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Tag: Conservation

Latino Conservation Week 2026: Where Comunidad Meets Conservation

Por Latino Outdoors

Yo cuento because our stories, our communities, and our connections to the outdoors belong in the future of conservation.

Last month, Latino Outdoors joined communities across the country in celebrating Latino Conservation Week (LCW), an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation that highlights Latino leadership in conservation and the outdoors. LCW affirms something our comunidades already know: Latinos have long been part of loving and caring for the outdoors. The week also creates opportunities for our communities to be heard in decisions affecting the places where we live, gather, and recreate.

Across the Latino Outdoors network, LCW took many forms. In Ventura County, young people explored the Santa Clara River close to home, many for the first time. In the San Francisco Bay Area, comunidad walked among the redwoods at Muir Woods with Spanish-language interpretation and searched for tarantulas at Sunol Wilderness Preserve. On California’s Central Coast, participants visited a habitat restoration site shaped by community members and local students. San Diego brought conservation and cultura together through kayaking, music, and stewardship. Our Austin, Texas, partners gathered for tree planting, environmental education, and ancestral practices. Together, these events showed the many ways recreation, culture, learning, and stewardship can bring people closer to the outdoors.

In Los Angeles, nearly 300 community members gathered for the Latino Conservation Week Community Pachanga: Comunidades, Parks, y Public Lands at Metabolic Studio, an arts and community garden space near Los Angeles State Historic Park and Chinatown. Metabolic Studio, Hispanic Access Foundation, Sierra Club – Angeles Chapter, and the Audubon Center at Debs Park helped lead and organize the gathering alongside Latino Outdoors and partners, including the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), GreenLatinos, California State Parks, TreePeople, LA Compost, Nature for All, and Community Nature Connection. Throughout the Pachanga, partners connected conservation with issues affecting our communities, including extreme heat, access to green space, wildfire resilience, food systems, environmental justice, and safe outdoor spaces.

Latino Outdoors also joined the 30×30 y Nuestra Comunidad: A Conversation for the Future panel, organized with Hispanic Access Foundation and GreenLatinos. Alongside fellow panelists, we explored the CA 30×30 Initiative, California’s effort to conserve 30 percent of its lands and coastal waters by 2030, and what it can mean for environmental justice, equitable access, stewardship, and Latino communities.

Community-centered advocacy needs to remain central and extend beyond Latino Conservation Week, as we consider the long-term impacts that changes to public lands and environmental protections can have on communities already experiencing safety concerns, rising costs, and a nature gap. This is at a time when federal actions and private development interests are putting pressure on public lands, Latino Outdoors is working with community partners to provide spaces to share and learn from one another, with the hopes that we can collectively gather to understand how our unified voice can hold the line, push back, and hold decision makers accountable.

One example is the federal proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, or Roadless Rule. The rule limits certain road construction and timber activities across millions of acres of national forest land, helping protect forests, watersheds, wildlife habitat, and recreation areas. The 2026 proposal affects nearly 45 million acres nationwide, including approximately 4.4 million acres in California. The public process also raised concerns about meaningful participation. The Forest Service initially provided roughly one month for public comment before extending the deadline by 15 days, a timeframe conservation groups argued was insufficient for a proposal of this scale. While the general public comment period closed on October 6, consultation with Tribes is expected to continue as part of the federal government’s legal responsibilities. Public engagement is necessary to ensure communities have the information, time, and opportunity to weigh in on decisions that can shape public lands for generations, including all those that depend on them.

Latino Conservation Week (LCW) shows what this work can look like: with LO’s semillitas discovering a local river, families learning beneath redwoods, neighbors restoring habitat, cultura and música filling outdoor spaces, and community members speaking up for places they value. These experiences reflect Latino Outdoors’ commitment to the organization’s mission, values, and advocacy priorities: equitable access, environmental justice, and a conservation movement that reflects the diversity of our communities

Our stories and our voices matter beyond Latino Conservation Week. Stay informed about public lands, conservation, and opportunities to take action by signing up for Yo Cuento: Advocacy Updates. And because advocacy also begins with telling our own stories, we invite you to share your story with Yo Cuento Blog and help broaden the narrative of who belongs, participates, and leads in the outdoors.

