Results/Conclusions Four main approaches exist to scientific inquiry by local people. In “community inquiry,” residents such as subsistence farmers or fishermen propose their own management concerns, develop research questions to address these, design and carry out the complete investigations to answer the questions, reflect carefully and creatively on the results, and finally apply the reflections to decision-making. In “park guard inquiry,” park rangers and other personnel follow a similar sequence to answer questions related to ecology and management of protected areas and their biota. In “schoolyard ecology,” children perform hands-on scientific investigations on the ecology of the place most accessible to them—the schoolyard—and their teachers integrate these into the formal education curriculum. “Visitor inquiry” induces visitors to protected areas and other venues to engage in active instead of passive learning, and to relate what they've experienced to their actions and attitudes about the ecology and conservation of their own place. Examples from Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, and other countries illustrate these four approaches. Whether these initiatives will take root in a given landscape often depends on whether or not they are continually encouraged—but never controlled—by a local facilitator who might or might not have formal training in ecology. Likewise, whether inquiries by local people will contribute significantly to conservation also depends on the individual investigators rather than institutions. At least for community inquiry, park guard inquiry, and schoolyard ecology contributions are indeed significant.