¿Estás listo? #LatinoConservationWeek is here! Join us July 20-22 for special panels featuring Aquarium staff about the Latinx community's strong conservation values–more info on our website!
Tuesday, July 20 @ 5PM PT — #AdvocacyAfuera California 30x30 Equity Panel Conversation
How do equity and conservation intersect? Join our sustainability manager Claudia Pineda Tibbs for a panel discussion hosted by Hispanic Access Foundation. This will be an open conversation with community members from throughout California, local elected officials and agency staff.
Register for the webinar
Wednesday, July 21 @ 10AM PT — #ConservationCultura How Our Familias Taught Us To Be Conservationists
It's easy to forget the environmental wisdom and resourcefulness of our parents when acculturating to modern conservation practices. Join us for a dialogue centering cultura with our senior bilingual education specialist Gina Carrillo (Mexican-American), STEM integration specialist Athena Barrios (Chicana) and sustainability manager Claudia Pineda Tibbs (first-generation Salvadoran-American). Viewers will be able to ask questions via chat in English y en español.
Register for the webinar
Thursday, July 22 @ 2 PM PT — #ComunidadYFamilia Proteger el agua es proteger la vida (Protecting water is protecting life)
From inland to the coast, the role of water brings gente across the nation together. Coastal and clean drinking water policy issues are integral to the work Latinx-led NGOs are championing. These issues intersect with environmental and social justice, outdoor access, and equity which impacts nuestras comunidades. Join us for a discussion panel featuring California and federal partners who are tackling issues around ocean plastic pollution, clean water, and more.
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Visitors to San Rafael Swell Celebrate Latino Conservation Week
The BLM’s Price Field Office in Utah recently hosted a group of Latino families in the San Rafael Swell for a two-day adventure. For nearly every participant, it was an experience filled with firsts: first time camping; first time building a campfire; first time hiking. It was the first time their eyes had been opened to the beauty and opportunity that exists on public lands. The best part of it all was that this first-time event was 100% in their native Spanish language. The goal of the trip was to give experience and knowledge to families so that they could return to public lands together and recreate appropriately on their own.
They stood in the shadows of an ancient mystery at the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. They overlooked the colorful depths of the Little Grand Canyon. They stared at the mystical writings of a people who once called this place home. They walked in the footsteps of the traders on the Old Spanish Trail. They squeezed through the towering walls of Little Wild Horse Canyon. As first-time visitors and users of public lands, it was a lot of experience to take in at once.
Huddled closely around the campfire on a chilly, windy evening, they listened to Juan Palma, former BLM-Utah State Director as he shared his story of going from a migrant worker kid from Mexico to helping manage public lands across the western United States. He talked about Latino culture and heritage and how it is inherently connected to the vast landscapes of the American West.
When asked about his time camping with this group, Juan said, “It was an incredible experience sitting around the campfire, witnessing the magic of the dancing light reflecting in the eyes of those kids and their parents who had never experienced this before. It was an enjoyable sight to see a new generation of young Latinos and their families beginning their journey to appreciate public lands. I believe that nature has an incredible power to strengthen individuals and bring families together.”
Check out this interview to meet Mariana del Valle Prieto Cervantes, an inspiring ocean hero with Green Latinos doing incredible work for the environment and her community in Monterey Bay and beyond!
BLM celebra la semana Latina de conservación (Latino Conservation Week)
Para celebrar la semana Latina de conservación, queremos compartir los eventos del BLM de este año. Estamos orgullosos de colaborar con compañeros de otras agencias y organizaciones para que toda la comunidad pueda visitar sus lugares públicos.
We’re in the middle of Latino Conservation Week and excited to share with you this year’s BLM-sponsored events to celebrate the week. The BLM is proud to collaborate with partners to provide opportunities for all to experience public lands.
California:
July 14: “Entre Gigantes” Redwoods Tour, Ukiah
July 14: Elkhorn Slough Kayaking, Monterey Bay
July 16: Endangered Species of the Desert, Mecca
July 17: Scorpion Hunt, Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
July 21: “Bajo las Estrellas” Stargazing & Campout, Ukiah
July 22: Cache Creek Rafting Trip, Ukiah
Colorado:
July 19: Conejos Rafting The Browns Canyon National Monument
It’s the second annual Latino Conservation Week. Organized by the Hispanic Access Foundation this week is all about engaging Latino youth in experiencing and advocating for the outdoors. Check out events happening in your area.