References

It Started in My Backyard

por Jazzari Taylor, Policy Advocate

Every morning as a child, I could see the San Gabriel Mountains tucked between buildings across the street from my home. Their snow-covered peaks in winter, and more often than not, hazy outlines in smog-filled summers, shaped my view of afuera; what felt like another world beyond my city streets. Despite living just 10 minutes from the foothills, I rarely visited. Barriers like transportation, limited understanding of safe exploration, and a sense of cultural disconnection stood in the way.

Between the ages of 7 and 12, I joined a local summer camp that introduced me to the mountains. Little did I know those same landscapes were an extension of my backyard. As a kid, I didn’t quite grasp that connection to my hometown. It wasn’t until decades later that I returned with Latino Outdoors and Nature for All. Their programming expanded my perspective, highlighting the benefits of the outdoors, the interconnectedness of nature beyond city limits, and the confidence to explore safely.

📸Unceded homelands of the Ancestral Puebloans and the Fremont people –  learn more.

In just the past five years, that confidence has taken me beyond my community to visit and respect public lands across the country. Each place tells its own story, reminding me of the deep connection between nature, identity, and healing. From human-powered recreation like hiking, camping, kayaking, or simply breathing fresh air, I’ve found my purpose. These visits also connected me with local communities and small businesses whose livelihoods are tied directly to the landscapes around them.

 📸Unceded homelands of the Ute and Arapaho people – learn more.

Yet, every time I visited these places, I was reminded how access continues to be a challenge and how there were so many folks back at home who have never experienced these sacred lands and the many benefits they hold, in addition to not feeling safe in unfamiliar areas. Too often, people are profiled, targeted, or made to feel unwelcome based on their appearance, the language they speak, the music they listen to, the color of their skin, or their income level. Safety is a real concern, compounded by underfunded infrastructure, lack of representation, and limited transportation. For many of us, safety comes through solidarity; through group outings and community trust.

  📸 Unceded homelands of the Pit River Tribe and Modoc Peoples – learn more.

As we continue to advocate for equity, conservation, and community-centered stewardship, we must remember that protecting public lands also means protecting our stories, our identities, and our rights. These lands face constant threats, budget cuts, rollbacks, and even sell-offs. If we care about clean air, clean water, cultural survival, and inclusive access to nature, now is the time to act. Our voices and stories matter in shaping the future of conservation.

📸 Unceded homeland of the Gabrielino-Tongva, Chumash, Kitanemuk, Serrano, and Tataviam peoples – learn more.

One of the most powerful tools we have for that protection is the Antiquities Act of 1906. This law has been used for more than a century to safeguard cultural, historic, and natural treasures as national monuments. Defending the Antiquities Act means defending our shared heritage and future access to these lands, but it is currently being targeted at the Federal level of government for private investment and natural resource extraction that will impact the land, animals, and cultural sites. Now more than ever we need to hold the line for conservation and for our future

Last week, we wrapped up Hispanic Access Foundation’s Latino Conservation Week, a national celebration of cultura and community in the outdoors across “community, non-profit, faith-based, and government organizations and agencies”. We are reminded that conservation is not only about protecting landscapes, it’s about ensuring they are safe, accessible, and reflective of all communities. As we celebrate milestones like the 25th anniversary of the National Conservation Lands system, we must also look ahead.

📸 Unceded homeland of the Southern Paiute people – learn more.

Representation in our storytelling and the representatives we elect matters because our country is not a ‘one size fits all’. We are beautifully diverse. That diversity is the dream I hold onto, the hope and beauty of a conscious and changing America… but dreams alone are not enough. We must hold our leaders accountable to that vision, to act with courage, and to ensure policies reflect the voices of all communities. We need their voices to take action, because the future of our gente, conservation, and our democracy depends on it.

