I grew up in the 1960s in a small town in Kansas surrounded by wheat fields and a Cold War mentality. The theme was “We’re all gonna’ die” — if not in a nuclear holocaust, then because of mass extinction, communism, overpopulation or a race riot. Someone needed to address some really big problems. The 1970s hires in fish and wildlife agencies came fast on the heels of major environmental and social legislation to get at everything that was going wrong with the world.

A desire to be a part of those solutions fueled 40 years of engagement in the mission of fish and wildlife agencies across the country for a lot of today’s scientists. As this wave of dedicated staff retires, we need to remember that while the tools are different — and truly amazing with our Dick Tracy-like cell phones and computers — human nature hasn’t changed that much.

I just returned from the Blue Vision ocean summit in Washington, D.C. The family of Jacques Cousteau and Calypso’s divers told spell-binding behind-the-scenes stories from the television-induced journeys of my childhood. Drs. Sylvia Earle and Jane Lubchenko, role models for women’s involvement in male-dominated oceanographic sciences, spoke eloquently of initiatives to strengthen implementation of the newly fledged national oceans policy.

Like just about every other conference lately, the last session lamented nature deficit disorder. Kids are wired up and afraid to go outside. They understand the global environmental situation fairly well but have never been in the creek behind the school.

I’m grateful that unlike most conferences, this one didn’t stop there.

They celebrated the accomplishments of high school students who were acquiring technical diving skills while they restored oyster reefs in New York Harbor and using surfer videos on YouTube to reduce the piles of bags and bottles that end up as circulating gyres of plastic in the ocean.

Today’s kids think big. I’ve had several conversations with seasoned colleagues who are bemused by the audacity of young professionals interning with agencies and businesses these days. In the face of major disaster, they’re fired up and ready to do something.

They don’t hesitate to speak their mind, think creatively and believe in their ability to make things better. We stand back and pontificate about the role experience has in today’s world. But hey, when the laptop and projector system fails, we look around for someone under 30 to fix it.

We know they need nature. But more importantly, nature needs them. We’re spending too much time trying to figure out how to engage them in the outdoor activities we enjoyed rather than figuring out what they really want to do.

What attracts these kids to video games?

• Adventuring in mysterious worlds
• Connecting with a networked community
• Solving complex problems

Do we have opportunities that would fulfill those desires? You bet we do.

At a time when there aren’t enough agency staff to carry ecosystems through global warming to sustain 9 billion people, we need all hands on deck. If we invite these young enthusiasts to engage those same emotional and intellectual forces to meet the huge challenges we have in natural resource management, young people will be outdoors.

So the next time you set up a task force to reconcile wetlands with agriculture, streams with urban development and aquaculture with food security, look around for someone under 30 and get them involved. Teach them some new skills and respect what they bring. Figure out how they think.

Get some volunteers out there, planting in the mud and hauling in the trap net. They may not buy a fishing license. But they and their families will support your agency’s mission at a time when individual actions and participatory government are crucial for successful resource management.

They may not unplug their iPad. More likely, they’ll bring them along and show you how they can use those tools to work with you to solve the problems in their future.

Human nature hasn’t changed much. The challenges that brought us to the careers we loved will engage them too. We just need to broaden our perspective a bit and move beyond traditional ways of doing the business of resource management to include them directly in our work. You might be surprised at what they can do!

Gwen White celebrates the inspirational reach of Jacques Cousteau with his daughter-in-law Anne-Marie and granddaughter Celine.