Here’s what the organization said about its first Latino Conservation Week last year:
“Latino Conservation Week: Disfrutando y Conservando Nuestra Tierra is an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF), a national nonprofit that works to improve the lives of Hispanics in the United States and promotes civic engagement by educating, motivating, and helping them to access trustworthy support systems. HAF created and is leading the first Latino Conservation Week to support the Latino community getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect our natural resources. During this week, Latino community and faith-based organizations, particularly in the Southwestern United States, will go on hiking or camping outings, learn about conservation efforts in their community, and show their support for permanently protecting our land, water, and air.”
The program is coming to it’s end for me and although I am ecstatic to get home to my daughter and my husband, I look back on these past 9 (almost 10) weeks with such a varied scope – the natural ebb and flow mimics itself on every scale and with that come great lessons. I have definitely experienced some highs and lows throughout this process, but without that balance nothing worthwhile could be really be obtained.
Before coming to Washington, DC, I had a very collegiate and almost holistic view of the National Register and what it encompassed. Then having this opportunity opened my eyes to the reality of the National Register. The fact that it is part of the National Park Service, under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, means it a government agency with the usual red tape involved in just about everything. The process for review, with more regard to time constraints, is very rigid, and sometimes not very apologetic in that each nomination is given 45 days to have a turnaround response from the reviewers. With seven reviewers on the team, each having multiple state jurisdictions, means time can easily fly by and deadlines can have very real consequences.
Having the opportunity to read and review nominations with my Supervisor was the most valuable experience, for me, as it gave me deeper insight into:
1) The actual review process
2) How to decipher what makes a good nomination versus a slack one
3) What fits the bill and proves a strong argument for significance (in areas of events, lives, architecture or archaeological findings)
4) When the group needs to convene and discuss issues regarding certain troublesome nominations
This experience proved to be a real National Register boot camp and an amazing avenue for mentorship. Although my projects varied, it allowed me to gain a greater scope of insight into things that make the program what it is, as well as other departments that work together with the Register to realize projects and nominations.
This summer I had a chance to reach out to various State Historic Preservation Offices to assist in my main project, the Section-7 Architectural Style and Form Guidelines update. I appreciated their insight and involvement as it provides for a more well-rounded and nationally representative guide. I found this project important in its ability to one day, hopefully, be a useful tool for underrepresented and diverse communities to participate in nominating listings. The fact that not everyone is versed in architecture and preservation, means that by all means they should have the necessary tools and language provided to them to better navigate through the process – one of which being an architectural guide to best distinguish architectural characteristics of structures, buildings, places, etc.
If this tool can be completed to be web accessible it would be a beneficial improvement across the board at the local, state and national levels. There is mixed views on this, as some believe the Register should be just about architecture and others believe it should encompass the greater sweep of our nation’s built heritage made significant through the various means, not just limited to amazing architecture, but significant buildings and places and icons, such as the Guevavi Mission Ruins in Nogales, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, significant because of connection with Eusebio Francisco Kino, a Jesuit priest from Italy who worked in Mexico and Southern Arizona for the last 24 years of his life, primarily with indigenous tribes. These stories of historically and cultural significant places, events, lives and stories from our past are important and should have a fair chance at National Register listing if deemed applicable and relevant, it should not just be because of the craftwork of a master architect or because it is the highest of high architectural style. Don’t get me wrong, those things are important, and they are what gave birth to the Preservation Act in 1966 and this program, but everything evolves over time and so should our reasoning for designating nationally significant cultural resources.
Having the ability to strike up constant dialogue with my Supervisor allowed for great and meaningful discussions on just about everything. In one of our conversations my interest in the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program came to light. Of course, he immediately ran to a colleague of his in the program and set up a shadowing opportunity for me to gain hands-on insight into the inner workings of the tax credit department from the top down. That proved very worthwhile as well, having the opportunity to 1) review various tax credit applications through Part 1, 2, and 3, 2) sitting in on staff review meetings to see problematic issues and to see amazing examples of quality rehabilitations, 3) learning more about various state’s objectives with regard to tax credits.
It has been great to pose questions and run through ideas and scenarios with different individuals in the cultural resource department and also in other sectors of the National Park Service. I have truly gained so much from this program, and it would not have been a possibility without the assistance of Hispanic Access Foundation and the available avenue of the Latino Heritage Internship Program. Having a family, expenses and responsibility leaves me little choice in being able to take on an internship, but through the assistance and this unique opportunity that was able to happen. And with it, I was able to take advantage of the amazing opportunities to meet with people I never would have, like National Register reviewers, Tax Credit reviewers, the Keeper of the Register, NPS Superintendents, Director Jarvis, Secretary Jewell, and many more inspiring individuals who have all shared much insight into the world of cultural and historic preservation.
