Continuing to train the next generation of leaders for nature, we launch the second edition of the Junior Ranger programme
Foundation Conservation Carpathia invites children passionate about nature from secondary school to take their first steps in the field of conservation and to sign up for the second edition of the Junior Ranger programme until 31st May. This year, children from 12 communities can sign up for the programme, more than double the number than in 2023.
Through the Junior Ranger Programme, Foundation Conservation Carpathia offers children the chance to get to know and understand nature, to learn about the specifics of the ranger profession, through a long-term, comprehensive programme that includes a camp and monthly field activities with the Foundation’s rangers and education team.
The new edition is open to children from the 5th to 8th grades in the following communities in Argeș county: Albești de Mușcel, Arefu, Bughea de Sus, Brăduleț, Dragoslavele, Lerești, Nucșoara, Rucăr, Podul Dâmboviței, Sălătrucu, Stoenești, Valea Mare Pravăț.
The selection of children for the Junior Ranger programme is carried out in two stages:
Phase I:
1st – 31st May, 2024: Children will create and submit a letter explaining why nature is important to them and why they would like to participate in the programme. The letter should be sent to the email address i.duica@carpathia.org , to the attention of Ioana Duică, coordinator of the programme, and will be accompanied by the application form, which can be downloaded from the Foundation’s website (link).
1st – 20th June 2024: Applications will be evaluated and selected children will also participate in an online interview with the education team.
21st June: The 40 pupils who will participate in a five-day nature camp will be announced. The camps will run from 1st-19th July 2024.
Phase II:
After completion of the camps, children who show a keen interest in nature and wish to develop further in this direction will enter the continuing education programme, which will start in August 2024.
”During the first edition of the programme, we met extraordinary, engaged and curious children, who developed with the rangers of the Foundation Conservation Carpathia,” explains Ioana Duică, education specialist, Junior Ranger programme coordinator, “learning month after month about the activities they carry out on a daily basis. Topics covered included the importance of forests, ecological reconstruction, species monitoring and reintroduction, biodiversity and mountain safety. We decided to extend the programme to other communities this year and, because during the first edition we met children who were extremely passionate about nature, we decided that this year, after the camps, all those who want to participate in the monthly activities will remain in the long-term programme, without going through a new selection process.”
“The Junior Ranger Programme opens new opportunities for children in the communities of the Făgăraș Mountains,” says Victoria Donos, Communication and Communities Director, Foundation Conservation Carpathia. “These children live so close to nature and can, in the future, work in a national park or in a protected natural area.”
We grow by learning and training
To improve their techniques of working with children, as well as their mountain safety techniques, Foundation Conservation Carpathia rangers (those who guide the children’s journey in the Junior Ranger programme) participated in an intensive training programme as part of the ‘Rangers for Rangers’ programme. Thus, they learned first aid techniques in collaboration with the Foundation for S.M.U.R.D., as well as connection and learning methods, from Kristin Biebl and Mario Schmid, rangers in the Bavarian Forest National Park with more than 20 years of experience in managing the Junior Ranger programme there.
What the children in the first edition of the programme will do
Foundation Conservation Carpathia ‘s Junior Ranger programme started in 2023, and was aimed at children from Dragoslavele, Lerești, Nucșoara, Podu Dâmboviței and Rucăr, in Argeș county. More than 100 children enrolled in the programme, of which 40 were selected after the first stage and participated in a five-day nature camp. 20 children took part in the long-term programme, and 10 of them went on a trip to Retezat National Park, the oldest national park in Romania.
The Junior Rangers remain in the programme and will be involved in increasingly complex activities, and over time will become mentors for new generations of children joining the project.
A Ranger is a National Park employee, a traditional job abroad, recently introduced into the Romanian Occupation Classification. They make sure that the laws and the rules of the natural area are respected, they are responsible for guiding and informing tourists, for education activities, wildlife monitoring and flora inventory, and for supporting the research teams. The ranger collaborates with local people and with the competent authorities who can intervene in case of emergencies.
