Ranger wage

[Salix]

Hi guys,
Just thought ide give you the benefit of my experience. I have been a Ranger for 10 years now, moving through the ranks to become Senior Ranger and now Countryside Officer. It's a great job, but varies drastically throughout the country from LA to LA and organisations. Some Rangers jobs are basically Parkies, patrolling urban parks and defending against ASBO attack. Then there are the jobs such as Fallows, which sound very traditional.My own Rangers do a massive variety of things, Access, Education, Conservation, Maintenance, Forestry, Arboriculture, PR and Law enforcement. The list is endless and every day is different. My Rangers start on a salary of £14,500, rising through the scale to around £16,950. Unfortunately it's the powers that be who govern our wages, if it was up to me, ide be paying my Rangers at least £20,000.
As for qualifications, there are lots out there, Countryside Management degrees are popular, but any earth science will do, I find that personally I look for practical skills, knowledge of the real world, and an ability to mix and get on with people because as a Ranger thats a large portion of the job.
Vacancies are few and far between, and highly fought after (again this pegs the salaries down!), added to the prospect of having to relocate (House Prices ), all add to the problems. My best advice would be to gain some experience as a volunteer with a local service, this will give you a true insight into the job, and give you valuable experience to add to your qualifications.
For jobs and other related gossip try

www.countrysidejobslink.com or .co.uk

An if you want any more info or advice ide be happy to help, just PM me.

Best of luck

Mark

 

[Wolfie]

Im lucky to have been working in conseravtion now for the last 10 years now.

Pay varies around the country but I've seen jobs recently going from £10K - £20K, if you're lucky, and with the right qualifications and experience £20K - £30K max. Staring wages would be around the £12K - £14K area.

Bear in mind however that people who work in conservation certainly don't do it for the money. Also the more money you earn in conservation the more time you spend behind a desk away from doing the things you want to.

The hardest thing is getting your first job.To get there I did an Ecology degree at Lancaster University and then 3 years voluntary work in with Wildlife Trusts, Local Authorities, in fact anyone I could get experience with. Once you have a job in Conservation it is much easier to move around. One good thing is that this does tend to sort out the people who are committed to conservation and are not doing it on a whim or because they have a romantic idea of what a Ranger does.
For every day like the one that Fallow Way describes you'll probably have two picking up litter / dog s**t , repairing vandalism, dealing with complaints / paper work, and you'll probably also have to work whilst the football / rugby / life in general is on at the weekends.

Qualifications you may want to get for Ranger work include a First Aid Certificate, Chainsaw certificate, Herbicide application training, Summer Mountain Leader Qualification, 4x4 / Quad bike training

There are lots of different jobs around. The title Ranger tends to get used for a variety of jobs from teachers / parks patrol / toilet cleaners! Consider other jobs to do with conservation as they may indirectly give you your first step towards being a Ranger

If you're moving to N Wales I would certainly consider learning Welsh. I would be surprised if you could find a job there without it.

If all this hasn't put you off have a look at the Countryside Jobs Service.

www.countryside-jobs.com

They tend to have all the countryside / conservation jobs advertised.

You may also want to take a look at the Countryside Management Association.

www.countrysidemanagement.org.uk

Good luck!

 

[Lover of the forest]

Thanks for all the info guys really helpful. It's really made me think about all the difficulties to becoming a great ranger but it's made me hungrier to go out and become one.Thanks again.

Dan :You_Rock_

 

[Fallow Way]

for half a day once every four weeks its my turn to clean the toilets, empty the bins and clean up dog poopy.

We also do a great deal of community and education based work.

 

[Laurence Dell]

Lover of the forest

I can suggest some possible colleges close enough to you to be possibles

Capel Manor in Enfield may be closest depending on what part of London you are in
http://www.capel.ac.uk/

Merrist Wood near Guildford do countryside courses that are relevant
http://www.guildford.ac.uk/mwSite/mw_index.aspx

and Sparsholt College Hampshire near Winchester is where I went :twak:
http://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/ and this is the course that I did http://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/schwww/gamewildlife/ndgwm.htm

Laurence

 

[Fallow Way]

another option is to get your foot in the door on the lowest rung and work your way up to telling other people what to do Thats what i did, not the say there is anything against academic courses, i just prefer the traditional way of thinking, ie doing the job for a few years before you start telling people how to do it

I havent a academic qualification to my name, I just did it through gaining experience so if a course if not an option, there is also another route so dont give up.

 

[Fenlander]

I havent a academic qualification to my name, I just did it through gaining experience so if a course if not an option, there is also another route so dont give up.

Same here

 

[monkey_pork]

I'd support volunteering 100%.

You'll very often find that will open up funding routes to get basic training, and you may well be able to use the volunteering hours towards vocational qualifications, such as an NVQ.

You 'll get a feel for the way it all hangs together, you'll pick up contacts, plus it'll get you known ...

Volunteering played a big part in me getting my current post..