Diana Plasker soaks up her time outdoors enjoying all four seasons as a Zena Cornfield Land Steward, but she’s also happy helping school-age children inside classrooms fall in love with nature. Diana has been essential to our school visits in preparation for “Watershed Wonders,” the exhibit that will open at Woodstock Library April 18. Whether she was visiting a classroom with WLC Program Manager Miranda Javid, designing educational materials or helping to install the exhibit, Diana has been an integral part of this programming initiative.

When she’s not exploring the wonders of water creatures with kids, Diana is happy to be enjoying the quiet that our preserves provide. “The quiet moments at the end of a long hike or day almost entirely outside are always precious to me,” she said.

Diana has only been in Woodstock for two years, but she already feels a deep connection to the cornfield. “I have a soft spot in my heart for the Zena Cornfield,” she said, noting “the view of Overlook Mountain, the history and connection to the Indigenous people, [and] the deep changes it goes through over an entire year.”

Whether it is visiting a redwood forest, meandering around the cornfield trail, rereading passages from Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac or helping elementary-school students learn about microinvertebrates, Diana is giving her time and energy to Mother Earth. As we prepare to celebrate Earth Week, it is fitting that Diana is our Volunteer of the Month.