Protecting What’s Ours: Why I Advocate for Public Lands in the Southwest

By Christian Solorio, Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council member from Arizona.  

I’ve called many places home, but the Southwest is where my roots have taken hold. Today, I live in Phoenix, where I work in housing policy and advocacy across 11 states. I work with grassroots organizations to pass policies that try to make housing more affordable and also fight urban sprawl. My work is about more than housing; it is about protecting the spaces that connect us to nature, culture, and one another.   

My connection to public lands began long before I ever worked in the policy field. My parents came from Mexico, and they raised me with a deep appreciation for the outdoors. We didn’t have much growing up, but we had public lands, and that was everything. I grew up visiting national parks, hiking, picnicking by the river, exploring trails, because the outdoors was accessible. Those experiences taught me that nature isn’t a luxury; it is something that everyone should have access to. It is a birthright.   

Now, living in Phoenix, I see how fragile this access can be. The same public lands that shaped me are under pressure. You can see it in the encroachment on the city’s mountain preserves, where development has crept up the slopes. When I hear about mining operations threatening places like the Grand Canyon or Oak Flat, I feel that same urgency to protect what remains open and wild. Once you lose those lands to privatization or industry, you can never get them back.    

For me, standing against sprawl and advocating for sustainable development aren’t just about policy; it is personal. Every acre of protected land, every public space kept open, means more families will have the same chance I did to fall in love with nature.   

My message to others, especially within the Hispanic and Latino communities, is simple: get involved. We must speak up for the lands and waters that sustain us. We must stand against uranium mining in the Grand Canyon and destructive projects at Oak Flat. Environmental loss doesn’t happen overnight; it happens one decision at a time.    

We have the power to shape a future where our communities thrive alongside the landscapes that raised us, and I believe that future is still within reach.