My family has valued nature and conservation for generations. My great grandfather on my mom's side worked for the DNR planting wind-breaks on farms to avoid another Dust Bowl. My dad's side of the family has been farming for generations. We have a family tradition of camping at Sibley State Park near my grandparents and cousin's homes over Memorial Day weekend every year. I live near the Gateway Trail which we have utilized fairly often to bike to Stillwater or explore Saint Paul and Phalen Park. I also attended Girl Scout camp in the Chequamegon National Forest in Wisconsin and worked there for most of a summer. I worked for a month and a summer at Girl Scout Camps near Waterville and Houston, MN and enjoyed my time there. conservation is incredibly important to me and I look forward to sharing the wilderness and parks with the next generation.

I am a current graduate student in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. My graduate cohort, CLTL 2.0, is headed to Chiapas, Mexico soon to work on conservation issues there.

Well you know my story and I hope to show you more when you visit South Africa.

I am constantly referring to a very upset, agitated and pained to the soul, Mother Nature. She is trying to make us understand how much we have misused her, beat her up, destroyed the best of her, and that, in case no one noticed, Mother Nature is now fighting back. The wrath she rains down with such anger, is there in the 'hottest", driest, wettest, coldest, and most damaging weather. There will be more earthquakes, volcano awakenings, fires, blizzards and damaging storms, unless we wake up, and wake up soon.

Recently a town close to mine (Cedar Hill) built an Audubon Park, beautiful hiking trails, indoor/outdoor bird watching area, a place to have a pinic, etc. I love going there and think more towns should have a place like that to go to. Also I think more Cities (local governments) should take part in community gardens and farmer markets.

I live in Charleston, SC and work for a Nature Program on Kiawah Island which focuses on outdoor education of the local ecosystems. We work to give people a better understanding of the importance and uniquness of the local flora and fauna in hopes that they will have a stronger desire to protect it. There i fully support the efforts provided in the farm bill to help protect and enhance our natural resources that allow us to live a healthy life.

I have grown up in a rural town in Northwestern Rhode Island, and feel privelaged to have done so. Like everywhere else, the town has gotten more built up in the 30 or so years I have lived here, but we have still maintained or rural character. The town has an active Land Trust which has many protected forests and pieces of farmland it preserves. I am an avid equestrian and have a small horse farm. I enjoy access to one of the forests the Land Trust maintains, which is a great gift. One of the biggest threats to equestrian sports is the loss of land. Years ago you could freely ride through fields and forests, but population growth and housing devolopments have eaten up many of those wonderful places, particularly here in Southern New England. Anything that can be done to slow this loss of land or halt it all together seems like a good idea to me!

We should preserve, protect and enjoy what remains of natural America.

When we bought our home, nearly 18 years ago, we bought "The Neighborhood"! Small older homesteads on small acreages within our city limits. It was paradise! Surrounded by nature and all it's wildlife glory!Unfortunately, we are adjacent to an area that had never been annexed into the city and, therefore as County land, did not have the laws that govern our small town. It has now become like the "Wild West" in this County area (surrounded by City). Our front yard has become a wasteland for get rich oil related companies that few local or State laws to comply with. They "slash and burn" drop their rusty old tanks in the middle of the night, drive huge, over sized, overweight industrial oil related equipment down our one lane dead end road in the middle of the night making it impossible to get a good night's sleep. They drive down a 20MPH one lane partially paved dead end road like it was Indy 500. We look out my front door and see their garbage. We are awakened throughout the night by heavy equipment being used and burning. I was awakened recently fearing my house was on fire only to find one of the companies was burning something and then burying it at 3:00am. I woke up yelling "Call 911, the house is on fire!". They have no respect for the residents that live on this little lane. We are the next to the last house on a dead end road and daily there are around 50 plus vehicles driving past MY HOME at speeds I would never drive at on my own road after 17 years. They have destroyed our natural habitat and our wildlife is gone! We had eagles, hawks, deer, coyotes, bobcats, turtles, frogs, turkeys. Now it is an event to see a bird! Our old big beautiful trees are suddenly dying. There are days, when you walk outside, there is an acrid smell and you can not breath! My neighbors and I have mounted campaigns to stop this destruction and been shut down locally and told to contact Government Agencies-which is like banging your head on the wall. These people would not allow this at their homes! They found a loophole in the laws and all they think about is all the money they are going to make servicing the oil/energy business! Our property values have declined, our homeowner's insurance has dramatically risen and our paradise has become a 24hour/7days a week HELL!