This collaboration is built upon shared goals related to the protection and presentation of cultural and natural heritage.
Today, in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, following a welcoming address from the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy) Nations' leadership, Ron Hallman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Parks Canada, and Chuck Sams, Director of the United States National Park Service, signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to reinforce the longstanding relationship between the two organizations. This MOU signals continued collaboration on the protection, presentation, and management of cultural and natural heritage, including shared transboundary places, and co-stewardship with Indigenous peoples.
The MOU reaffirms various shared priorities for cooperation between the National Park Service and Parks Canada including:
· Indigenous-led conservation and increased collaboration with Indigenous peoples;
· advancing nature-based climate solutions and climate change adaptation;
· connecting people to history and nature;
· park management and operations, visitor experience and safety, natural and cultural resource conservation, and wildfire management.
Collaboration between Parks Canada and the United States National Park Service dates back over a hundred years to when the two organizations were established, in 1911 and 1916 respectively. This relationship was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding first signed in 1998, to support cooperation in the management, research, protection, conservation, and presentation of cultural and natural heritage.
Today's signing renews the cooperative relationship between Canada and the United States as leaders in the conservation and presentation of cultural and natural heritage.
