Rod Cross, Chambersburg, Pa.

A charter member of southwestern Pennsylvania’s chapter of Trout Unlimited before he relocated to the central part of the state, Cross has spent the last seven years as president of the Falling Springs chapter, where he secured $1 million in grant money to fund a trout-habitat overhaul on four half-mile sections of the namesake creek. For 16 years, Cross has also served as operations director for another chapter’s River Conservation and Youth Camp, where he mentors 32 teens. He dedicates weekends to combat-wounded veterans learning to flyfish with Project Healing Waters. “Volunteering has become what I do,” he says.

Scott & Martha Richardson, Junction, Texas

After wildfires burned through 8,000 acres of hill country last year, Scott Richardson helped facilitate workshops aimed at giving landowners resources to reverse the destruction to wildlife habitat. “I’m no expert, but I could get people to the experts,” says Scott. He and Martha volunteer with the South Llano Watershed Alliance and Master Naturalists to prevent stream-bank erosion and build rainwater catchments.

Eric Rasmussen, Acra, N.Y.

In 2007, Rasmussen donated 142 acres of forest, which he restored and managed as a tree farm for more than 50 years, to the Cornell University Cooperative Extension for use as an education center and model forest. Since 1970, this lifelong deer hunter has hosted educational field days for more than 10,000 local children to learn about wildlife habitat, water quality, and forestry, and has kept this land open to hunters. He is still integral to the property’s daily operations as a volunteer.