Study at Home -Parks Management Diploma
Become a Park Manager - learn skills that can be applied to a range of different environments and facilities.
This unique course allows the student to develop a range of practical and theoretical skills that well lend them to a range of different employment opportunities, such as working in:
- national parks
- nature parks
- wildlife sanctuaries
- caravan parks
- council reserves and playgrounds
- botanical gardens
- urban parks
- education
- running ecotours
This course will suit someone who has a passion for the outdoors, and enjoys other people's interactions with outdoor environments.
Course Content
Core Modules
These 9 modules provide foundation knowledge for the Associate Diploma in Parks Management.
Elective Modules
In addition to the core modules, students study any 6 of the following modules.
Note that each module in the Associate Diploma in Parks Management is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
PARKS ARE ECOSYSTEMS
An ecosystem is made up of abiotic substances (such as soil, water, air and their components) together with living things (people, plants, animals, microbes). The living and non living parts interact, impacting upon each other. The way in which a park is created, developed and managed will affect all of this interplay -short term, as well as long term.
When you understand that a park is an ecosystem, made up of many parts, you begin to see how your management strategies can affect everything from the amount of use it can withstand from patrons, to the level of maintenance that needs to be given to keep it from degrading.
Any ecosystem is made up of producers and decomposers; or living things that build up the ecosystem as well as living things that potentially degrade it.
Plants are the producers. They are the only organisms that are able to absorb and store energy from the sun. The other organisms (i.e. animals) depend on the producers for energy. Users or consumers eat, or otherwise gain benefit at the producers expense. Decomposers break down (decompose) the structure of other organisms when they die.
For an ecologist; through the action of decomposers, nutrients are returned to the soil and made available so that plants can use them over and over thus keeping the cycle of life going. From all this, you should begin to see that there are a lot of interrelationships existing in any ecosystem.
Heterotrophic vs Autotrophic
Occasionally you will hear the words heterotrophic and autotrophic mentioned when discussing living elements of an ecosystem.
- Autotrophic organisms require only simple inorganic substances; they fix light (or chemical) energy in simple organic compounds, then use this stored energy to build up complex substances. This is called photosynthesis. Plants are autotrophic.
- Heterotrophic organisms ingest other organisms or particles of organic matter. They feed off other forms of life. The term heterotroph can refer to single or multi-celled organisms. Many bacteria as well as all fungi and animals are heterotrophs.
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
1. The sun is the source of all energy. All energy in any organism originally came from the sun. Producers harness the sun’s energy to make organic compounds, which are consumed by other parts of the ecosystem. Thus, this basic energy input from the sun is essential for ecosystem function.
2. Everything is connected to everything else. All living things interact with other things (both living and not living) in their environment. The climate affects the living things in an area. The plants influence the insect population and the fish eat the insects ... and on it goes.
3. Everything must fit how and where it lives. 'Adaptation' is the key word of this concept! (ie: Unless a species adapts to a situation, it will not survive). A principle related to this concept is the 'Dam Law'. The Dam Law states 'die, adapt or move'.
4. Ecosystems are dynamic. Energy and matter are continually cycling through the system, even when it is balanced. In death there is no waste matter ... it is continually recycled among biotic or abiotic components. Rocks are worn down into soil, soil is used by plants, changed, moved and leached by the forces of the environment.
5. There is no free lunch. For every action there is a reaction. For every event there is a consequence. There is a delicate balance of nature between producers and consumers, which allows both to exist. If this interrelationship becomes and remains unbalanced, one and/or both members of the interrelationship will die.
Why Study with ACS?
This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to work as a Park Manager in the Amenity Horticulture industry. This course is not your average Park Management course...
Our course extends beyond just teaching you how to manage parks. We offer you an "experiential based" learning mode where you are prompted to network with horticulturalists, managers and the amenity horticulture industry as you study.
