WARNING - By their nature, text files cannot include scanned images and tables. The process of converting documents to text only, can cause formatting changes and misinterpretation of the contents can sometimes result. Wherever possible you should refer to the pdf version of this document. CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY Paper 4 20/04/07 CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY FOR DECISION Title: THE JOHN MUIR AWARD IN THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK Prepared by: Pete Crane, Senior Visitor Services Officer Claire Ross, Education and Inclusion Manager Purpose This paper summarises and reviews the work undertaken in delivering the John Muir Award in the Cairngorms and makes recommendations for future delivery of the Award. Recommendations It is recommended that the Board: a) Notes the achievements of the John Muir Award project to date in promoting experiences of wildness in the Cairngorms and connecting people to the National Park; and b) Approves in principle an extension to the project, as described in Option 2 (explicitly linking Award activity to actions in the National Park Plan and the development of Junior Rangers), subject to sufficient financial support from partners and detailed approval of spending plans by the Finance Committee. Executive Summary This paper summaries the work of the John Muir Award project in the Cairngorms over the first three years. Evidence is presented that shows the Award has been a successful way of encouraging people, particularly young people, to experience wildness and the special qualities of the Cairngorms National Park. Research indicates that such experience have a lasting positive impact on participants. The paper appraises options for the future delivery of the Award in the Cairngorms and makes recommends the continuation of a partnership project linking the Award closer to the National Park Plan. THE JOHN MUIR AWARD IN THE CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK - FOR DECISION Background 1. The development of a project to engage people in the discovery, exploration and conservation of wild places in the Cairngorms, using the John Muir Award, was undertaken in the early 2003 by the Cairngorms Partnership, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), and John Muir Trust (JMT). The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) agreed at its first ever Board meeting in April 2003 to support the project. 2. The most effective way of promoting the engagement was judged to be employment of a full time project officer who would work with teachers, youth leaders, outdoor education centres and other group leaders to enable them to deliver the Award to their clients. The project was initially funded for three years with grant aid from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Leader +, each providing 45% of the expenditure, with CNPA funding the remaining 10%. CNPA also provided accommodation and ‘day to day’ project management while JMT provided the management and support associated with the delivery of the Award. A project steering group met quarterly to ensure that project outputs were achieved. 3. Prior to the initial three-year funding coming to an end in October 2006, partners agreed to a one year extension until October 2007 to allow work to be undertaken to see how the delivery of the Award in the Cairngorms contributed to the delivery of the National Park Plan. Funding for the fourth year was allocated as follows: SNH 45%, CNPA 35% and Leader+ 20%. Leader + funding will not continue beyond October 2007. The project currently receives direct financial support of some £40,000 per annum. However, in addition to these direct costs the CNPA host the project and provide direct line management support. Policy Context 4. Education and learning is central to the long-term vision of the Scottish Executive and it was highlighted through the Education and Inclusion Stakeholder consultations (undertaken by Pirnie Ltd) that the John Muir Award is an exemplar learning framework that contributes to the achievement of several high profile national polices and initiatives, specifically: a) “Life through Learning; Learning through life, the Scottish Executive’s learning strategy that aims to provide education for a more inclusive society. b) ‘’Curriculum for Excellence’’, developing new ways of learning in schools. c) “Taking Learning Outdoors-Outdoor Connections”, where the Award features as an exemplar for involving people in biodiversity. d) “Education outside the Classroom Manifesto” learning that actively encourages learning through nature: experiential learning that can stimulate and inspire; foster independence; aid personal and social development; and can often motivate reluctant learners. e) “Learning for our Future: Scotland’ first Action Plan for UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. 5. The John Muir Award appears as a specific action in the National Park Plan within the Priority for Action on Developing Awareness and Understanding of the National Park: ‘Extend the use of the John Muir Award to encourage more people to experience a sense of wildness in the Park and to share their experiences.’ 6. Participation in the Award helps to deliver two key outcomes in this section of the National Park Plan: a) There will be more opportunities for people to become practically involved in caring for the Park and its special qualities. b) There will be more opportunities to learn about and enjoy the Park and its special qualities – especially for young people, people with disabilities and people on low incomes. 