Sustainable Resource Development will be hosting a Junior Forest Ranger crew in Hinton and tentatively an Aboriginal Junior Forest Ranger crew in Grande Cache this summer.
The JFR program started in 1965 as an initiative to get youth interested in forestry or other natural resource careers. Crews will be in the area from July 13 to August 15, 2011. 70% of the program is dedicated to work projects (generally labour intensive) and 30% is dedicated to career exposure and training relevant to Natural Resources fields. Each crew will have an adult leader, a subleader and eight crew members between the ages of 16 and 18.
Some examples of work projects and field days that crews have done in the past include:
- Invasive plant species control
- Mill and mine tours
- Checking mountain pine beetle traps
- Fisheries work
- Mop up on a contained wildfire
- FireSmart projects (thinning/pruning trees to reduce threat of wildfire)
- Trail construction and maintenance
- Tree planting.
If you or your organization have a work project or ideas for field days or tours that would benefit the program, please contact Heather Hawkins, Coordinator for Foothills Area crews at heather.hawkins@gov.ab.ca.
For more information on the Junior Forest Ranger program click here.