<< Back to Newsletter

Chilean Forester Visits BLM: Rotary Sponsors Chilean Visitors on Tour of Wyoming

By Lesley A. Collins, Public Affairs Specialist, High Plains District

Chilean Fire Brigade. Photo by Hector Smith. Smith receives an official BLM High Plains District Fire cap from Kristi Bullock and Zeb McWilliams. Photo by Lesley Collins. Forestin teaches Chilean children about fire prevention. Photo by Hector Smith. The Chilean visitors experience a virtual river crossing in a covered wagon. Photo by Lesley Collins.

Chilean Forestry Control Officer, Héctor Adrizola Smith, visited the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) High Plains District Office on May 11, 2009.

Smith visited BLM as part of a Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) Program. The program provides travel grants for teams of participants to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries. For four to six weeks, team members study the host country’s institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

Rotary sponsored four Chilean visitors on a multi-city tour of Wyoming. Wyoming also had a delegation of people abroad in Chile.

“I think all of us had a very positive experience from their visit. They were and are such positive people. We all can benefit from these people to people exchanges in so many ways,” said Casper Rotary Club GSE Chairman, Bob Auflik.

Smith works in the Forest National Corporation, Region of Lagos, in Chile. He is in charge of the Forest Fire Program in the Osrno National Park and is also the lead in formulating the Plan of Management for the Biosphere Reserve of “The Rain Forests Tempering of Austral Andes” on the Regional Forest.

Smith visited with Kristi Bulock, Fire Management Specialist of the High Plains District, took a tour of the High Plains Dispatch Center, and toured the fire ready room with Firefighter Zeb McWilliams who provided practical insight concerning BLM’s fire preparedness and suppression operations.

Smith ended his tour of Casper with a visit to the National Historic Trails Center (NHTIC) with the other three Chilean Rotary guests including lawyer, Karin Andrea Neira Mera; Tourism Manager, María Angélica Ojeda Zúñiga; and Business Administrator , María Francisca Klein Martin.

“This was a wonderful experience,” said Smith as they parted with BLM employees and headed out for the rest of their tour of Wyoming. “I really enjoyed it.”