7. Annex 1 shows how individuals and groups can use the Award to get involved in very practical, ‘on the ground’ ways of delivering the National Park Plan. The Award is uniquely placed to connect people to the National Park and the National Park Plan in ways that make a real difference to them and to the Park. 8. The Award also has strong links with three of the guiding principles in the National Park Plan: a) Sustainable Development b) Social Justice c) People Participating in the Park “We work with women particularly around their personal development, we work with the JMA: anywhere that is wild and open is great for us. As the women progress in the programme, they go to higher places. We want to use the Park, as it is one of the most beautiful areas in Scotland; it brings up valuable environmental issues and personal development. The experience changes women.” Source: Comment from Women’s Project to Pirnie Ltd. 9. The Award can be also used to connect people to wider policy agendas including promoting responsible outdoor access, conservation of biodiversity, education for sustainability and actions to reduce or adapt to climate change. As will be shown later, on completing the Award the vast majority of participants indicated that they behaved more positively toward the environment. Review of Project Outputs 10. An information paper updating the Board on progress with the project was presented in May 2005 and a three year review, ‘John Muir Award in the Cairngorms October 2003 to October 2006’, was circulated to the Board in March 2007. The key highlights are summarised below. 11. Figure 1 below summaries the quantitative outputs of the project over the first three years. It is pleasing to report that from a small base the number of people completing the Award has grown each year. The total number of Awards presented is 2,363. Participants are predominantly young people and they have all gained ‘first hand’ experience of wildness in the Cairngorms National Park. 12. Nearly 12% of participants were identified as coming from groups that, for various reasons, find it challenging to get outdoors and experience a sense of wildness. However, the total number of participants facing similar challenges will be greater because we have no way of identifying individuals in an otherwise ‘mainstream’ group. The target for people achieving the Award in 2007 is 1400 people. Figure 1. John Muir Award Annual Outputs, 2003/04 to 2005/6 (Bar graph not available in full text format) 13. It is important to stress the very strong partnership element to the project – nearly all the Awards achieved have been ‘tutored’ by staff from partner organisations (there are currently 46 providers involved with the project). The role of the Award Manager has been to promote involvement in the Award and facilitate or support delivery by partners, and also to ensure that the quality and integrity of the Award is maintained. Delivery of the Award by partners amounts to the work of approximately 3 or 4 full time equivalent staff. 14. National studies undertaken on behalf of the JMT indicate that providers value the Award scheme very highly. One of the main advantages is that it is a flexible, certificated, experience based, learning programme that connects participants to the environment while still being able to meet the needs of the provider. It promotes awareness and responsibility for wild places. 15. In a survey of participants, 96% agreed that the John Muir Award had given them the chance to do something for wild places and 74% said that it had positively changed the way that they behaved toward the environment. 16. In the Cairngorms the Award has very strong stakeholder support. When Pirnie Ltd undertook research in the National Park on learning and inclusion, the Award had only been operating for two years. Despite this, stakeholders already saw the John Muir Award as a key way of supporting both learning and inclusion in the National Park. The research recognised that a key strength of the Award was the flexible framework that it provided for participation by a wide range of people across a variety of issues. 17. The project partnership (CNPA, SNH and JMT) identified the strengths of the project in the Cairngorms as follows:- a) Connecting lots of people, in a practical way, to the National Park and wild land/wild places; b) Valued by funding partners and wider partners (strong partnership with joint branding); c) Provides a strong environmental focus for providers, particularly outdoor activity providers; d) Valued by participants – externally validated award; e) Effective way of working with ‘hard to reach’ groups; f) Effective way of delivering key messages e.g. responsible outdoor access and biodiversity in a practical, ‘real’ way; g) Effective model for delivery of important messages to young people; h) Provides feedback from young people about the National Park; and i) Strong local and national political support, particularly for its work promoting social inclusion. 18. Evaluating the project against all the measures set by partners indicates that it has been extremely successful over the first three years. The employment of a single Award Manager has harnessed the skills of many education workers to deliver a nationally recognised programme that explicitly links participants to the National Park and its special qualities. Recommendation 19. It is recommended that the Board note the achievements of the John Muir Award project to date in promoting experiences of wildness in the Cairngorms and connecting people to the National Park. Options for the future development of the Award in the Park 20. We have looked in detail at three broad options:- a) ‘Do nothing’: After the project funding comes to an end in October 2007 allow the established existing providers to continue running the Award as part of the national management structure provided by JMT; b) Continue/develop the project-based approach: Promote and facilitate the Award in the National Park through a partnership of interested partners; or c) CNPA staff promote/facilitate the Award: CNPA staff absorb the work formerly undertaken by Award Manager into existing work programmes. 