From Cayman to Canada

The opportunity for staff and volunteers to spend time with another trust learning and sharing is an important benefit to being part of the INTO family.

The view of Tom Perrigo, CEO of the National Trust of Western Australia is:

“The benefits of retaining people long term because of these opportunities to occasionally work elsewhere with similar people are hard to measure.  This culture of exchange is well established here and quite frankly may well be why I have almost no staff turnover (mind you at one stage a few years ago, I had 6 people in the UK which out of 30 presented some challenges!).  To me it is a relatively cheap way to ensure professional growth and if someone says how do you afford the time – the answer is simple – the work will ALWAYS be here and it will always be heavy so stopping and investing in staff is a more effective solution to flogging them to death with urgent projects, etc. Those six are still here!”

Following Oliver Maurice’s visit to the Cayman Islands last year, we were able to facilitate an exchange between the National Trust and the Land Conservancy of British Columbia.  Paul Watler, Environmental Officer at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, spent time with colleagues in Canada looking at different approaches to conservation and engagement. The above photo showing Paul at South Pender Island, holding a sign as part of the ‘Million Reasons’ (to be a member of TLC) campaign says it all ‘#507 Because conservation doesn’t have borders’.

Paul’s natural habitat with National Trust colleagues in the Cayman Islands