Spreading the word: RANGERS ARE IMPORTANT!

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By Alison Matheson, NatureScot

In 2021 NatureScot published Connecting people and places – a policy statement on rangering in Scotland which was developed in conjunction with, and endorsed by, the Ranger Development Partnership*.

One objective in the policy – Greater recognition of the importance of rangering has an action to Develop improved and more regular reporting framework(s) to highlight the achievements of rangers and make the case for continued investment in the ranger workforce.

To do this the Ranger Development Partnership decided that a survey of all ranger services in Scotland about their achievements would be carried out annually. This had been tried before without great success (too few ranger services reporting) but it was felt that a renewed approach was worth another go.

Therefore in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 every ranger service in Scotland was asked to complete a national reporting survey. NatureScot takes the lead with making these requests, and collating the data, but all members of the Ranger Development Partnership, particularly the Scottish Countryside Rangers’ Association, promote it heavily. Promotion takes a lot of work – we are always surprised at how hard it can be to reach everyone. Not every ranger service feels able to contribute but the majority do for which we are extremely grateful.

The headline figures for 2024 are shown below, and each of the years is available on this webpage. We have always known that rangers influence and benefit large numbers of people in many different ways, and now we have the evidence. We can also see that significant action by rangers is being taken to address the biodiversity crisis. The involvement of volunteers is particularly welcome as we won’t be able to deliver the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy priorities without volunteers. The Scottish Countryside Rangers’ Association employs a Junior Ranger Development Officer and it is fantastic to see the number of Junior Rangers increasing.

Ranger services are encouraged to use the infographic to help with funding applications, business cases, raising awareness of elected representatives, and similar. It has been very well received by ranger services, their managers, and others who are interested in the work of rangers.

The figures give a good overview of the immense value and impact of rangers. We don’t use the information provided to compare ranger services against each other – each ranger service is very different, with a different focus and scope. We also don’t expect to see the reported numbers keep rising – as that won’t be possible when ranger numbers are not rising.

In addition to the information displayed in the infographic there is also a survey question that asks for any points that a ranger service would like the RDP to consider. These points are then discussed with the RDP and a response is circulated to the ranger services. Points raised have included: funding; training; health & wellbeing; and pathways into rangering.

All in all we think the national ranger reporting is working well. We make slight improvements to the approach each year. We are extremely grateful for the time that ranger services take to complete the survey and hope that they forgive us for the multiple requests to contribute!

*The Ranger Development Partnership (RDP) is a collaboration of senior managers from organisations and groups in Scotland that have a significant interest in rangers, either as an employer of rangers, or as a land manager / land manager’s representative of site(s) where rangering skills are required. The RDP’s purpose is to have a strategic national overview of ranger services, roles and skills across Scotland. It provides a key mechanism to keep the Connecting people and places – a policy statement on rangering in Scotland and the implementation of the action plan under review, work together to address specific actions; discuss and resolve key issues, develop appropriate joint projects and share ideas. It has an advocacy role and is not a lobbying group. The Partnership meets usually twice a year.