Whether he is teaching, mentoring students, or serving on his town's land conservation board, there is one common thread that weaves together the life of Professor Barry Wicklow. This is a man who is passionate about the natural world.

It is a passion and responsibility that he easily passes on to his students through his hands-on and personable approach to teaching. "I feel a responsibility to pass on skills, knowledge, and values. I feel that someone needs to be a voice," says Professor Wicklow.

For his students, the natural world becomes a classroom, where they can apply theory and research toward finding workable solutions to real-world problems.

Nowhere is this approach more apparent than with the Piscataquog River Habitat Restoration Project, which has involved his students for the past several years. Through this innovative project, students under Professor Wicklow's guidance assessed stream biology, morphology, and hydrology then designed a system of rock vanes and a weir to slow and redirect current away from an undercut bank near a main road. In the process, they restored the wildlife habitat in the area to protect the endangered Brook Floater Mussel and the native species of fish needed by the mussel to maintain its life cycle.

"The project has involved a scope of work not normally seen at a small liberal arts college," says Professor Wicklow. "Students have driven the project. They have collected and analyzed data, written grants for funding, applied for wetland permits, worked with community partners, and designed the research and implementation methods."

The students' work, supported by the Environmental Protection Agency through the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, could one day serve as a model for stream restoration projects across New Hampshire.