21. A detailed appraisal of these options is provided in Annex 2. Option 1: Do nothing 22. Evidence from elsewhere in Scotland indicates that removing the Award Manager would directly result in participation in the Award declining rapidly to 50% of current levels. Providers require varying degrees of support and encouragement and some would continue to deliver the award. However, the explicit connection to the Park would be lost as would local links and the ability to readily train and support new providers to replace those who cease to be active. 23. This would result in fewer opportunities for people to be involved in the National Park, particularly for young people and people on low incomes and, critically, would not contribute towards achievement of the outcomes in the National Park Plan. Option 3: CNPA staff promote/facilitate the Award 24. This option is attractive in some respects because of the clear commitment it makes to the Award and the security that such an approach brings to the Award Manager’s post. However, this would lose the current strong partnership approach and some of the flexibility to attract new funding. 25. During the initial development phase of the project some of the Manager’s time has been spent in simply raising awareness of the Award. This work should decline as the Award becomes established but it challenging to determine with any accuracy the time commitment required to achieve the current target 1400 Awards per year and support and train Award providers. Our best assessment is that it is no less than three days per week would be required to keep the Award running at current levels. However, John Muir Trust experience from other areas indicates that reducing managers’ time reduces the effectiveness of the Award in delivering associated local and national agendas. 26. Following discussion with Management Team it has been determined that there is no capacity within the existing staff complement to take on the work. This would therefore mean the creation of a new post at an additional annual cost to CNPA of some £12,000 - £26,000 depending on the number of days per week worked. Option 2: Continue/develop the project-based approach 27. This option has the advantage of maintaining the strong existing partnership that delivers outputs for all. A project-based approach is more cost effective for the CNPA and follows our enabling role. A project-based approach also has more potential to obtain external funding support. 28. However, developing the project to link participants closer to the National Park is likely to be more attractive to partners than simply continuing with the existing model. Any new developments should focus on areas of work where the Award can be used to make the greatest impact on outcomes in the National Park Plan. On this basis we consider that the project could develop to: a) Explicitly encouraging providers to link Award activity to actions in the National Park Plan. b) Link the Award to the development of Junior National Park Rangers following the Europarc model. 29. This work would be additional and complimentary to the existing work of supporting the delivery of the Award. This routine work will continue with the current annual target of 1400 Awards, with priority being given to the groups highlighted in the Park Plan (i.e. young people, people on low income and people with a disability). 30. Annex 3 shows how participation in the John Muir Award could be linked to the development of Junior Rangers (using the Europarc model) to develop groups of young ambassadors for the Cairngorms National Park. As well as the benefits stated, using the Award to develop junior rangers would also provide a ‘stepping stone’ for some young people to move from formal education into apprenticeship schemes, volunteering and vocational training. 31. We envisage that initially a pilot scheme using a few established John Award providers (local champions) would be developed with a high level of support from the John Muir Award Manager. The ongoing support and use of any junior rangers would need to be carefully planned in advance of the start of any programme. We see ranger services as being part of this process but not necessarily the ‘local champion’. 32. Leader+ funding for the project ends this year. Therefore, initially the direct cost of supporting the project in the future will fall to CNPA and SNH with the John Muir Trust continuing to fully support the operational management of the partnership. SNH have indicated that linking the Award more closely to National Park Plan outcomes as indicated above is the kind of project that could receive support from SNH. Assuming a 50:50 cost split the additional annual cost of this option to the CNPA would be around £6,000. The cost to both CNPA and SNH could be further reduced by sourcing other external funding. 