HECHO’s 2025 Policy Priorities: Protecting the Land, Water, and Traditions We Cherish and Rely On
By Camilla Simon, Executive Director of HECHO.
At Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO), our name reflects more than a passion for outdoor recreation. It embodies our strong commitment to the stewardship of public lands, waters, wildlife, and the traditions that have shaped and sustained Hispanic communities across the Southwest for generations.
As we look toward 2025, our conservation agenda is rooted in culture, heritage, and community, with the belief that responsible stewardship and effective policy can go hand in hand.
HECHO’s Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC) brings together local and elected Hispanic leaders from the southwestern states. We convene and connect these grasstops Hispanic advocates with decision-makers in Washington, D.C., providing them a platform to share their knowledge and perspectives to help shape practical solutions for public lands and water. Our goal is to ensure that federal conservation policies are aligned with the needs of local communities.
We work with leaders across the political spectrum in a collaborative manner because we believe that pragmatic, long-lasting conservation solutions are grounded in proactive land and water management and those are achieved by bringing people together, not driving them apart.
This bipartisan approach to conservation not only honors the full range of values and experiences within Hispanic communities but also strengthens relationships, builds trust, and broadens our influence, regardless of shifting political landscapes.
Facing 2025: A Year of Challenges and Opportunities
This year began with an executive order titled "Unleashing American Energy" and funding freezes that resulted in job cuts and negatively affected conservation efforts, as well as other essential services for our communities and land management, including wildfire response and prevention, increasing risks for the West’s forests. These developments underscore why HECHO is focused on elevating real-world impacts and connecting local voices to federal decisions.
We lean into our role as bridge-builders. When challenges arise, we don't walk away; we stay engaged and continue pushing forward. That's how we achieve long-term progress. Our mission in 2025 is to ensure that conservation doesn't stall but adapts and delivers.
Protecting Public Lands While Promoting Responsible Energy Development
We believe in balanced public land management that upholds the multiple-use mandate, ensuring these lands continue to serve a range of uses, from energy and recreation to conservation and cultural heritage, for generations to come.
In April, the Department of the Interior adopted new emergency permitting procedures to fast-track energy development on public lands. Under this directive, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Environmental Assessments (EA) can be completed in as little as 28 and 14 days, respectively. This timeline is significantly shorter than what is needed for thorough scientific review, public input, and interagency coordination.
HECHO supports responsible energy policy that ensures oil and gas development on public lands delivers real benefits to the American people. We advocate for strong safeguards that minimize waste, ensure fair returns through royalties, and require companies to clean up after extraction.
Our communities, particularly in energy-producing regions of New Mexico and Colorado, live near this infrastructure and deserve strong safeguards. Gas waste, rushed permits, and weak oversight don’t just hurt ecosystems, they directly impact communities, their health, and their way of live.
Preserving National Monuments and the Presidential Authority to Protect America’s Special Places
Despite common misconceptions, the President doesn't use the power to designate a National Monument unilaterally. It is the public, not the President, who initiates this process after identifying areas with unique characteristics and values.
HECHO supports using the Antiquities Act as intended. This legislation provides communities with a direct path to work with the President to swiftly protect important landscapes, ensuring that urgent cultural, ecological, and economic priorities aren't lost to delay or shifting political winds. That’s why we opposed any efforts to weaken, repeal, or narrowly reinterpret this in ways that would limit good faith designations made in partnership with local communities and Tribes.
We stand behind the designation of Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, and other monuments that protect sacred places, ecosystems, and access to public lands for recreation and tradition.
Recent polls, such as the 2025 Conservation in the West and a 2025 NWF survey, indicate that an overwhelming majority of Westerners favor the protection of public lands and the maintenance of designated national monuments. We urge federal decision-makers to listen to the people.
Wildfire Resilience and Forest Management
Unfortunately, the threat of wildfire is something we live with every fire season in the Southwest. Many of HECHO’s members live in wildfire-prone rural areas, where fires threaten homes, water, and health. Proactive wildfire mitigation is critical for protecting both natural ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.
HECHO advocates for increased federal investment in balanced forest management, forestry personnel, and mitigation efforts. That’s why we support the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act, a critical step toward actively managing our forests that includes faster emergency response in high-risk areas, stronger coordination, and new forecasting tools.
Our communities pay for fire one way or another. Investing in prevention is more effective than paying for the aftermath.
Ensuring Water Security in the Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River is a lifeline for the Southwest, and it's running dry. It provides drinking water for over 40 million people and supplies water to one-third of all U.S. Hispanics. Families, farmers, and ranchers in our community rely on this vital watershed for their livelihoods and way of life.
Freezing Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding threatens water resiliency efforts and jeopardizes planning for the 2026 Colorado River agreement renegotiation. Without these critical investments, communities, agriculture, and ecosystems across the Southwest face increased vulnerability to drought, water security, habitat degradation, and economic hardship.
HECHO urges Congress and federal agencies to restore and protect these investments. We can't let this critical water system fail.
Saving Oak Flat and Protecting America’s Natural Resources and Security
Oak Flat is more than a spiritual site; this case shows what's at stake when we hand over public lands to foreign companies with no accountability. The proposed Resolution Copper mine would destroy sacred land, deplete groundwater, and send billions in mineral wealth overseas with no return for American taxpayers.
The implications of this land transfer are profound not only for Tribal sovereignty but also for national security, water security, and America's long-term self-reliance.
HECHO has stood in solidarity with the community and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, calling attention to the mine's threat to Arizona's water security and America's national security.
Despite the recent Supreme Court's refusal to hear Apache Stronghold's appeal, legal efforts continue.
We are urging Congress and federal leaders to take swift and meaningful action to reverse the land exchange, honor the federal trust responsibility, and protect America's resources from foreign exploitation.
Looking Ahead
At HECHO, we’ll continue to do what we’ve always done: listen to local voices, build bridges across political divides, and push for solutions that last. We are committed to a legacy of stewardship and action, ensuring that the people who have protected the land for generations continue to have a seat at the table.
We invite everyone, regardless of background or political views, to join us because protecting public lands, clean water, and healthy forests is not a partisan issue.