During Hispanic Heritage Month, let's celebrate Hispanic leadership's achievements and contributions in conservation and their united efforts to create a better future together.
By Max Trujillo, Regional Field Manager of HECHO.
Every year, from September 15 to October 15, we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, honoring the history, culture, heritage, and contributions of diverse Hispanic Americans to the United States.
The theme for this 2024 celebration is Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together, capturing “the spirit of innovation, resilience, and unity that define the Hispanic experience.”
This motive couldn’t be more aligned with what is the heart and soul of everything HECHO does: the Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC), the first-of-its-kind network of Hispanic leaders who prioritize public land and water conservation and climate change mitigation in their decision-making and community advocacy efforts.
Nearly 80 leaders across the Southwest, each bringing a wealth of experience and diverse expertise, have come together through HECHO’s network to have a larger and more effective collective impact on decisions that impact water availability and quality, public lands protection and access, forest management, land-use planning, wildlife conservation and much more, becoming a strong, unified front to support community-led conservation policies.
It is important to acknowledge that Hispanics throughout America have a deep connection to the diverse landscapes of our country, from the deserts of the southwest to the forests of the north and have been pioneers in conservation. We have been practicing conservation long before the conservation movement began. Our people have a strong sense of community interdependence and a shared responsibility in the care of natural resources. These principles are deeply embedded in Hispanic cultural fabric, traditions, and values. Concepts 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 guidelines to live by.
Since 2013, HECHO has provided a platform to ensure that Hispanic leaders have a seat at the table to contribute knowledge and perspectives and support conservation-friendly policies that reflect Hispanic communities' values, traditions, and needs.
Through HECHO's network, the Hispanic voice and visibility in the West have increased. Throughout the years, these community leaders have demonstrated how influential and impactful they can be if given the opportunity.
Their advocacy work and leadership have been vital in the success of crucial conservation wins, including the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the passing of the Great American Outdoors Act and the historic Inflation Reduction Act, the designation of National Monuments such as Browns Canyon, Rio Grande del Norte, and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in New Mexico, Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon.
This year, our Hispanic leaders continue demonstrating their strong commitment to speaking up on critical environmental issues for their communities. Whether it is protecting Oak Flat, a sacred land in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, from being destroyed by a foreign mining company that will also exhaust vital water resources in a drought-stricken state, stopping uranium mining around the iconic Grand Canyon National Park, advocating to protect permanently the Great Bend of the Gila, and the Dolores River Canyon, the most biodiverse, unprotected area of Colorado, or – with their first-hand knowledge about the West's water challenges– helping people understand how local water conservation issues and efforts are connected to Colorado River resiliency efforts, environmental justice is deeply rooted in what these Hispanic leaders stand for and the work that HECHO does every day.
In April, HECHO and HCLC members celebrated the commonsense reforms in the Bureau of Land Management's final Oil and Gas rule, which protects taxpayers, public lands, and clean air. We also celebrated the Public Lands Rule, which will restore degraded habitats and balance responsible development by giving conservation the same importance as other land uses, such as oil and gas extraction and mining.
These crucial reforms are particularly vital for Hispanics, given that burning fossil fuels and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events as the climate changes have a direct impact on our Latino communities. According to a 2016 report by the Clean Air Task Force, National Hispanic Medical Association, and LULAC, almost two million U.S. Latinos live within a half-mile of existing oil and gas facilities, making them more likely to bear the burden of severe health risks caused by air pollution. Hispanics are 51% more likely to live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone, and Hispanic children are 40 percent more likely to die from asthma, as compared to non-Hispanics.
Our communities must stand strong and united in opposing any efforts to repeal the Antiquities Act of 1906—a crucial conservation tool for community-led land protection efforts—or to roll back the environmental progress we've worked so hard to achieve, including reforms in oil and gas.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, we at HECHO invite everyone to come together not only to celebrate Hispanic culture but also to honor the longstanding Hispanic leadership, contributions, and stewardship of our land and water.