Les Clark

1975-1981: Investigating Officer within the national parks and reserves directorate of the Department of Lands and Survey, New Zealand. Les contributed to all major development projects in the New Zealand national parks and prepared policy on commercial operations. In the middle of this period he followed a fellowship to Colorado State University, USA (1977-78) during which he worked and travelled with planning teams of the US National Park Service stationed at Denver, Colorado. 

1981-1983: Lecturer in Parks and Recreation and Course Administrator within the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, Lincoln College. Les was responsible for the Park Ranger Option of the then Diploma in Parks and Recreation. Students in this course came from all over the Asia/Pacific region.  He supervised undergraduate research and undertook research contracts in recreation and parks and ran management courses for the in-service training of park managers. He taught undergraduate papers in park planning, recreation and leisure studies, park interpretation and park systems.

1983-1986: Senior Investigating Officer within the national parks and reserves directorate of the Department of Lands and Survey. Les oversaw all major development projects in the national parks and reserves. He managed visitor facility development projects, including major visitor centre projects at Waitangi Historic Reserve, Tongariro National Park and Fiordland National Park. He supervised studies of recreation and tourism in national parks, prepared policy for tourism concessions and was adviser on park tourism matters to the NZ National Parks Authority, the NZ Tourism Liaison Group and the NZ Domestic Tourism Marketing Board. Les led the development of facilities in national parks and reserves, site planning studies for new development areas, commissioned nature tourism promotional films and organised conferences on historic site management and social sciences in national parks.

1986 on: Les established, with Dave Bamford, the international tourism consultancy Tourism Resource Consultants, working in Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, PR China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA and Vietnam.