Activities of SRA

The executive committee and individual members implemented a number of activities and prepared the following documents and materials:
- Report on ranger's service in national parks and landscape protected areas in Slovakia (2000);
- Catalogue of exchange programmes in national parks and landscape protected areas of Slovakia;
- Catalogue of work placements, so the post of a ranger can evolve into an advanced personal career;
- Active media coverage to achieve the public service status for the rangers;
- Written feedback and reservations to the new bill on nature conservation, especially addressing issues related to the ranger's service;
- An agreement with the State Nature Conservancy signed in February 2001;
- The official diary to be used by field workers and protected area rangers (co-authorship);
- Appraisal of uniforms for field workers and protected area rangers.

In addition to the above-mentioned activities, the Slovak Rangers Association engaged in the project 'The improvement of ranger's work in protected areas in Slovakia' in partnership with the Peak District National Park (UK) and support of the British Know-How Fund. The materials of the Ranger Service of the Peak District National Park (standards and norms for assessing the qualification of rangers, ranger's diploma, etc.) were adapted for use in Slovakia. One of the outcomes was a series of trainings entitled 'Ranger's Certificate'. Based on the agreement with the director of the State Nature Conservancy, the association was commissioned as the organizer of the seminars which received the official approval of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.

An important part of the committee and members' work includes cooperation in the preparation of strategic documents and the provision of feedback to those materials and regulations which influence the daily work of rangers, both the state conservation professionals and volunteer rangers. For instance, SRA was actively involved in the preparation of amendments to the Law No. 287/94 on Nature and Landscape Conservation regarding the rangers (Article 58 - Nature Patrol and related provisions) and to the Regulation No. 295/1996 of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic.

Thanks to the association's pressure (and other factors) on 6^th November 2002 at its working meeting the Slovak Government approved the Decree No. 1210 stipulating measures and allocating further funds to increase the number of rangers. In 2003 by the order of the director of the Slovak Nature Conservancy the measures were enacted into the new organization structure of the Slovak Nature Conservancy with new work placements created within the individual organization's units.

The association also prepared a number of materials such as an open letter lobbing for further competences and an improved system of protected area rangers, Ranger's handbook developed from the outcomes of seminars, a report from the Slovak summer camp for rangers and volunteers and a list of proposed changes to the work code and style of the work of rangers. The association also participated in the preparation of a catalogue of activities including the creation of salary grades for rangers.

In 2005 during the consultation period SRA reacted to the proposed bill on nature patrol and contributed to its ensuing withdrawal. At the beginning of 2007 an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee of the association took place in order to react to the announced changes of the organization structure of the Slovak Nature Conservancy including significant layoffs of rangers and to formulate a common communiqué and a letter to the minister of the environment regarding the matter.

In March 2007 the representative of the International Ranger Federation for Europe Rigmor Solem from Norway had an official visit to Slovakia. After consultations with David Zeller, the president of IRF, she decided to come to Slovakia in order to explore the current situation of the ranger service in protected areas of Slovakia, to learn about the problems and to find out as many details as possible regarding the announced layoffs of rangers. As said by Rigmor Solem during her visit, the understanding of the ranger service across Europe differs significantly. For instance, recently in Portugal the rangers were about to become a new police force. On the other hand, there are tendencies to reduce ranger service and the number of rangers, not only in Slovakia, but in several other European countries. This problem was addressed in the training seminar of European rangers in Retezat in Romania in September 2007. In Norway the situation is reverse, where the government creates new jobs for rangers, so they can interpret nature and provide information services to visitors of protected areas.

Furthermore, during her visit Rigmor Solem visited Landscape Protected Area Malé Karpaty and Tatra National Park and then met with representatives of the Ministry of the Environment in Bratislava. One of the results of her working visit was a final report assessing the ranger service in protected areas of Slovakia.

• I would like to thank to all the members of the Association, to ranger colleagues and to everyone from governmental and non-governmental organisations, to individuals and to the visitors of the park for the cooperation in 2017 and I would like to express a wish for all of us to be successful in protecting the nature in future years.

• Meeting of rangers from Slovak and Czech republic with international participation.
  During 13. - 16.10.2016 the Meeting of rangers from Slovak and Czech republic with international participation took a place in Horská chata Kohútka on the Slovak-Czech border. The meeting was organized by Asociácia strážcov chránených území Slovenska ( Slovak ranger Association ) and Asociace strážců České republiky (Czech ranger association).
  This joint meeting was already the second one (first joint meeting we organized in 2010 in Holubyho cottage on the Great Javorina) and originally we wanted to organize it already in 2015, but because of organizational problems it took a part this year. During preparations, we decided to invite the rangers from neighboring countries, so our two associations have established contacts with national associations of other countries.
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• Slovak Ranger Association (SRA) and Association of Rangers of the Czech Republic (AS ČR) would like to invite you to the Meeting of Rangers from Slovak Republic and Czech Republic with international participation which will take place from 13th to 16th of October 2016. see to [1^st Announcement] Please send the filled-in registration form before the 30th of July 2016 [LINK]