33. Evidence from the first three years indicates that the John Muir Award project has been successful at creating opportunities for priority groups to be more practically involved in caring for the National Park and learning about and enjoying its special qualities (key National Park Plan outcomes). We consider that most effective way to enhance these outcomes is to continue and develop the project to link it more closely to the National Park Plan. Recommendation 34. That the Board approves in principle an extension to the project, as described in Option 2 (explicitly linking Award activity to actions in the National Park Plan and the development of Junior Rangers), subject to sufficient financial support from partners and detailed approval of spending plans by the Finance Committee. Delivering Sustainability 35. The John Muir Award is an environmental educational programme designed to encourage participants to discover, explore and conserve wild places. Survey evidence indicates that ¾ of participants positively change the way that they behave toward the environment. With some 2,363 people completing the Award in the Cairngorms in the last three years, even small individual changes start to make a difference. Delivering a Park for All 36. The project focuses on priority inclusion groups identified in the Park for All Update paper (Oct 2006). Inclusive Cairngorms will be linking JMA’s outputs into the Equalities Schemes that are being developed on disability, race, gender, age, etc.(2006/2008) as an example of best practice. The Award is a key mechanism for encouraging 1,500 people per annum to actively contribute to delivering the National Park Plan. Delivering Economy, Effectiveness and Efficiency 37. The current partnership approach is considered to be the most effective way of encouraging the Award to be delivered in the Cairngorms. At present one Award manager enables 3-4 full time equivalent staff across the National Park to deliver a quality, practical environmental learning programme that explicitly links participants to the National Park. 38. Using the John Muir Award to develop junior rangers may encourage more young people to continue in the scheme and in turn create more opportunities to link them to other rural skills schemes. Implications Financial Implications 39. CNPA contributions to the project were 10% per annum in the first three years rising to 35% this year. The recommendations in the paper would, if accepted, increase this commitment to 50%. This amounts to some £20,000 per annum for the next three years. If agreed by SNH the proposal would mean that a similar sum of the total SNH funds available for the National Park would be allocated to the project. It may be possible to reduce the financial commitment to both organisations by securing additional external funding. Presentational Implications 40. Work by Pirnie Ltd on education and inclusion clearly indicates that stakeholders see the provision of the John Muir Award in the Cairngorms as key tool. Continuation of the project is likely to be seen as extremely positive. Implications for Stakeholders 41. The Award will still require continued support from stakeholders to deliver programmes on the ground. Developments linked to junior rangers will need to ensure that they are sustainable and not burden the already busy ranger services. Next Steps 42. The next step is to enter formal discussions with SNH over continued project funding for an addition three years on the basis discussed. We will also actively pursue opportunities for addition funding from new sources. 43. We will report back to the Board in winter 2007/08 on progress with particular emphasis on the development of junior rangers and linking Award programmes closer to the National Park Plan. Pete Crane Claire Ross April 2007 petecrane@cairngorms.co.uk claireross@cairngorms.co.uk Annex 1: Potential contribution of the John Muir Award to delivering Priorities for Action in the Cairngorms National Park Plan 6.7 Raising Awareness and Understanding of the Park Action / John Muir Award potential 2g Make information available about the key, easily accessed features in the Park that best represent the special qualities of the area. JMA continue to engage groups in special qualities. Junior Rangers can be used to get youth view on how to make information accessible to young people. 2h Communities tell and present their stories about their place in the Park. JMA continue. Junior Rangers able to give presentations on their experiences of the Park from a youth perspective. 3b Provide opportunities to share good practice and for land managers, communities and service providers to raise awareness and understanding of the special qualities and promote the benefits of looking after and enjoying them. JMA continue to develop relationships with land managers, service providers and communities. 3c Develop a programme of practical volunteering opportunities that link people to the special qualities of the Park. Junior Ranger Scheme. Continuation of current BTCV/ Project Scotland volunteering scheme. 3d Extend the use of the John Muir Award to encourage more people to experience a sense of wildness in the Park and to share their experiences. Maintain current momentum and quality of JMA participation. Development of Junior Ranger scheme. 3e Develop a programme of activity to encourage people to become ambassadors for the Park, promoting messages about care, active enjoyment and wise use. Development of a Junior Ranger scheme to create groups of young people to act as ambassadors, advocates and youth representatives of the Park. 3h Develop an outreach programme of activity that encourages people throughout Scotland, regardless of age or background, to engage with the National Park. JMA continue with outreach programme and link to joint National Parks and SNH initiative on outreach. 3i Make greater use of the formal education sector and the ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ and other mechanisms as a path to enthusing Scotland’s young people about the Cairngorms National Park and involving them in its future development. JMA involved in current curriculum developments; ‘Outdoor Connections’, ‘Real World Learning’. JMA involved with targeting NEET groups and SEED initiatives. 