Ranger Rick, originally Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine, is a children's nature magazine that is published by the United States National Wildlife Federation. The magazine offers feature articles and activities for children, ages 7 and up, in order to spark their interest in the outdoors and encourage them to become more actively involved in protecting the environment. The magazine's primary intention is to instill a passion for nature and promote activity outdoors. NWF also publishes two companion magazines, Ranger Rick Jr., which is aimed at ages 4–7, and Ranger Rick Cub, which is aimed at kids 0–4 years old. History In 1959, John Ashley "Ash" Brownridge (1917–2015), under the pseudonym John A. Morris, wrote the book "The Adventures of Rick Raccoon" starring an anthropomorphic raccoon named Rick and his friends at the Deep Green Wood. After seeing a book a colleague sent from Japan that featured a tanuki, he was inspired to create a book to teach children the value of conservation. Two years later, in 1960, he written another book entitled "Ranger Rick and the Great Forest Fire". Then, in January 1967, the first issue of Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine was published. The magazine was so popular that, by 1972, NWF's membership had tripled. The first illustrator of the magazine was painter Lorin Thompson, who drew the characters in a realistic yet expressive manner. In 1982, he was replaced by Alton Langford, who redesigned the existing characters and introduced new characters Scarlett Fox and Boomer Badger. In 1999, Robby Gilbert took over as the new illustrator, coinciding with the magazine's shift from short stories to comic strips. In 2009, British company TheCharacterShop became the new illustrators, rendering the comics as three-dimensional images. In 2016, TheCharacterShop, under the direction of Parker Jacobs, gave the comics a new two-dimensional cartoony style. Ranger Rick is the oldest and most widely distributed children's nature magazine. Characters Numerous characters have appeared in the magazine series. The current main three characters from the magazine's monthly comics are as follows: Ranger Rick is a raccoon that serves as the park ranger and leader of Deep Green Wood. He was first portrayed extinguishing a forest fire in the first issue. He and his friends 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. Scarlett Fox is an American red fox that