Nancy Craft
Hughesville, Pa. Retired School Teacher, Taxidermist

Not only is Craft an active member of Ducks Unlimited (21 years), the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (18 years), Friends of the NRA (17 years), the National Wild Turkey Federation (eight years), and Women in the Outdoors (seven years)—she helped form a chapter of every one of these organizations. Over the years, she has been an invaluable fund-raiser for the clubs, helping to bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in the name of wildlife. Along with her husband, Gary, she recently started a shooting team at Sullivan County High School.

It started 20 years ago with a Ducks Unlimited chapter, and it went on from there. In all, my husband and I were in on the ground floor of five different conservation chapters. Sometimes it seems like we just go from one banquet to the next.

I enjoy hunting, so I understand the goals set out by these conservation groups, and I really believe in what they're doing to help habitat. In the past, we've worked with DU on state game lands installing wood-duck boxes and putting in food plots for the NWTF.

I serve as ticket chair for the groups, which means I help plan and conduct their annual fund-raising events. It's exciting to meet so many people, and I take pride in being concerned with a full range of issues. We live in a world that's becoming more and more specialized, but in conservation, everything is connected.

Youth is a common theme. Every organization I work with in some way or another supports kids. As coaches of our shooting team, we're proud of the fact that ours is the only school in Pennsylvania that awards varsity letters for shooting. It's amazing to see the look of awe on the face of a new shooter who begins to break clay targets on the range.

Enjoying the outdoors has been my lifelong passion. The desire to have others share that enjoyment, especially for the next generation, is why I stay so involved.

—As told to Tom Tiberio