Junior Ranger-Naturalist Pilot Program Description

Provide high school age youth with the opportunity to work as ranger interns with the City of Boulder OSMP and Boulder County Parks and Open Space for three weeks in the summer. Crew-members worked with rangers in the field focusing on core ranger duties/skills and developing a naturalist program.

The Junior Ranger-Naturalist Program ran three weeks, from July 17-August 3, 2017. Participants worked Monday-Thursday from 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM.

Goals:

• To create a ranger led pilot youth program that willintegrate with the current Jr. Ranger Program.

• Provide youth with an opportunity to learn about thediversity of work rangers do everyday to protect ournatural resources and provide customer service tovisitors.

• Collaborate with the current Jr. Ranger Program tocreate more career development opportunities foryouth.

• Partnership with Boulder County Parks and OpensSpace Rangers.

Overview: JuniorRanger-Naturalist

Pilot Program

2017

Junior Ranger-Naturalist ReportPAGE 1

Program Highlights and Accomplishments:

• Leadership and Building Team Dynamics• CPR/First Aid & Search and Rescue

Training• Defensive Tactics• Trail Restoration• Interpretative Training• Naturalist Hikes and Teaching Youth

How to Lead a Naturalist Program• Youth Teaching Naturalist Program: Kids

Fishing Program• Wildlife Research: Bird Banding• Developing Ecology Skills• Wildland Fire Ecology and Skill Building

Main topics reinforced throughout the program:

• Land Stewardship• Leave no trace ethic• Youth connection to the natural world• Leadership and customer service

Junior Ranger-Naturalist Bird Banding Day

Above: Junior Ranger Naturalist hike on last day of program.

The program was designed to engage youth and improve their understanding of career development as it relates to natural resource management. By working as part of a team, participating in confidence-building opportunities through applied Ranger skills, leadership development, and customer service skill-building, participates learned about the profession of natural resource and visitor protection. There were no required prerequisites, simply an interest in participating, ability to work as a team, and effective interpersonal skills. This enabled the program to truly be an introduction into the natural resources field.

Environmental education was an important aspect of the Junior Ranger-Naturalists Program. Hiking from the 4th of July Trailhead, Junior Ranger-Naturalists pause to bird watch on a fish ecology and alpine hike. All participants expressed an interest in conservation-related futures.

Junior Ranger-Naturalist

Report2017

Prepared By Arian Hampel & Erica Ernst

Photos By Arian Hampel

Junior Ranger-Naturalist ReportPAGE 1

Junior Ranger-Naturalist Program Description The Junior Ranger-Naturalist Pilot Program was created for youth interested in the Park Ranger career path. When OSMP Rangers attended the World Ranger Congress at Estes Park in 2016 this idea was discussed. At the conference rangers from around the world discussed youth engagement as a way to introduce youth globally to the Park Ranger profession and help tie the community into local and international conservation issues. The idea was to help our youth communities have an opportunity to learn about natural resource protection as a career, with the hope they will become more invested in their natural areas close to home. The primary goal of this program was to help youth 14-17 years old develop professional outdoor skills, and then apply them in the field.

The pilot program included:• 10 youth participates (Jr. Ranger-Naturalist) from across

Boulder County• 12 City of Boulder Rangers• 5 Boulder County Rangers• 2 Boulder County Sheriff’s Deputies• 2 Environmental Educators from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.• 2 dedicated environmental educators from the Boulder

community assisted who with providing core content.

Rangers recognize World Ranger Day (above) on July, 31. World Ranger Day is the international commemoration honoring rangers killed or injured in the line of duty, and celebrates the work rangers do to protect the world’s natural and cultural treasures.

The pilot program expands upon thegoals of the existing Jr. Ranger program, withthe goal of incorporating what we learnfrom the pilot, into the Jr. Ranger program in the future.

Work CompletedAs part of their naturalist training, Junior Ranger-Naturalists developed a Kids Fishing Program. Fishing was new to many of the Junior Ranger-Naturalists, so they learned the content, prepared educational materials, and then instructed a public fishing program. Environmental education is an important part of working as a ranger. Designing and implementing the fishing program showed the Junior Ranger-Naturalists one of the critical skills needed to be a ranger.

Junior Ranger-Naturalists also assisted with res-toration projects at the Chautauqua Meadow, Settler’s Park and Red Rocks Trail. These projects were focused on habitat restoration, mitigating erosion, and returning non-designated trails to nature. Additionally, Junior Ranger-Naturalists participated in trash clean up on Flagstaff Mountain.

