This piece originally appeared as an article by the Public News Service on December 29, 2021.
By Roz Brown | 12/29/2021
People of color historically have been excluded from outdoor-recreation jobs, but a collaborative effort to diversify staff within agencies that manage public lands could change that.
The Hispanic Access Foundation has teamed up with agencies such as the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to tap college students and recent graduates for what are known as "MANO" fellowships.
"The potential of a 'Climate Corps' - you know, the Civilian Climate Corps - it begins to groom Hispanic people to take their place in conservation," said Max Trujillo, senior field ooordinator for the group Hispanics Enjoying Camping Hunting and the Outdoors in New Mexico.
When I was 10 years old, I witnessed my grandfather, Cesar Chavez, fasting to demand a ban for pesticide use on table grapes. The pesticides poisoned the soil and posed serious health impacts to the farmworkers who tended the land.
At this early age it ignited in me a passion to ensure that our communities and our environment are protected and have access to clean air and fresh water.
Today this connection has led me to advocate for legislation that will mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis that my community is experiencing first hand. From frequent heavy pollution days and increasing concern over access to clean drinking water, it’s high time for comprehensive legislation that will address these important issues.
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This piece originally appeared as an op-ed in the Arizona Daily Sun on October 28, 2021. By Viviana Reyes 10/28/2021
I was born and raised in Arizona. I grew up in Phoenix, and like many Arizonans, my family visited the Grand Canyon time and time again. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away. The contrasting shades of vermillion and coral — I felt as if I was standing in a picture-perfect postcard. When I took my daughter for the first time, she became enamored with the starry night skies. The Grand Canyon is a magical place, but if not properly protected, it could be destroyed beyond repair.
Read MoreThis piece originally appeared as an article written for the Christian Science Monitor on October 21, 2021.
From her office in the visitor center at the still-under-construction Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, Jennifer Owen-White has a perfect view of the fuel terminals and salvage yards that dot the horizon.
One day soon, there will be wetlands, trails, and saltgrass meadows in the foreground. But those fuel tanks and junked cars will still loom like a storm cloud in the distance, an “important reminder,” says Ms. Owen-White, of “what my job is and why this refuge exists.”
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Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper introduced the Competitive Onshore Mineral Policy via Eliminating Taxpayer-Enabled Speculation (COMPETES) Act, legislation to prevent oil and gas companies from leasing taxpayer-owned public lands for next to nothing. Forty percent of acres leased for drilling go through this non-competitive process.
Under current law, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is required to offer up federal lands that fail to attract bidders in oil and gas leasing auctions through a non-competitive leasing process for only $1.50 per acre, far less than the usual rate at auction. This leads to abuse by allowing companies to nominate lands for auction with no intention of bidding on them, only to acquire them later at minimal cost.
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This piece originally appeared as an op-ed in the Tucson Sentinel on September 22, 2021.
By Arizona State Representative Alma Hernandez | 09/22/2021, 1:37 p.m. MST
Rep. Alma Hernandez is a Democrat from LD 3 in the Arizona House of Representatives.
41,000 jobs for Arizonans, more than $58 million in investments for the state, and improvements to the Grand Canyon, Tucson Mountain Park, Coronado National Forest, and communities statewide: the impact of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the early 20th century was long-lasting for our state. The work of the original CCC provided economic benefits during the Great Depression while building long-lasting and crucial upgrades to improve our access to nature.
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This piece originally appeared as a press release for the National Wildlife Federation on August 30, 2021
By Mary Jo Brooks | 08/30/2021
PHOENIX —The House Natural Resources Committee’s Build Back Better Act provisions will right an egregious wrong by protecting Chi'Chil Biłdagoteel, also known as Oak Flat, from a destructive proposed copper mine and help safeguard the Grand Canyon from uranium mining for future generations. The proposals keep faith with the arguments the San Carlos Apache and other Indigenous communities have made to Congress to protect sacred landscapes, cultural artifacts, important wildlife habitat, and clean drinking water.
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