Almost every school in the United States has natural areas nearby that are often overlooked as learning sites. The intent of this document is to provide educators with a platform to begin natural resource programming at sites near their school. Philosophical as well as concrete information is outlined to provide both intrinsic and conceptual connections to natural resource areas. This document is divided into five parts. Part 1, "Connecting Students to Natural Resource Areas," outlines the effectiveness of such programs. Part 2, "Getting Started," includes sites and site selection, planning and proposal writing, project plan outlines, changing attitudes and structures, changing teacher roles, changing educational models, and the time issue. Part 3, "Program Strategies," includes creating an identity, increasing community contact, creating student leadership, spending some time on aesthetics, approaching resource people, funding ideas, field techniques, Earth ethics and etiquette, and project ideas. Part 4, "Models," includes four different models of programming based on a nearby natural resource area. Part 5 outlines some closing thoughts. A list of federal agencies, private/nonprofit organizations, State agencies, local agencies, and political and industrial contacts are included in the appendix. (JRH)