relationships with Samlaut in Cambodia, and Maine's Acadia National Park is connected with Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi in Italy. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness , on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31 , and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/EconomicEdge . By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted May. 7, 2015 at 5:40 PM Updated May 8, 2015 at 3:14 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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