Guest Blog: Implementing Ancestral Values in the State Land Office of Stephanie Garcia Richard, New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands
My siblings and I spent our summers on the East side of New Mexico on my grandfather’s ranch. Our family called it La Garita. Those trips and my upbringing in southwest New Mexico gave me my first introduction to horses, and the beginning of a deep appreciation for the Gila National Forest that was almost in our backyard.
My mother was the eldest of 15 siblings, and she would often share with us what it was like growing up on the ranch, doing chores and pausing to take a break while my grandfather would break a watermelon on his knee for them all to share together. My family has always had a strong tie to the land, because as ranchers, nature is your livelihood.
From them, I learned how valuable stewardship is, and service to others in general. Visiting the ranch was to remember that we all take care of each other, and take care of the land that is beautiful, fragile, and vulnerable. It can be easy to forget sometimes that our own ancestors carried leave no trail principles in their hearts before it had a name, and that their leadership in the community could be a model for any public servant. Their teachings follow me every day in my role as the Commissioner of Public Lands of New Mexico, and the values they instilled in me ebb and flow in everything I do.
It must have been written in the stars that I would be a civil servant. After all, I am my mother’s daughter. She would take on fights that I don’t know were hers to take on, but she was outspoken and she was proud. If she found out somebody had been mistreated, my siblings and I would brace for her signature, “just wait until I give them a piece of my mind.” She would go off, standing up in school board meetings, church meetings, anywhere. Back then, I remember talking her down, trying to encourage her against speaking up. Today, she is the model I seek to emulate in public office.
I decided to run for public office after feeling that my voice as a teacher was not reflected in educational policy, and later that it wasn’t reflected in the halls of the land office, or in positions of authority. After coming into my current role as Land Commissioner, I recognized that I was representing the voice of my grandparents, who were ranchers, and probably regularly interacted with this office but never held positions of power.
In the Land office, every single decision that we take on has a conservation component, from the development of recreational use access, proper land management, or land use stewardship, we work hard to make sure that we don’t overuse the land we have available, and that like our ancestors did for us, make sure that the generations that follow us have something here for them. As Land Commissioner, it’s really my role to ensure that all New Mexicans have access to their public land.
At times, it may seem that my role would have conflict, balancing the wishes of landowners and a community that, for generations, would access this land for hunting, recreating, gathering, and practicing traditions like gathering herbs. However, I really find that as Land Commissioner, my service relies on balance. The way you strike balance comes from listening, and from having input and buy in from every single community that is impacted. I do my best to make sure that my decision making is transparent. Though the pandemic has made it difficult to get out into the community physically, we’ve moved to online platforms for public input. At times these interactions might be difficult, but it’s still the best part of being Land Commissioner.
In New Mexico, land access, and land means so much to our community because it is part of our identity. It is part of who we are. This land, that we’ve worked for generations, is where we come from. We cannot talk about ourselves without talking about that connection.
For all of these reasons, I’m proud that at the Land Office, we have the first Office of Outdoor Recreation. We’re highlighting the areas of New Mexico that we should have access to. We're also planning for comprehensive policies surrounding the conservation of fresh water. Implementing these plans during my time as Land Commissioner is so meaningful to me, and I hope I am able to share how valuable stewardship must continue to be.
New Mexicans are deeply connected to the land that surrounds us. The beautiful terrain is like a map of our family's histories, embedded in the hills and mountain ranges. Our traditions live on within us, and within the next generation that will care for and tend to the land. There is no peace like the kind that can be found from spending time outdoors. The calming and settling feeling it offers to so many is just a part of the nourishing effect that nature has.
I feel honored to carry my ancestors’ values with me in my work, and proud to unite our communities in an effort to enjoy the lands that mean so much to us.