Discover Parks Ambassador (Parksville)

Job Title:Discover Parks Ambassador

Reporting To:Discover Parks Coordinator: Nature Houses

Purpose: To excite, engage and educate park visitors

Dates: May 22 to August 29, 2024

Parks: Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park and Nature House, Englishman Falls

Position Description

Discover Parks Ambassadors create amazing experiences that inspire, educate, and empower people to appreciate, enjoy, and care for British Columbia's parks and protected places. We are seeking energetic, motivated individuals with a deep respect for the natural environment to deliver educational experiences in Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park, ensuring a welcoming and engaging experience at the Nature House. The Nature House has the reputation of being a welcoming and educational space with opportunities for park visitors to support conservation education through donations and purchases. This position is instrumental in maintaining the Nature House’s positive role in the community.

What does a typical day look like?

Your days will vary throughout your work term and will include running educational programs in various park locations, alongside operating the Nature House. Daily tasks include delivering programs, engaging with visitors, programs planning, operating the giftshop, daily cleaning of the nature house, and collecting and reporting program metrics. You will always be interacting with visitors, sharing insight about the park’s biodiversity and inspiring environmental awareness. On weekdays you may be running multiple programs for school groups, walking trails, and operating the giftshop and on weekends you may provide public programs for families alongside your time in the Nature House. Your schedule will change to include afternoon and evening shifts to facilitate the much-loved evening educational amphitheatre programs at the campground.

Responsibilities:

• Research, learn, create, promote, and deliver engaging school group programs focussed on the natural history of the area that meets the objectives of the BC Curriculum and the education community
• Meaningfully interact with park visitors in the following ways:

• • Educate visitors on how to enjoy parks responsibly
  • Ensure you are knowledgeable on local flora, fauna, and natural processes to be able to answer questions and provide accurate information

• • Facilitate activities and games for children and families
  • Present daytime and evening family-friendly interpretive programs in parks
  • Learn existing Jerry’s Rangers programs and research park-specific knowledge to enrich them
• Operate and enhance the Nature House and Gift shop
  • Learn and operate the storefront / point of sale system for retail sales, donations, and user-fee payments
  • Conduct daily operational tasks including cleaning, tidying, and inventory management
• Promote and educate park visitors on collecting iNaturalist observations with a mobile device
• Monitor and report daily interaction statistics

• Contribute to safe work environment

Perks of the Job:

• Industry standard interpretive training provided
• Standard first aid training provided, if needed

• Staff activities and competitions
• Discounts on BCPF merchandise
• You get to spend an amazing summer in BC’s beautiful parks having a positive impact on people’s visits!

Work Environment:

• This is a full-time seasonal position, 35 hours/week. Schedule will be 5 consecutive days, 2 days off, working 9am – 4:30pm (3-4 days per week) and 12:30pm – 8pm (1-2 days per week) for evening public programs

Requirements:

• Love the environment and being outdoors in all weather conditions
• Comfortable making presentations, talking to visitors, and leading tours
• Enjoy interacting with large crowds and having lots of conversations. Rathtrevor gets very busy, and your team might have 100+ conversations with visitors in a day
• Experience working and/or volunteering with children
• Possess a valid Driver’s license and access to a reliable vehicle for accessing the park/campground and for moving program materials
• Personal computer with video conferencing capabilities
• Personal mobile phone available during work hours
• Willing to complete a Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector Search (will be completed during the hiring process)

Skills and Experience Considered an Asset:

• Fluency in additional languages
• Standard first aid certification or higher
• Post-secondary study in environmental sciences or outdoor education

Canada Summer Jobs Funding Eligibility:

As a condition of pending Canada Summer Jobs program funding, to be eligible for funding you will need to be:

• be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of employment
• be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person to whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for the duration of the employment
• have a valid Social Insurance Number and be legally entitled to work in Canada and BC

Hiring Policy:

The Foundation is committed to a diverse workforce. Preference may be given to qualified Indigenous candidates or those from or with experience of other cultures. Those identifying as being part of groups which are underrepresented or have additional barriers to the labour market are encouraged to apply.

No of Positions Available: 4