What’s up? — Junior Ranger Program Library

Oct 17, 2025

Devin McCutchen, State Park Interpreter II, Interpretation and Education Division

Detail photograph of a page depicting a compass rose stamped with the image of a bear head and the words "Junior Ranger California State Parks"

It feels like there are two situations interpreters find themselves in when developing a new Junior Ranger program:

Interpreter A inherited an amazing library of binders absolutely packed with sample Junior Ranger program outlines carefully crafted and reviewed by many generations of Parks staff.
Interpreter B inherited a desk drawer of unlabeled mystery keys and not much else.

Whichever situation you find yourself in, we built the new Statewide Junior Ranger Guided Program Library for you! This is a virtual Sharepoint library of sample staff- or volunteer-guided Junior Ranger programs, complete with accompanying documentation, for you to browse, adapt, and wholesale copy in your park.

The library will only get better over time as you submit your park’s best programs via the “Submit a New Junior Ranger Guided Program” link. We’re especially interested in programs on topics broadly applicable to many parks (e.g. Animal Tracks, Recreation Safety, Stewardship, Redwoods, Desert Life, Mexican-Era California, etc.) We hope to follow-up soon with a comparable library for sharing self-guided Junior Ranger Adventure Guides, but for now we’re looking for outlines and accompanying materials for those classic staff- and volunteer-guided programs.

Sometimes the best interpretation is just targeted larceny, so get stealing (and sharing)!