6.4 Providing High Quality Opportunities for Outdoor Access Action / John Muir Award potential 2a Promote and distribute the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (and the specially targeted versions of it) to ensure all key audiences are aware of its contents. JMA continue to promote the Code. Junior Rangers act as youth advocates of the Code promoting it to their peer groups. 2b Develop programmes of promotional activity about responsible behaviour targeted at specific groups and reviewed on an annual basis. JMA continue to work with SNH. Junior Rangers to be youth voice for promoting and informing on responsible access. 5b Highlight the ‘green gym’ opportunities the National Park provides and extend the use of active referrals by GPs and other health professionals. JMA continue to promote health. Junior Rangers can be seen as role models to peer groups. 6.1 Conserving and Enhancing Biodiversity and Landscapes Action / John Muir Award potential 3c Complete gaps in survey requirements for prioritised species and habitats, including completion of surveys of in-bye farmland grasslands and fens, montane willows. JMA groups continue to participate in surveys. Junior Rangers used to help with surveys. Contribute to national biodiversity surveys. 3e Establish or continue, as appropriate, conservation projects to undertake active management targeted at prioritised species and habitats, including water voles, capercaillie, black grouse, red squirrel, breeding waders, wild cat, semi-natural grasslands. JMA groups continue with conservation projects. Junior Rangers undertake projects which aid prioritised species and habitats. 3f Develop a system for effective action to control or remove invasive non-native species such as mink, grey squirrel, giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed and water crowfoot, and to prevent the introduction of other potential problem species not native to the Park. JMA groups continue to remove invasive non-native species. Junior Rangers undertake removal work. 3h Extend the Raptor Watch project across the Park to increase the populations of native raptors on productive grouse moorlands and other habitats through the active collaboration of land managers, public agencies, NGOs and communities to manage and resolve the conflict between raptors and sporting and other land management interests. Within this initiative, increase the golden eagle population so that it reoccupies its historic range and realises its potential high levels of productivity. Involvement of JMA groups in the project and continue to raise awareness and examine issues. Junior Rangers involved in project through monitoring. 3i Establish partnerships across the Park to combat and reduce all forms of wildlife crime including game poaching, salmon poaching, fresh water pearl mussel fishing and egg stealing. Continue to promote PAWS to JMA groups and encourage participation in events. Junior Rangers take part in PAWS events. 3q Promote the active involvement and training of volunteers from all sections of society to assist in survey, monitoring and practical management of the Park’s special natural and cultural heritage. JMA continues to promote training opportunities. Development of a Junior Ranger scheme which is able to take on surveying, monitoring and management work. 4b Increase education and interpretation initiatives which raise awareness and enjoyment of the Park’s geodiversity. Promote use of geodiversity related initiatives by JMA groups. Annex 2 Options Appraisal Option 1: ‘Do nothing’ - allow the well established existing providers to continue running the award. Key features: • Cease to fund the Project Officer based in the Cairngorms and rely on support and development of providers from the John Muir Award central office. • Rely on the existing network of providers to continue presenting and promoting the Award and make close links with the national Park. Advantages: Inexpensive and simple Disadvantages: • Links with the National Park and the Park Plan are left to chance. • Quality control is undertaken at a distance. • Support is undertaken at a distance. Challenges in implementation: • It is extremely likely that this option would be seen by partners as the CNPA ‘abandoning’ the Award. This option partially happened in East Scotland by default when the manager left and it had taken some time to replace the post. During the year without a manager there had been a 50% drop off in people completing the JMA. Overall assessment: While the Award would continue to be delivered within the National Park it seems highly likely that the numbers would decline as would explicit links with the National Park. There would be few opportunities to ensure that the work of the Award linked people to the delivery of the National Park Plan. This option is unlikely to meet outcomes in the National Park Plan. Option 2: Continue/Develop the project-based approach – look for project funding from CNPA and SNH, Local Authorities and other funds Key features: • Continue the existing partnership funding (principally SNH and CNPA) without the support Leader+ which ends in October 2007. • Seek addition funding from new partners and charitable trusts. Advantages: / Disadvantages: • A proven model with a good track record of delivery. • The project is vulnerable to reductions in the budgets of partners. • A strong partnership that delivers outcomes for all partners. • Is likely to require increased financial commitment from SNH and CNPA. • A cost effective method of delivery for partners. • Places constraints on future expenditure of partners. A partnership that encourages the delivery of National agenda’s in the Cairngorms. • Requires regular renegotiation with partners Challenges in implementation: • The partnership is initially likely to comprise principally of SNH and CNPA and therefore will require an increased financial contribution from both organisations. • Continuation