Park officers win national recognition for Dales work

The awards show how they have gone ‘above and beyond’ in providing outstanding contributions to the national park.

They are run by the UK’s 15 national parks and the winners were announced at the National Parks Conference, which is held every two years.

As a park spokesman said an Order of the National Parks may not be the same as an OBE but it recognised the special contributions that were made. It was hoped the next host authority would the awards.

Alan Hulme, the the Yorkshire Dales National Park's head of ranger services, and senior historic environment officer Robert White have both received an ONP.

The awards are run by the UK’s 15 national parks and the winners are announced at the National Parks Conference, which is held every two years.

Alan joined the YDNPA as a seasonal field assistant, helping to look after the authority’s properties and rights of way.

That was 30 years ago, and, since then, he has become responsible for the management of the ranger service, and is currently the head of ranger services.

He has organised exchanges with national parks in Slovakia and, in 2014, represented the UK’s ranger service in Malaysia.

Alan hosts trips from other nationalities wanting to learn from our national parks, from Koreans to Irish. He hosted a visit from Sweden to look at our management of long distance trails.

“I have been fortunate to work with and come into contact with some amazingly dedicated people, which has made my role in the national park so rewarding,” he said.

“We don’t enter this line of work for the recognition, but I’m really honoured to win this award in its inaugural year.

“However, I’m more pleased that this award will recognise the achievements of a wide range of individuals over the coming years who are committed to national parks and who may not have had this opportunity to be recognised before.”

Robert joined the national park authority in 1984 as a temporary planning assistant and has become the driving force behind the authority’s work to conserve and enhance the extraordinary historic environment of the national park.

As the authority’s archaeologist, and latterly senior historic environment officer, he has championed new ways of working and in his spare time he wrote ‘Yorkshire Dales: A Landscape Through Time’ – the definitive, popular guide to the national park’s archaeology and landscape history.

His pioneering work in the 1990s to create a comprehensive database of aerial photographs of the national park changed the way that people saw and understood the Dales’ landscape.

He has led the way in identifying and encouraging the engagement of volunteers in recording, monitoring and looking after heritage features – achieving outcomes that would have otherwise been impossible.

“One of the best things about working for the YDNPA is not just working in the best landscape in the country but also being able to share experience and ideas with colleagues in some of the country’s other finest landscapes,” he said.

“Many years ago I organised the first ever meeting of national park archaeologists – just five of us in 1989 – and edited a book based on our discussions that helped raise the profile of the historic environment in the other national parks. This network has continued to flourish – although these days we meet more by video conference.

“It is very pleasing to have my efforts recognised by the wider national park community but I’m sure I’ve learnt more from colleagues than they have from me.

“The historic environment now has a higher profile than it did when I began working but we still don’t fully appreciate just how much of the landscape we see today is a result of human activity over thousands of years and how vulnerable much of this cultural heritage is.”

YDNPA chief executive David Butterworth said: “It a wonderful national recognition of the work of two outstanding individuals. Their contribution to their professions and to the national park movement has been immense.”