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Ranger Rick is a children’s nature magazine that is published by the National Wildlife Federation. The magazine offers activities for children, ages 7 and up, in order to spark their interest in the outdoors and become more actively involved in the environment. The magazine's primary intention is to instill a passion for nature and promote activity outdoors. Children are growing increasingly distant from their environment, which raises a concern that conservational efforts in the future will diminish. However, Ranger Rick has taken this disinterest into account and has made some changes in it's content to attract children and therefore promote environmental activism.

History
Ranger Rick is the oldest and biggest children’s nature magazine. The National Wildlife Federation first published the magazine as, Ranger Rick’s Nature Magazine, in January of 1967 and instantly gained many devoted readers who have since passed on their interest to their own children.

Publication Information
Ranger Rick has a circulation of 525,000, and an estimated 200,000 more children are exposed to the magazine by viewing pre-used copies. The magazine has one issue published every month by the National Wildlife Federation.

Printing Information
The magazine uses an environmentally friendly processed paper, which is composed of consumer waste (about 30%) and is absent of chlorine. Vegetable oils largely make up the magazine’s actual ink. By using these environmentally friendly resources the following is saved on a monthly basis:

Trees: 1,179 Total Energy: 3,300 million BTUs Greenhouse Gases: 617,398 lbs. carbon Waste Water: 1,517,064 gallons Solid Waste: 216,093 lbs.

Features
Each issue includes nonfiction articles about various environmental and animal topics, fictional story-like articles, and color photography throughout. Also included in the magazine are activities such as nature-themed games, activities that get children to actively learn more about their environments, riddles, and jokes.

Honors
Ranger Rick has received the “Golden Lamp Award for excellence in educational journalism”. Here are other awards the magazine has attained over the years:

Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award Winner

2010

•	Periodical of the Year for Children (Grades K-5) •	Best Feature Story ("Nature Did It First," April 2009) •	Best Visual Story ("Wild and Weird," Oct. 2009)) •	Best Photograph (April 2009)

2009

•	Best Design/Whole Publication, Oct. 2008 issue •	Best Article Design (“Noisy Boys Band,” Sept. 2008) •	Best Feature Article (“Noisy Boys Band,” Sept. 2008) 2008 •	Best Visual Story (“Island of the Bats,” October 2007) •	Best Photograph (“Fruit Eating Bat,” October 2007) 2007

•	Best Magazine Illustration ("What's Lurking in Your Lawn?" Sept. 2006) •	Best Visual Article ("Skin," Dec. 2006) •	Best Feature Story ("The Scoop on Poop," March 2006) •	Best Visual Story ("Hum, Hum Hummers," June 2006) 2006

•	Best Visual Story ("Face to Face," May 2005) •	Best How-To Feature ("Six Trix for Better Pix," June 2005) •	Best Teacher's Guide (December 2005) •	Best Informational/Educational Website (for http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick.aspxwww.nwf.org/rangerrick ) 2004

•	Best Feature Article ("Meat-Eating Plants, " Nov. 2003) 2003

•	Best Feature Article ("Open Wide, Look Inside, It's Alive!" Feb. 2002) •	Best Illustration ("Open Wide, Look Inside, It's Alive!" Feb. 2002) •	Best How-To Feature ("Good Pet, Bad Pet," June 2002) •	Best Visual Story ("Wahoo, Kangaroo!" Feb. 2002) 2001

•	Golden Lamp Award finalist •	Winner for Best Visual Story ("All About Me," June 2000) Note: Before 2000 or so, the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) was known as EdPress.

1998

•	EdPress Winner for Primates Special Issue (October 1997 issue)

1993

•	EdPress Golden Lamp Honor Award

1992

•	EdPress Distinguished Achievement Award

1988

•	EdPress Golden Lamp Award for best overall magazine (October 1997 issue) Parents' Choice Foundation

•	Parents' Choice Foundation Silver Medal, 2010 •	Parents' Choice Foundation Gold Medal, 2009 •	Parent's Choice Foundation, Gold Medal, 2008 •	Parents’ Choice Foundation, Award Winner, 2006, for NWF: Kids & Families website •	Parents' Choice Foundation, Gold Medal, 2003 •	Parents' Choice Foundation, Gold Medal, 1999 •	Parents' Choice Foundation, Gold Medal, 1996 The Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Awards

2007

•	Teachers' Choice Award for the Family

2006

•	Teachers’ Choice Award for the Family (for Ranger Rick magazine and its Educator’s Guide) Other Awards: •	2001 - Folio Editorial Excellence Award Silver Winner for Outstanding Editorial Work •	1996 - Society of National Association Publishers General Excellence Award •	1991 - National Magazine Award finalist for special issue on frogs

Characters
The magazine is named after Ranger Rick, the raccoon protagonist who was first portrayed extinguishing a forest fire within the first issue. Ranger Rick and his friends, Scarlett Fox, and Boomer Badger have many adventures together (as depicted in the magazine’s regularly featured cartoon and fiction stories) and always look for new ways to help preserve the environment.

In the Classroom
Ranger Rick is sometimes incorporated in elementary science classrooms to enhance the interest of environmental conservation in young children.

Recent Modifications
Because technology has greatly influenced and impacted the lives of children today, Ranger Rick magazine has made modifications in order to appeal to the children that are becoming increasingly distant in engaging in outdoor exploration. In order to inspire a new generation of conservationists, attracting young readers is essential to magazine's which promote environmental awareness and preservation efforts. , and Ranger Rick magazine has realized this importance of maintaing natural interest in young people. The magazine has since made changes within their content in order to appeal to a changed generation of children, not only for profit, but for the future of conservational efforts. The magazine has made such changes, for example, in the amount of narrative, by replacing the majority of narrative pieces with more visually engaging elements. Also, the Ranger Rick character himself has had a transformation as he once appeared as an accurate representation of a real raccoon, to becoming a very unrealistic, cartoon-like figure. Some sections of the magazine have been modified as well, such as placing the text and titles in more modern and ideal locations to visually draw in readers.

Contact Information
Letters from the reader and other letters should be sent to the Ranger Rick editorial offices:

Ranger Rick; 11100 Wildlife Center Dr.; Reston, VA 20190-5362.

It should be known that Ranger Rick will not acknowledge any unsolicited queries for articles wishing to be incorporated in the magazine, and upon arrival these unsolicited items will be returned if there is a return address indicated with postage included. Photographers and artists who wish to submit editorial drawings should refer to Ranger Rick’s photo and art submission guidelines.