• Banca Transilvania and the Vacaresti Nature Park Association are recruiting Urban Rangers
• 100 volunteers are needed to help maintain Vacaresti Nature Park
• Volunteers can sign up by completing a form on the association’s website

Banca Transilvania and the Vacaresti Nature Park Association are launching the program “Be an Urban Ranger!” to recruit volunteers who are passionate about nature and protecting the environment.

The team of the Vacaresti Nature Park Association has taken all the steps needed to have the Park designated a protected natural area. Today, the park’s administrators and stewards need volunteers to join patrol and protection efforts, to help clean up the area, to monitor bird and animal species, and to support educational activities. Together with the association’s team, Banca Transilvania wants to help maintain the health of Vacaresti Nature Park.

What is an Urban Ranger?

Urban Ranger is the official title and status conferred on any volunteer who gets involved in activities carried out by the Vacaresti Nature Park Association. The main duties of an Urban Ranger are:

• Protection and security patrols
• Clean-ups, pruning and trimming, reinforcing trails and infrastructure
• Biodiversity monitoring and conservation activities
• Educational activities, guiding, birdwatching

How does someone become an Urban Ranger?

The first step is to complete the registration form on the Vacaresti Nature Park website by accessing http://parcnaturalvacaresti.ro/fii-ranger-urban. Once registered, applicants enter the volunteer selection process and will be notified within a maximum of 10 days if they have been accepted into the program. The Urban Ranger Handbook can be downloaded here. 

“Banca Transilvania, as part of the community, supports the efforts of the Vacaresti Nature Park Association to keep the largest green space in Bucharest healthy and, at the same time, the country’s only protected natural area. We stand with the association’s team because we want to support sustainable, environment-related initiatives in Bucharest” - said Sergiu Mircea, Marketing & Communication Director.

“Vacaresti Nature Park was established through the dedication of urban rangers. People who, beyond loving nature, chose to get involved in a project of public interest. They are the people who are gradually reclaiming the city and who choose to engage in solving problems that go beyond their comfort zone. Through this project, the urban ranger is given, in Vacaresti Nature Park, a space for action, involvement and experimentation. We invite all those who see themselves in the profile described to join us”, said Dan Barbulescu, Founding Member, Vacaresti Nature Park Association.

Vacaresti Nature Park emerged from people’s wish to keep nature in their city. The green space in the heart of Bucharest was initially designed to become a lake, but over the years the works were abandoned. In the absence of human intervention, the site rewilded and became home to numerous species of birds and animals.