Staff

The Ministry of the Environment employs some 300 park rangers who work across the nation, managing national parks and protecting wild flora and fauna. In addition to handling approval and other procedures in accordance with the Natural Parks Act, rangers formulate plans with guidelines for park protection and usage, patrol the parks and conduct nature surveys, maintain facilities and provide information to attract visitors to the parks, manage land that falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Environment, and perform various other tasks.

Park rangers also take on various outdoor and on-site tasks such as national park patrols, inspections and nature observations. When park rangers cannot attend to certain on-site tasks in protected nature sites, the Ministry of the Environment hires active park rangers to provide support with management of such areas in national parks.

National parks aim to expand the range of activities that take place on their grounds by inviting members of the general public to provide explanations to nature observation groups, take part in cleanup activities, conduct nature surveys, and help with simple maintenance and repairs of visitor facilities. People who contribute to such activities on a voluntary basis with the aim of expanding the protection of the natural environment are registered as park volunteers. Active in 25 national parks, park volunteers currently provide assistance with activities tailored to the characteristics of each area.

Volunteers registered with the Ministry of the Environment help support the protection of nature and ensure appropriate usage of resources by engaging in activities such as the protection of plants and animals, cleanup, visitor guidance (accident prevention), and distribution of information. At present, some 2,800 recruited volunteers are active around the country. The former Ministry of Welfare started recruiting temporary national park volunteers in 1957, but these were renamed natural park advisers in 1966.