Ontario’s youth experience natural resource management

Nipissing MPP Monique Smith
News Release

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Young people will work to protect Ontario’s natural heritage and biodiversity through the Ontario Ranger program in Samuel Champlain Provincial Park and Algonquin Provincial Park this summer, said Monique Smith, MPP.

“By providing jobs for students and recent graduates, we are investing in Ontario’s young people,” said Monique Smith, MPP for Nipissing “The projects undertaken through the Ontario Ranger Program include campsite rehabilitation and bridge building on One Mile Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, and campsite cleanup, road brushing, interpretative trail brushing and building staining in Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park and Algonquin Provincial Park.”

Ontario Ranger teams are made up of youth in their 17th year who live in camps for the summer and work with local partners on natural resource management projects. The Ontario Ranger Program is funded by the Ministry of Natural Resources. This program provides education, training and experience in natural resources management; and also enhances the participant’s leadership skills.

The Ministry has 13 Ontario Ranger camps across Ontario this summer, many of which are in the north. For more information on the Ontario Ranger program or other ministry’s youth employment programs, please visit the Youth Programs website at www.gojobs.gov.on.ca (click on “Youth Employment”) or call 1-800-667-1940.

The ministry’s youth employment programs are part of the provincial government’s Ontario Summer Jobs Strategy. With an annual investment of almost $52 million, the strategy provides more than 70,000 jobs and services to young people throughout the province.

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