I have been involved in the world of conservation from my first stint on my local conservation commission in 1981 to being a representative on the NH Association of Conservation Committees and active member of the Cold River Local Advisory Committee (NH) from the application process to acceptance in the state's River Management and Protection Program (late 1990's through the present time).My paid work has primarily been working with youth who struggle in school for a variety of reasons. For the past six years I have worked as a paraprofessional in a K-8 school where I have had the privilege of working with students in grades 4-8 who need differentiation in math or language arts. I love these students! But I am sad that public school is not able to allow students as young as 3rd or 4th grade to use local streams, wetlands, and forests on an unpredictable basis (weather/life cycles/etc) for learning. Macro-invertebrate identification and count is one such pleasure that I miss. However, as a history major, I find other ways to use local information (local Civil War experiences, for example) but I miss some earlier days when environmental education could include regular access to the nearest stream. At least our 4th grade has a school garden and I am grateful to that teacher for her efforts on this! Meanwhile, I develop board games with my students on almost everything we learn about or want to know more about. These keep me going in spirit!