funding for projects from charitable trusts is notoriously difficult to obtain unless the project is undertaking new work. It is more likely that funding for specific areas of work within the project could be obtained. • It is unlikely that Local Authorities would provide direct financial support because of current budget cuts and because it could be legitimately argued that their support is for the staff ‘on the ground’ who deliver the Award. Overall assessment: Maintaining the project will help both SNH, CNPA and other partners deliver outcomes in the National Park Plan. However, there is scope to expand on the existing work of the Award to link it closer to the National Park Plan and encourage new partnership funding. Option 3: CNPA Staff promote/facilitate the Award Key features: • Requires the CNPA to identify existing staff with capacity to undertake the work or create a new post. Advantages: / Disadvantages • Provides security for the post of the Award manager. • Loss of strong partnership and the influence that JMT and SNH have on the delivery of the Award. • CNPA would be seen to be making a strong commitment to delivery of the Award. • Reduced ability to involve new partners and obtain additional funding. • Increased funding commitment for CNPA. Challenges in implementation: • There is no capacity within the existing compliment of CNPA staff to take on this work so it would require the creation of a new post. Overall assessment: While this option is worth considering, it firmly locates the delivery, and associated costs, of the Award within the CNPA. Partners lose the benefit of direct association with the delivery of the Awards and the ability to influence the content of Award programmes through linking to their local and national initiatives. Annex 3: Preliminary proposals for establishment of a system of Junior Rangers using the John Muir Award The Proposal 1. Europarc, the European Federation of protected areas, has developed a Junior Ranger Scheme with the following aims:- a) Create a network of youngsters who participate in nature protection by acting as advocates for their protected area b) Raise awareness about the natural, cultural, social and economic values of protected areas c) Promote friendship and a group ethic among youngsters by engaging them in the achievement of the common goals of European protected areas 2. The advantages of linking to the Europarc Junior Ranger framework are: a) There is an established model used in other UK National Parks – no need to start from scratch b) Cairngorms Junior Rangers would be part of an international family c) There would be opportunities for national and international exchanges How could it work? 3. All participants in the John Muir Award will have completed the John Muir Discovery Award (First level, four days). The John Muir Explorer Award will be the framework for the Junior Ranger training– 8 days. May have residential element or project based. 4. Content that would need to be covered as part of the Explorer Award is as follows - a) Cairngorms National Park aims and priorities – designations – special qualities. b) John Muir and the John Muir Trust – connection to national parks. c) Biodiversity – LBAP – habitats – species identification – surveys and studies – practical conservation work. d) Outdoor Access – SOAC – paths – signage – maintenance – interpretation. e) Interpretation – cultural history – interaction of natural and cultural values – sense of place. f) Meeting the public and understanding their expectations of a National Park– helping lead guided walks – sustainable tourism – economic factors. g) Roles and responsibilities of a Cairngorms National Park Junior Rangers 5. By ensuring that this content is part of an Explorer Award any successful participant would have the necessary competencies to be a Junior Ranger. This content and duration also meets the Europarc requirements. Who participates? 6. Potentially anyone who has done their Discovery Award and is keen to progress to Explorer level and become a Junior Ranger. Initially, we would focus on residents of the Park or people living nearby and in the age range 13-18. There should be a particular emphasis on working with priority groups. 7. A Junior Ranger scheme will complement but not duplicate the British Trust for Conservation Volunteering schemes, rural apprenticeships or other training schemes. Moreover, it is designed to act as a ‘gateway’ for some participants that will provide the skills and confidence to allow them to on to participate in other training schemes. Who will deliver it? 8. Existing Award Providers could use this model with their groups. There would also have to be some input from ranger services based in the Cairngorms and also from CNPA staff such as LBAP and Outdoor Access officers. In order for such a scheme to work it must:- a) Be delivered locally; b) Have meaningful outcomes for young people; c) Not create an additional burden on ranger services; d) Not create unnecessary duplication (hence using the John Muir Award); e) Use the existing resources of the John Muir Award; and f) Link participants to other further education and volunteering opportunities. What next? 9. Junior Rangers could be expected to act as: a) Ambassadors, advocates, representatives of the Park in their schools and local communities; b) Attend shows, games and events as youth representatives of the Park; c) Assist local ranger services on selected occasions with visitor surveys, guided walks, habitat and species surveys and conservation tasks; d) Put forward the views of young people to ‘Inclusive Cairngorms’ and CNPA Board; e) Attend Cairngorm Junior Ranger activity days; and f) Represent the Cairngorms at Junior Ranger camps and exchanges in other Europarc countries.