The Boulder Department of Parks and Recreation has welcomed the second 2026 cohort of Junior Rangers.
For 61 years, the Boulder Junior Ranger Program has hired teens aged 14 to 17 to maintain the city’s outdoor spaces and study the environment over the summer.
Junior Ranger applicants go through a competitive interview process to become city employees.
Bilingual Coordinator Felipe Proaño told KUNC the application experience is one way the program prepares teens for the future through hands-on education.
“Youth can learn about the actual science that the city is providing to the population through environmental education,” he said. “And being outside is also an educational component because it's teaching the new generations the importance of having that connection with nature.”
The program aims to foster young people’s connection with nature when they are more into their screens than ever.
“Generationally speaking, we have seen this trend of humans in every level being more attached to the technology - to the screen, to the light, to the distraction - rather than being connected with nature and learning about it, so I think that's very powerful,” Proaño said. “It's something that you can't really explain in words. It's something that you need to be there in order to understand how it works.”
The job also offers room for advancement.
“If you start as a first-year Junior Ranger [when] you're 14 years old, you can make it to be a fourth-year junior ranger when you're about to turn 18,” Proaño said. “And then you can become a crew lead for the program, usually in ages between 21 to 25, and then potentially even become a coordinator.”
The current session for the Junior Ranger Program runs through Aug. 7.
