In 1996 the government of Newfoundland halted logging operations in Lockyers Waters, in the central Avalon peninsula, pending an environmental review of the status of the rare lichen, Erioderma pedicellatum. During the moratorium period that followed local conservation groups initiated a government sponsored project to study this species. A distinctive feature of this project was its reliance on unemployed young people with little or no work experience in lichenology. This paper outlines the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting young people for conservation based projects of this kind, and recommends a seven-step approach for doing so.