Junior Ranger Day 2010

Date: April 15, 2010
Contact: Aaron Ochoa, 360 816-6233

WHAT: Junior Ranger Day

WHERE: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington

WHEN: Saturday, April 24, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

EVENT DETAILS: Junior Ranger Day provides a fun and interactive opportunity for youth to learn more about the fascinating jobs of the National Park Service at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Volunteers and staff will be on hand to show the work of what archaeologists, park guides, and cultural demonstrators do at the fort. Set up with stations, young visitors can go from station to station learning more about the many things park staff do while being introduced to the national parks. Once complete they earn the Junior Ranger Day Patch and become a Junior Ranger.

Visitors will also have get a glimpse of one of the park's newest Youth Volunteer Program, the Young Engage School, that will be going on that day. Known as YES to some of the volunteers, young volunteers are given the unique opportunity to train in a variety of skills of the 1840's. The YES program has participants rotate through the carpenter shop, kitchen, fur store , and clerk's office culminating

COST: Free! Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, along with all other units of the national park system, will be free of charge during National Park Week, April 17-25.

Background: The Vancouver National Historic Reserve brings together a national park, a premier archaeological site, the region's first military post, an international fur trade emporium, one of the oldest operating airfields, the first national historic site west of the Mississippi River, and a waterfront trail and environmental center on the banks of the Columbia River. The partners of the Reserve teach visitors about the fur trade, early military life, natural history, and pioneers in aviation, all within the context of Vancouver’s role in regional and national development. The Reserve's vast array of public programs -- including living history events, festivals, cultural demonstrations, exhibits, active archaeology, and other special activities -- create a dynamic, fun, and unique tourist destination for people of all ages.