A stroll in the park for ranger Sarah

16 November 2005

ONE of New York's most experienced park rangers swapped Central Park for Mile End Park when she shared some of her expertise.

Head ranger Sarah Aucoin came to Tower Hamlets to share ideas and experience with park-keepers in Mile End. She was joined by her boss Sara Hobel who is New York's director of Urban Park Rangers Services.

The visit was organised by CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, as part of its Parkforce campaign aimed at encouraging local authorities to hire more parks staff.

Before taking a walk in the park, Sarah talked about her work in New York's most famous open spaces, including Battery Park and Central Park.

She explained how the introduction of the Urban Park Ranger force in 1979 helped transform many of the parks from rundown, derelict and dangerous places into some of the best open spaces in the world.

Sarah and her officers are tasked with patrolling the parks as well as teaching people about its natural resources, leading treks and teaching youngsters how to respect and protect their environment.

The rangers are an integral and familiar part of every one of New York's parks and played a key role in revitalising the 28,000 acres of parkland in the city.

Mile End Park has already been recognised by CABE as an example of how staff can create an exciting park.

The park has four full-time park rangers, working with security guards and ground maintenance staff, who have helped regenerate the park through a range of duties from making sure there is no vandalism and graffiti to taking schoolchildren around the park and its Ecology Centre.

Julia Thrift, CABE director, said: "This is a critical time for England's parks. In the last decade great improvements have been achieved and these changes must now be made irreversible.

"Like New York's Urban Park Rangers, we urgently need a new 'parkforce' to ensure our parks are maintained as vibrant parts of our urban communities.

"We want a return to old-fashioned public service values delivered by a new multi-skilled, 21st century workforce."

Tower Hamlets is one out of about 100 local authorities who have pledged to be part of the initiative.