The province has launched a B.C. Parks student ranger program, in part funded by the proceeds generated from the sale of specialty license plates.

According to a release from the province, the program will hire 48 young people, and has a 30-per-cent Indigenous hiring target.

It will offer hands-on work experience related to ecosystem restoration and invasive-species control, trail building and maintenance, conservation monitoring projects, and public outreach.

"Student rangers will help protect sensitive ecosystems, while preserving the natural, cultural and historical values that British Columbians cherish," Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman said in a release.

Porteau Cove on the Sea to Sky Highway is featured on this special B.C. Parks licence plate. (ICBC)

Applications for the positions — which will begin in late May and early June, and continue through the summer — are now open.

Eight teams of student rangers will work across the province: in Prince George, Smithers, Kamloops, Victoria (in Goldstream Provincial Park), Black Creek, Manning Park, North Vancouver and Squamish.

The province is contributing annual funding of $610,000 over two years from the proceeds of the B.C. Parks licence plate program.

A partnership between Project Learning Tree Canada and the Canadian Parks Council, through the Government of Canada's Summer Work Experience program, will provide additional funding of $260,000 through 2019-20.

According to the release, the student ranger program is the first in a series of projects that will be funded through the licence plate program.