HECHO Advocacy Fly-In
On September 28th through 30th HECHO brought Hispanic leaders from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah to Washington D.C. to advocate on a range of policies including the Grand Canyon Protection Act, the Save Oak Flat Act, and the Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act. As HECHO continues to grow our Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council, made up of local and state leaders and elected officials in the Southwest, we are determined to continue our effort to elevate these leaders’ voices in conservation work.
We saw our mission manifest during Hispanic Heritage Month last week in our meetings with members of Congress from four of the states where we had leaders traveling from and in our meetings with USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, Homer Wilkes and the chair of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, Brenda Mallory.
HECHO brought Hispanic leaders together as the HECHO Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC) to the most powerful tables in the United States at a critical time for our conservation priorities. On the Grand Canyon Protection Act, our Arizona leaders were able to express support for the legislation that would make permanent the mining ban on the 1,006,545 acres of Federal land around the Grand Canyon that were safeguarded against mining in 2012 by the Department of the Interior. This legislation is critical to protecting the Grand Canyon Watershed, upholding our obligation to safeguard areas inhabited by the Havasupai Tribe, and preserving the pristine natural wonder which supports over 12,000 jobs, produces over $1.2 billion annually to local economies, and generates over $160 million in annual state and local tax revenues.
The evening that our leaders arrived on the 28th, they met with D.C. representatives for the San Carlos Apache Tribe which is working to save Oak Flat, a sacred area of 4,300 acres which is an important habitat to bears, bobcats, and many rare bird species which draw in birders from around the world. Back in December 2014 a land exchange that handed this area over to a foreign-owned mining company was snuck into the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, and this area was put at risk of being permanently destroyed. The mining operation that could unfold in the area would contaminate 250 billion gallons of water in a state that is already experiencing record droughts. In light of a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) report on the prospective mine operation, our leaders advocated to have the hastily crafted Environmental Impact Statement started over to adequately convey the impacts on water, environment, and communities as we move to rescind the land exchange all-together.
On our second and third days in D.C. our team spread out across the Congressional Office Buildings for 16 different meetings. The Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act was at the top of our advocacy list, and HECHO is proud of the $2.5 billion dollars allocated while we were in D.C. for monetary compensation to the victims of the prescribed fire burn in the Santa Fe National Forest in Northern New Mexico that became a wildfire known as the Hermit's Peak Fire/Calf Canyon Fire.
From being on the ground in Northern New Mexico during the devastating fire that burned over 341,000 acres from April 5th to June 14th, and sitting with local leaders and communities dealing with inadequate aid and severe flood threats, to advocating in the Halls of Congress and the White House with some of those same leaders as our champions in Congress worked to pass this legislation last week, HECHO deliver. We celebrated with Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez and Senator Ben Ray Lujan as we saw the bill cross the finish line. The population of Northern New Mexico is overwhelmingly Hispanic with approximately 80% of the population identifying as such, and this win, during Hispanic Heritage Month, demonstrates to them that they are seen and valued by the Hispanic Leaders that make up HECHO and the leaders in Congress that we work with.
HECHO celebrates all of those who made our accomplishments possible during this fly-in, and looks forward to many more.