SUN JOURNAL • November 10, 2026
Junior Ranger programs in state and national parks educate children, require outdoor activity, invite reflection on nature and nurture creativity. At Camden Hills, children ages 4 to 7 years old must complete at least eight of the activities. Those 8 and older must complete at least 12. Junior Ranger programs emphasize the ancestral homelands of indigenous people, natural history and more recent history. I am both a Junior Ranger and a one-time state park ranger here in Maine. It’s never too late to become a Junior Ranger. No matter your age or the time of year, nature waits. ~ Doug Woodsum, Oakland, retired teacher, a Maine master naturalist and a volunteer conservationist