The goal of this internship with The Coastal Conservation Program of The Nature Conservancy was to initiate a community-based watershed protection project on the Oyster River in Old Saybrook, CT, an important tidal estuary on Long Island Sound. The Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy took this project on with the hope of creating a lasting protection framework for similar sites elsewhere on Long Island Sound and beyond. This internship was the first phase of a longer six-month project. The long-term goals of the project were: 1) to provide nature resource information about the Oyster River; 2) to connect the local community to financial, governmental, and private resources for protecting the watershed; and 3) to introduce community members to the watershed and its connection to Long Island Sound. The specific objectives for this initial phase were: 1) building a constituency of involved community members; 2) identifying local leadership for specific restoration and protection projects; 3) and raising seed money for use in furthering such projects.