By Camilla Simon, executive director of Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO).

What an extraordinary 2023 has been! I couldn’t be happier with the milestones, remarkable conservation wins, and tremendous growth our organization has accomplished this year!

HECHO 2023 milestones

HECHO was founded in 2013. Celebrating our tenth anniversary is a milestone we are so proud of. It has been an incredible journey with obstacles and opportunities along the way. A short film was produced to document our origin, evolution, and impact on the conservation space, lifting Hispanic voices, getting more Latinos involved in speaking out about environmental issues and helping local Hispanic elected officials and community leaders from across five Southwestern states to weigh in on federal conservation policy.

The Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC) is the first-of-its-kind network formed by Hispanic-serving elected, appointed, and community leaders. The HCLC is the heart and soul of everything HECHO does, and we are excited to have reached the ambitious goal of 100 members this year.
But we didn’t only grow our network of Hispanic leaders across the Southwest who prioritize public land and water conservation and climate change mitigation in their decision-making and community advocacy efforts. Throughout 2023, we also witnessed the commitment and engagement of our HCLC members in advocacy and participation in all kinds of events across the Southwestern states, including critical meetings with local, state, and federal officials, community outdoor events, environmental justice film festivals, virtual roundtables, educational hikes, including to Great Bend of the Gila, and clean-up community events in public lands that need protection, and so much more!

In 2023, we brought HCLC members to Washington, D.C., on two successful advocacy trips -one in March and another during Hispanic Heritage Month- to speak with Congressional offices and federal agencies about environmental issues impacting their communities and share their perspectives with decision-makers. On our last advocacy trip in September, HECHO also provided Hispanic leaders the opportunity to participate in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Leadership Conference, one of the country's largest gatherings of Latino leaders.

2023 Remarkable Conservation Wins!

2023 has been a year where our advocacy efforts majorly paid off.

After years of advocacy to permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon National Park from uranium mining, we were thrilled with the designation of the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, protecting nearly one million acres of public lands surrounding this awe-inspiring natural wonder.

Earlier this year, we also celebrated the designation of Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain in Nevada, and Castner Range in Texas, as National Monuments through the Antiquities Act.

While the Save Oak Flat From Foreign Mining Act to permanently protect Chí'chil Biłdagoteel, also known as Oak Flat, from foreign mining operations has not passed in Congress, we consider a conservation win the fact that, after months of restless work and advocacy, the U.S. Forest Service paused the publication of the Final Environmental Impact Report, which would have triggered a 60-day period in which the U.S. government had to transfer Oak Flat to Resolution Copper to develop this controversial mining project that will exhaust about 250 billion gallons of water and destroy the holy land of several Tribes in the region.

Throughout the year, HCLC members and HECHO have advocated for Oak Flat at the nation's capital, met with the Arizona governor's office, and participated in local events, the annual 9th Oak Flat march/run, a prayer in front of the White House and a prayer at Oak flat campground, to support those who will be mostly impacted. HECHO also invested in billboards in Arizona to educate and bring awareness about the irreparable damage that the proposed mine will cause, and sent an action alert to save Oak Flat that collected more than 12,000 signatures.

Advocating to Make the Conservation Decision-Making Process More Inclusive and Highlighting Hispanic Leadership.

HECHO has been committed to making an impact in the conservation space not only through our advocacy work, but also through other work that includes an in-depth survey and a compelling case study.

To better understand our current and potential Hispanic leadership's participation and awareness of issues about Colorado River Basin resiliency and water boards, HECHO surveyed over 40 Hispanic elected, appointed, and community leaders from the Southwest, and the results revealed the main barriers and needs for Hispanic leaders to become more involved in shaping the resilience of the Colorado River Basin, and to join water boards. With this survey, HECHO's goal is to catalyze public conversation on diverse representation in water conservation issues and water boards.

This year, HECHO also released a case study about the critical role of Hispanic leadership in rural renewable energy and broadband initiatives, featuring the success story of HCLC member Luis Reyes, who is the CEO of Kit Carson Electric, which offers 100% daytime solar energy and broadband internet service to every member regardless of their background, demographic, or economic status.

Capturing and Preserving People’s Stories and their Connection to the Land, Water, and the Great Outdoors.

Besides making great strides in the impact of our advocacy work, in our 10th year, HECHO continued to share the unique stories of our community and their connections to the land, water, and nature, which sets us apart from other organizations. This year alone, we have created over 80 blogs, sharing inspiring stories and remarkable perspectives of Latinos of the southwest, committed to conservation and the great outdoors through our website and social media platforms.

We are proud of our increased brand recognition locally, regionally, and nationally. HECHO has become a reliable and credible source of information for the news media. HECHO was cited by the New York Times, which is a tremendous milestone for our organization. Our team members and HCLC members have been interviewed by television networks, radio stations, news agencies, and digital media about different campaigns and environmental issues throughout the year. Six op-eds authored by Hispanic leaders of our network were published in Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico.

What is next for HECHO in 2024?

While we have grown and accomplished a lot this year, there is still much to do and go for.

In 2024, HECHO will deepen our efforts to unite and mobilize Hispanic leaders to engage their communities in conserving our public lands and waters.

Our Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council has rapidly grown in membership. In 2024, our goal is to increase opportunities to inspire them in our work and get them involved even more!

We are deeply committed to advocating for solutions to environmental issues that our community cares about and are critical in the Southwest.

HECHO will continue to work on environmental justice, the permanent protections of unique cultural, historical, ecological, iconic, and recreational lands and waters in the region, the long-time overdue reform of the federal oil and gas leasing program, watersheds resiliency, and other opportunities to ensure that public lands and our natural and cultural resources are conserved and preserved for future generations.

Our organization has had an amazing ten years since its creation. We look at 2024 as the beginning of another decade of making a big difference in the conservation space, and we hope to inspire more people to join and support our work and mission.

HECHO 2023: A Year of Milestones, Significant Conservation Wins and Continued Growth