A dream role for lovers of the countryside is being offered by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA).

The authority is looking to take on an apprentice ranger help to maintain the park’s 2,500 km network of footpaths. The successful candidate with also attend classes at Craven College, Skipton, to earn a level 2 qualification in countryside work, which is equivalent to a GCSE.

Day to day, the ranger will help repair footbridges, stiles, signposts and dry-stone walls, as well as working with community groups and other visitors to the national park.

The ideal candidate should show good intrapersonal skills, be capable of demonstrating initiative and have strong interest in learning practical conservation skills, the role’s application form says.

YDNPA said it “has made apprenticeships a priority” in recent years, to help encourage the next generation of conservationists to care for the national park.

Since 2000, 32 young people have worked in the role of apprentice ranger, with National Park organisations aiming to expand their apprenticeship and training offering to offer 30 roles by 2030.

The authority has also previously offered apprenticeships in communications, wildlife conservation and planning, among other areas.

National Park Authority Members, from left: Doug Rathbone, Jim Bailey, Graham Simpkins, Clive Pearson, Libby Bateman, Richard Outhwaite, Derek Twine, Yvonne Peacock, Graham Minshaw and George Jabbour.

placeholder image — National Park Authority Members, from left: Doug Rathbone, Jim Bailey, Graham Simpkins, Clive Pearson, Libby Bateman, Richard Outhwaite, Derek Twine, Yvonne Peacock, Graham Minshaw and George Jabbour.

Derek Twine, chair of the YDNPA, said: “In an area where opportunities for young people in particular can be limited, offering high-quality apprenticeships is essential to helping local people, grow in confidence and build long-term futures within the rural economy.”

Twine also highlighted the skills the apprenticeship will help develop, including “certificated skills in chainsaw and brushcutter use, ATV driving, habitat surveying, [and] species identification.”

Through their work, he said, “the apprentice will have the opportunity to work and learn in one of the country’s most iconic protected landscapes, helping to care for and conserve the Yorkshire Dales for future generations”.

Yorkshire Dales National Park covers 841 square miles, having been established in 1954 and extended in 2026. Four million people visit the area each year, according to the Authority, bringing £670 million in tourism to the area.