Last night we held our first annual Latino Conservation Summit. In conjunction with Latino Conservation Week, hosted by the Hispanic Access Foundation, events are held throughout the country to engage Latinos in outdoor recreation and advocacy. Our event was held at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and we were excited to engage a diverse group of panelists in passionate discussion about water, wildlife, and public l
ands, and to have such passionate audience participation.
Panelists Arturo Archuleta, Carmichael Dominguez, Esther Garcia, Ray Trejo, Kent Salazar, and Diana Salcido-Favela engaged in a passionate discussion about their outdoor pasts, how to engage youth in the future, and the importance of water all across New Mexico. Our very own Max Trujillo did an amazing job as moderator, discussing his views on public lands transfer, saying “The next big battle of our generation is access to public lands.”
Time and time again the panel came back to younger generations and how important it is to engage with them now. Ray Trejo brought home the point by saying, “There’s a lot to learn outside the classroom. They need to get out there and touch the dirt.”
This event was only the beginning. We are now looking forward to planning listening session in communities throughout New Mexico to build on the great discussions we had last night. If you are interested in learning more or helping to plan a listening session, please email max@nmwildlife.org.
