Heidi McAllister currently serves as the Assistant Director of Conservation Education at the U.S. Forest Service. Her background includes a wide variety of national and international experience in environmental education. She is the recipient of the 2006 Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s Sustained Achievement Award, which recognizes Heidi’s contribution of more than 25 years to the teaching of environmental education and the sustainable management of natural resources. Heidi holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Education and Outdoor Leadership from Hampshire College. Heidi is a published author in two languages and three countries. One of her books is used by the Ministry of Education in Mexico as a text for 35,000 students per year.

Heidi began her career working for the United States Peace Corps and the Paraguayan Ministry of Education where she co-developed a national environmental education program for elementary schools, implemented in-service training and university classes, and served as a consultant to train Peace Corps volunteers and teachers. Heidi also lived in Mexico for over a decade, where she developed educational activities and materials on the monarch butterfly, education and recreation plans for a forest experimental station, and designed in-service training courses and curricula for the Secretariat of Education. Heidi also served as the environment specialist for the Europe, Mediterranean, and Asia Region of the Peace Corps where she managed an international portfolio and provided technical oversight to about 100 programming and management staff in more than 20 countries with the main mission of strengthening environmental education programming in these countries. Her leadership strengthened programming and training in countries such as Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Philippines, Romania, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Heidi also trained host country professionals in the environment and education fields. As the sole environmental education specialist at Peace Corps headquarters, she served as a specialized resource in this field to countries around the globe.