How To Live HECHO’s Vision of Strong, Culturally - Rich Communities Connected to Nature and Each Other

By Camilla Simon, Executive Director for HECHO.

As we begin Hispanic Heritage Month 2022, we at HECHO are expressing our orgullo (pride) in Hispanic culture, traditions, and people. This is something we strive to do each month and every day, given HECHO’s mission, but from September 15 to October 15 the national spotlight on Hispanic heritage invites everyone to come together, unidos (united), to recognize and celebrate Hispanic traditions, culture, and herencia (heritage) that have been integral to our nation for centuries.

Hispanics in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado have un dicho (a saying) “we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us,” referring to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, which ceded a large part of Mexico to the United States. People living in those parts of Mexico that overnight became the United States were given a choice: to relocate to Mexico or become American citizens with the guaranteed and full rights of citizenship with their property rights “inviolably respected.”

For those who chose the latter, it is no wonder that querencia, which is a deep sense of belonging, place, and connection to the land, has been passed down from generation to generation through story-telling and land-and water-based traditions. These are traditions that HECHO works to protect and puts at the forefront of contemporary land and water conservation policy conversations and decision-making.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

It is important to understand the history and culture of Hispanics in the southwestern United States because we at HECHO believe that adopting Hispanic stewardship culture, such as a strong sense of community interdependence and a shared responsibility in the care of natural resources, is the foundation for durable and lasting conservation of our natural resources. For example, acequias, which are community water governance systems, have been integral to Hispano culture and livelihoods for hundreds of years. Mexican and Spanish land grants are lands shared by a group of “heirs,” are recognized as divisions of local government, and pre-date the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Grand Canyon, AZ

Stewardship as a way of life should be amore widespread part of culture in the United States. The good news is that it could be this way by following Hispanic leadership. Listening to and learning from traditional stewardship practices and principles that, for example, acequia parciantes (members) and land grant heirs have used over centuries can help everyone approach conservation in a more holistic way. Principles such as ‘taking only what you need, and using everything you take’ and ‘being a good caretaker of and giving back to the land’ are ones to live by. These principles are embodied in the Hispanic cultural fabric, values, and traditions, such as the annual limpia (cleaning) of irrigation ditches. Use and enjoyment of land grants is passed down to a community of descendants of each land grant, and along with that so is the view point that the land and its resources are inherently shared–not just with present-day heirs, but also with the past and future generations.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate longstanding Hispanic leadership and stewardship of our land and water, we lift up a way of life that puts relationships with nature and each other as a central part of the culture, and we ask you to work toward ensuring that these practices are reflected in future public land and water management policy and decision-making.