Latino Conservation Week is an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation and the goals of this week are to: 

• Provide Latino families and youth with outdoor recreation opportunities near their homes, 

• Demonstrate the Latino community’s commitment to conservation, 

• Partner with Hispanic community leaders and organizations to support local and national conservation issues; and 

• Inform policymakers, media and the public of the Latino community’s views on important local and national conservation issues. 

This initiative began in 2014 and has grown exponentially, highlighting the need and enthusiasm around this work. HECHO’s connection to Latino Conservation Week is abundantly clear – our mission is to empower Hispanic leaders to engage their communities in the conservation of our public lands and waters. Throughout the week, we have connected with Hispanic and Latino leaders in our communities, enjoyed time in the outdoors, and continued to work on the policies that will result in strong, culturally-rich communities that are connected to nature and each other. 

Throughout the week, HECHO staff attended a variety of events: 

• To kick off Latino Conservation Week, HECHO staff members Breanna Gonzalez, Randall Navarro, and Modesta McGrath-Martínez attended Fiesta en Denver, a community event hosted by Environmental Learning for Kids where we had food, music, climbing, fishing, and plenty of community organizations represented. 

• Latino Outdoors Colorado, of which our Program Manager is a volunteer for, hosted a few events throughout the week, including a watershed health, kayaking event and a family stewardship event. HECHO’s Colorado Field Coordinator, Breanna Gonzalez, challenged her fear of water and attended the kayaking event! 

• HECHO’s Arizona Field Coordinator, Dana Orozco, attended two events in Arizona. In Phoenix, they attended a bird watching event hosted by the Sierra Club and Chispa Arizona at the Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area. Later on in the week, Dana camped and helped to build community with Chispa Arizona while learning about the many ways we can protect, honor, and connect with Indigenous land. Guest speakers from the Havasupai and Navajo tribes imparted wisdom on how we can all play a part in conserving the Grand Canyon by supporting the Grand Canyon Protection Act. 

• Saturday was a packed day for our HECHO team! Randall and Breanna attended Celebremos al Aire Libre in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and Max Trujillo attended Rise from the Ashes in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Both events had food, music, and dancing and celebrated the resilience of our communities. 

Our week was filled with many opportunities to spend time in the outdoors, but we also used our platform to celebrate our staff and the work of the Latinx, Hispanic, & Multicultural Employee Resource Group (ERG) at the National Wildlife Federation, of which many of the HECHO staff participate in. The ERG put together a blog and short video to encourage celebration in the federation in addition to highlighting the significance of this work to our staff.  
 
The HECHO team looks forward to continuing our work to elevate Hispanic voices in conservation policy and we can’t wait for next year’s Latino Conservation Week celebrations!  

Written for HECHO.