Together, we can ensure these breathtaking places remain protected for generations to come, and that every child, no matter where they live, can look to the outdoors and know they are safe and belong there too.

Help us tell Congress to fully fund outdoor access and protect conservation programs, and oppose policies that threaten these vital places with Outdoor Alliance. Our voices, our stories, and our future depend on it!

Advocacy Afuera: ¡Actúa ahora for Public Lands!

Latino Outdoors, alongside local business representatives, recently joined the Conservation Lands Foundation as part of the Protect California Deserts Coalition to advocate for public lands and the communities that depend on them. We began by introducing our organizations and the shared commitment we hold to protecting landscapes that sustain wildlife, provide recreation, and strengthen local economies.  During Congressman Jay Obernolte’s (CA-23) mobile office hours at Big Bear City Hall, we discussed the value of nearby national public lands, which anchor local recreation and small business activity across the region—from the mountains and nearby deserts to their backyards.

At the heart of America’s conservation legacy is the Antiquities Act, a bipartisan law signed in 1906 that has allowed presidents from both parties to protect our nation’s most treasured lands and cultural sites as national monuments. These designations safeguard places like the Sand to Snow and San Jacinto Mountains, which connect to Joshua Tree National Park, the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument, and the San Bernardino Mountains. From desert valleys to high mountain forests, these landscapes are deeply interconnected. Protecting them ensures clean water, thriving ecosystems, and outdoor opportunities for all.

Today, the most pressing concern is the future of the 2001 Roadless Rule (Map), which protects nearly 4 million acres of California’s national forests from harmful industrial activities such as logging, mineral extraction, and oil-and-gas drilling. Rescinding these protections would threaten clean drinking water, animal habitat, and outdoor recreation opportunities. Roads fragment ecosystems, create fire ignition points, and degrade watersheds that supply both rural communities and cities alike. Protecting roadless areas is a bipartisan issue; it ensures that our forests remain intact for current and future generations, while supporting hunting, angling, tourism, and rural economies. Just like the Antiquities Act, the Roadless Rule is about safeguarding irreplaceable lands and the values they hold.

Protecting the outdoors is also closely tied to Latino Conservation Week (September 13–21, 2025), a national initiative that highlights the contributions of Latino communities to conservation and ensures Latino voices are centered in protecting our public lands. The week is about building connections to nature, inspiring stewardship, and showing that conservation is inclusive and benefits everyone. Our stories must be shared to show the many ways people of all backgrounds connect to the outdoors.

Now, we need your voice. The U.S. Forest Service is accepting public comments on the Roadless Rule until Friday, September 19 at 11:59 PM. You can submit your own story—why these forests matter to you, families, businesses, and communities directly to the federal register. Sharing a personal perspective about recreation, clean water, cultural connections, or local livelihoods helps decision-makers understand what is at stake. Submissions can be made individually or as part of a group petition from businesses, nonprofits, and organizations across the region.

How to Comment (It takes less than a minute):

  1. Copy 1-2 talking points that resonate with you.
    1. Protect clean water sources that supply California communities.
    2. Support local economies that depend on outdoor recreation and tourism.
    3. Defend animal habitat and migration corridors.
    4. Reduce fire risks by limiting new road construction.
    5. Preserve cultural and community connections to public lands.
  2. Click here to submit directly: Regulations.gov — Comment Portal.
  3. Paste your comment, or type your own story, and hit submit.

Together, we can ensure that public lands remain protected and accessible, for clean water, healthy animal life, vibrant local economies, and outdoor enjoyment for all. Join Latino Outdoors, Conservation Lands Foundation, and community partners in speaking up before the deadline. Let’s keep working toward an outdoors that is protected and open for everyone.

References