Students: join our Discovery team this summer

Applications are for our 2024 season are now open! Read on to learn more about spending the summer with us.

Discovery rangers are the storytellers of Ontario Parks.

Roughly 300 Discovery staff work in over 60 parks across the province engaging visitors with stories of Ontario’s natural and cultural heritage.

Discovery rangers help our visitors experience the best of what Ontario Parks has to offer by facilitating experiences through educational and interpretive programming.

Piqued your interest? Learn more about how you can join our Discovery team. Continue reading Students: join our Discovery team this summer

Four parks for three sisters

Park experiences, just as sisters, vary greatly. Each has their own personality and experiences. 

Today’s very special post comes from three sisters: Green student Elle Dresser from Fushimi Lake Provincial Park, Park Warden Libbey Dresser at Fairbank Provincial Park, and Park Warden Ivy Dresser at Wheatley Provincial Park.

Are you interested in joining us for the 2024 summer season? Applications are now open!

Continue reading Four parks for three sisters

An ode to Discovery

In today’s post, Anna Winge-Breen shares her journey from childhood visitor to Algonquin Provincial Park Discovery Ranger. 

We all have at least one childhood experience, so crisp and profound that it has become nearly inseparable from our identity.

A memory that is so deep in your heart, thinking of it brings you right back to a feeling of excitement so exuberant it could be felt only by a child.

For me, this memory is my summers spent in Algonquin.

Continue reading An ode to Discovery

Life lessons working with Bobolinks

Today’s post comes from Victoria Reimer, Bronte Creek Provincial Park’s Green Jobs summer student and friend to birds everywhere.

If you asked me what a Green Jobs student was before I started, I wouldn’t have known myself.

Now, after being in the role, I can tell you it’s a wonderful opportunity to become intimately connected to your park. Every day, my job challenges me, but it also gives me so many opportunities to learn.

Continue reading Life lessons working with Bobolinks

Happy World Ranger Day

Ontario Parks staff tackle a huge array of tasks and challenges.

Our days are diverse. You might find us researching rare species, applying First Aid to injured guests, maintaining safe and healthy water systems, building a boardwalk, or welcoming families to a busy campground.

We’re stewards of our province’s most treasured natural resources. We’re educators, instilling a love of nature in new generations of Ontarians.

Internationally, World Ranger Day celebrates their wonderful work protecting our parks, and commemorates park rangers killed or injured in the line of duty in park organizations with high-risk activities.

We’re proud to keep our parks safe and welcoming to visitors, while protecting our amazing natural world.

Take a look at just a few of our everyday heroes:

Continue reading Happy World Ranger Day

The remarkable 62-year career of Eddie Ramsay

Well… it had to happen eventually!

Ontario Parks’ longest serving employee has retired after working 62 years at Killbear Provincial Park. 

Eddie started working at the park in 1959 and helped to build the roads and campgrounds before the park officially opened in 1960.

After a full career training countless staff and keeping the maintenance department ticking, Eddie decided to hang up his chainsaw for good last summer.

Hats off to Eddie and we wish him a long and healthy retirement!

When most people think of a career, they might think of working 30, 35, or perhaps even 40 years before enjoying a well-earned retirement.

Eddie Ramsay doesn’t subscribe to that point of view.

Continue reading The remarkable 62-year career of Eddie Ramsay

Hiking through Halfway Lake, discovery-style

Today’s post comes from Megan and Cora, two of Halfway Lake Provincial Park‘s discovery guides. 

As discovery guides, part of our job is inspiring, encouraging, and motivating visitor to explore and discover nature everywhere!

Continue reading Hiking through Halfway Lake, discovery-style

Portage partnership at Quetico Provincial Park

Today’s post comes from Chris Stromberg, Acting Backcountry Operations Specialist at Quetico Provincial Park and Coordinator for the Heart of the Continent.

This August, backcountry and wilderness ranger crews from Quetico Provincial Park and the Kawishiwi Ranger District of the Superior National Forest joined forces to maintain and improve a number of shared portages along the Canada/US border near Carp Lake and Knife Lake.

Continue reading Portage partnership at Quetico Provincial Park