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Junior Ranger project review 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Juni­or Ranger Pro­ject: 2025 Review

169 Juni­or Rangers 58 ses­sions 35 part­ners 15 Ranger Services

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Aboyne Academy Juni­or Rangers at the Linn of Quoi­ch © Will George

Over­view

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Juni­or Ranger Pro­ject is an excit­ing, fun and adven­tur­ous out­door learn­ing pro­gramme for young people aged 11 – 18 years based on the EURO­PARC model.

The pro­ject aims to engage young people liv­ing with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park catch­ment area and give them the oppor­tun­ity to act as advoc­ates for the Cairngorms. Through a wide vari­ety of activ­it­ies, they devel­op skills, exper­i­ence and con­fid­ence whilst help­ing to improve our nat­ur­al environment.

  • Juni­or Rangers plant­ing trees on RSPB Aber­nethy © Duncan MacDonald
  • Juni­or Rangers with the Cairngorms Reindeer Herd © Emily Alsford
  • Juni­or Rangers at Glen­liv­et mak­ing SOAC posters © Emily Alsford
  • Juni­or Rangers in Glen­more Forest Park © Emily Alsford

Pro­ject partners

The sup­port of 40+ part­ners through­out the Cairngorms Nation­al Park has been key to the suc­cess of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Juni­or Ranger Project.

We are also grate­ful to the par­ents, guard­i­ans and teach­ers of over 169 juni­or rangers that have taken part over the past three years.

In 2025, 35 com­mit­ted part­ners delivered 58 ses­sions across the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Pro­ject Part­ners Map:

  • Cairngorm Reindeer Herd
  • Scot­tish Coun­tryside Rangers Asso­ci­ation (SCRA)
  • Wild­land Ltd
  • Brae­mar Moun­tain Rescue
  • Spin Pro­ject
  • Ride in Peace Adventures
  • Alford Academy
  • Dava Way Association
  • Glen Tanar Char­it­able Trust
  • Dorenell Ranger Service
  • Bal­mor­al Castle and Estate
  • Sav­ing Wildcats
  • Forestry and Land Scotland
  • First Aid Train­ing Cooperative
  • RSPB Insh Marshes
  • Atholl Estates
  • Loch Insh Out­door Centre
  • Dur­rell Wild­life Con­ser­va­tion Trust
  • Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority
  • Cairngorms Con­nect
  • Glen­liv­et Estate
  • Rothiemurchus Estate
  • NTS Mar Lodge
  • RSPB Aber­nethy
  • Spey­side High School
  • NTS North Perthshire
  • NTS North East
  • Aber­deen­shire Council
  • NatureScot Muir of Dinnet
  • Pit­lo­chry High School
  • Grant­own Gram­mar School
  • Aboyne Academy
  • Kin­gussie High School
  • Spey­side High School
  • High­land Wild­life Park (RZSS)
  • Cairngorm Moun­tain Ltd

Schools pro­gramme

In 2025, 79 pupils from the six high schools in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park catch­ment once again took part in at least five-days of Juni­or Ranger activity.

The Juni­or Rangers had a range of oppor­tun­it­ies to bet­ter con­nect to nature through prac­tic­al con­ser­va­tion work and adven­tur­ous activ­ity. They also got to meet a wide range of rur­al work­ers. At the end of their exper­i­ences the Juni­or Rangers all delivered a short talk or video to teach­ers, par­ents, part­ners and peers.

  1. Paddle­board­ing with Pit­lo­chry High School
  2. Deer­stalk­ing ses­sion from Wild­land for Grant­own Gram­mar School pupils.
  3. Shar­ing present­a­tions for par­ents and teach­ers at Alford Academy.
  4. Kin­gussie High School Juni­or Rangers look­ing at wild­cat cam­era foot­age with Sav­ing Wildcats.
  5. Ring bark­ing Sitka Spruce at Bal­mor­al with Aboyne Academy.
  6. Build­ing bug hotels with Spey­side High School.

Pho­tos show:

  1. Juni­or Rangers paddleboarding.
  2. Deer­stalk­ing session.
  3. Juni­or Rangers shar­ing present­a­tions at Alford Academy.
  4. Juni­or Rangers with Sav­ing Wildcats.
  5. Juni­or Rangers ring bark­ing Sitka Spruce at Balmoral.
  6. Juni­or Rangers build­ing bug hotels.

Photo cred­its Will George, Emily Als­ford and Pete Short

Monthly pro­gramme

The monthly pro­gramme in 2025 was very var­ied, with 21 ses­sions and a three-day camp. In total 90 Juni­or Rangers enjoyed hav­ing a pos­it­ive impact on the nat­ur­al envir­on­ment of the Cairngorms whilst learn­ing new skills and gain­ing con­fid­ence. You can see some examples of what they got up to in the pho­tos on this page.

  • Juni­or Rangers with Brae­mar Moun­tain Res­cue © Brae­mar Moun­tain Rescue
  • Juni­or Rangers lead­ing nature engage­ment activ­it­ies, Deeside © Will George

SCRA Juni­or Ranger Award

We were proud to con­grat­u­late 12 juni­or rangers for com­plet­ing the Scot­tish Coun­tryside Ranger Asso­ci­ation Juni­or Ranger Award.

The Award recog­nises com­mit­ment to ran­ger­ing and to achiev­ing a vari­ety of rel­ev­ant com­pet­en­cies, includ­ing get­ting to know and care for your area, help­ing vis­it­ors, inter­pret­a­tion and teamwork.

  • Juni­or Rangers in their hood­ies hav­ing com­pleted the SCRA Juni­or Ranger Award © Will George
  • Juni­or Rangers mak­ing Christ­mas crafts at Bal­mor­al © Lucy Ford

Cairngorms Dùthchas Award

The Juni­or Rangers tak­ing part in the 2026 school dis­cov­ery weeks will have the oppor­tun­ity to com­plete the new Cairngorms Dùthchas Award. The Gael­ic word Dùthchas encom­passes ideas of kin­ship, her­it­age and con­nec­tions between nature, people and place. And this excit­ing out­door learn­ing award inspires people to love, learn about, and look after the Nation­al Park.

2026 Camps

Plan­ning is under­way for a 3‑day exped­i­tion in July that will give some Juni­or Rangers the oppor­tun­ity to explore a more remote part of the Cairngorms. And two juni­or rangers will hope­fully attend the EURO­PARC camp in Norway.

Juni­or Ranger Camp, Blair Atholl 2025 © Emily Alsford