taking taxidermy to the masses
Mike Roberts, Wytheville, Va.

In 1992, Mike Roberts started Return to Nature, a nonprofit program dedicated to teaching students around the country about the history of wildlife and land in the U.S., and how to conserve them. For 90 minutes at a time, 0 times a week, his job is to educate and entertain. He charges no fee. "I've taught over 250,000 students," Roberts says. "I try to show kids that they need to get outdoors, away from the lifestyle of electronic games that are detrimental to mental and physical health."

Cleaning Up Padre Island—now and forever
Billy Sandifer, Corpus Christi, Texas

For decades, converging currents in the Gulf of Mexico amassed tons upon tons of trash on the Padre Island National Seashore (PINS . "The most trash in Texas," says Sandifer. "It had been there since I was a kid. In 1994, I didn't find it acceptable any longer." Since then, he's led an annual grassroots project called the Big Shell Beach Cleanup, which has removed 1.83 million pounds of trash from the area, including some 800,000 pounds in the wake of Hurricane Ike. He also started a group called Friends of Padre to ensure the cleanups continue after he's gone. He has raised over $38,000 for the PINS.

Giving alternative-school kids a shot…at pheasants
Les Licklider, Boone, Iowa

"Last year I bought 30 acres of prairie," says Licklider. "I'm turning it into a youth pheasant hunting area." Specifically, the area will be opening this fall to troubled high school students who hunt with a certified adult mentor. Licklider has been working with alternative-school kids since the 1990s. "I started teaching gun safety in the '50s, before everyone got sue-happy. We put an air-rifle range right in the classroom and shot trap outside."