While all projects were beneficial to the Junior Ranger-Naturalists and the community, it was important to provide insight into the non-project side of a career as a ranger. The participates were divided into small teams and went on patrol with City of Boulder OSMP Rangers Arian Hampel, Candice Bott, and Boulder County Ranger Sarah Andrews. This gave the Junior Ranger-Naturalists a chance to see the day-to-day responsibilities of rangers and how rangers are expected to interact with the public. The smaller patrol groups gave the Junior Ranger-Naturalists an opportunity to get to know the rangers better. “[The Junior Ranger-Naturalist Program] gave me [a] deeper appreciation for all the natural world in general. The things we learned regarding biology and animal ecology, as well as botany were very eye opening.” Junior Ranger-Naturalist

Junior Ranger Naturalist PledgeI, ___________________________, on my honor, will respect my coworkers, my community, OSMP property, and the flora and fauna that inhabit the area. I will work with integrity and good character to protect the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will share what I learn with others and help preserve and protect these natural areas for future generations.

I will work cooperatively as a team member to ensure we are successful as a Junior Ranger-Naturalist crew. I will follow safety instructions, assist the crew in completing all tasks, and bring a positive attitude to work each day.

Above: Junior Ranger-Naturalists participate in trail restoration work near Chautauqua Meadow.Below: Participants assist an "injured hiker" in a mock Search and Rescue scenario-based training activity. They were trained in map reading, GPS and finding lost or injured parties.

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The Junior Ranger-Naturalist Program ran three weeks, from July 17-August 3, 2017. Participants worked Monday-Thursday from 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM, and were paid minimum wage.

Moving Forward» The program has received 6-year approval

(until 2023) from the OSMP Director’s Team.»

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The long-term goal is to merge this program with the trails/maintenance Jr. Ranger Program. This will be accomplished through a parallel track and modules offered by rangers to the traditional Jr. Ranger Program.Send Junior Ranger-Naturalists on patrol with rangers. Allowing the Junior Ranger-Naturalists to get a feel for the day-to-day work of a ranger.Increase field-based work with rangers re-lated to community ranger projects, outdoor survival, fire mitigation and even international correspondence with a sister Park.All 10 Junior Ranger-Naturalists expressed in-terest in returning. In 2018, the program could be expanded to bring back program graduates to act as a liaison or interns for the program. They will be in a mentorship role work with the program coordinators.

» Continue to offer work-related trainings to theJunior Ranger-Naturalists. Some trainings willbe consistent year to year, some will be altered(e.g., Search and Rescue/ Wildland Firetraining will happen every year).

» The long-term goal of the program is toprovide career development to youth in thefield of natural resource management.

Trainings and Education ProvidedA large part of the Junior Ranger-Naturalist Pilot Program were the same training opportunities ranger do as part of their jobs.

Trainings included:

Above: Junior Ranger-Naturalists were introduced to this Com-mon Garter Snake. And Junior Ranger-Naturalists investigate a bright yellow arachnid found on the final day of the program.Below: Junior Ranger-Naturalist teaching a "kids fishing is fun class."

Junior Ranger-Naturalists learned methods Rangers use to control wildland fires. Participants were instructed in wildland fire ecology and how Rangers are involved in fire management with OSMP.

Junior Ranger-Naturalist Report

» CPR/First Aid Certification» Search and Rescue—scenario-based trainings» Naturalist—educational learning and trainingon how to teach a naturalist program.» Outdoor Survival» Wildland Fire Ecology» Leadership and Public Service» Natural Resource/Visitor Protection» Wildlife Ecology—bat ecology» Learn customer service skills» Certificate in Outdoor Leadership» Tour of the Birds of Prey Foundation ( learnedhow to care for an injured birds of prey).PAGE 3

Above: Scrambling along rocks, Junior Ranger-Naturalists test their navigation skills during a mock Search and Rescue day. Below: Junior Ranger-Naturalists participated in bird banding at Thorne Nature Experience. They were taught how wildlife biol-ogists use bird banding to monitor populations, track bird species, and migration patterns across North America.

Above: Self-Defense training with Defensive Tactics instructors. Participants practiced de-escalating conflict and how to defend themselves in a physical altercation. Below: As part of their Wildlife Tracking, Junior Ranger-Naturalists deployed remote cameras near Green Mountain to monitor wildlife. The remote camera recorded a total of ten wildlife species, including mule deer, black bears, red fox, mountain lions, bob cats, elk, pine squirrels, cottontail rabbits, stripped skunk, and turkeys.

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