By Alfonso Orozco, Volunteer and Field Experiences Manager at The Nature Conservancy in Washington
Prior to being employed at The Nature Conservancy, I volunteered for Latino Outdoors for three years. Connecting people to nature, particularly the Latino community, is something I became passionate about after experiencing my first backpacking trip in Yosemite during my freshman year of college.
One of the reasons I was looking forward to working at the Conservancy is that I would be able to increase access to our preserves to a group of people that the Conservancy had not connected with previously!
Providing equitable access to nature is the right thing for the Conservancy to do and the environmental movement as whole. This week marks the celebration of Latino Conservation Week, a movement started to create support for the Latino community getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect our natural resources
We wanted to highlight our partner, Latino Outdoors, in that effort and highlight some of the trips we were able to partner on prior to closures for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yellow Island
In May of 2019, I went with a group from Latino Outdoors to Yellow Island, our small 11-acre preserve in the San Juan Islands. The group came to participate in a citizen science project called the Bird Challenge, the purpose of which is to count as many species of birds as possible within one day on lands and waters protected by The Nature Conservancy.
For many in the group, it was their first time birding; for some it was their first time on a boat; you could see their excitement as we pulled up to the island.
We were greeted by former Yellow Island Steward Phil Green and present day steward Matt Axling, who have a combined 22 years of Yellow Island caretaking experience. After getting a quick tour of the caretaker’s house, which is made completely of driftwood, we started our bird survey. Highlights included seeing three pairs of Harlequin ducks, learning how to identify white-crowned sparrows by song (“see me, pretty, pretty, me-e”), and watching first-time birders identify birds on their own. At the end of the day we counted a total of 17 species.
Ebey’s Landing
Watching someone get excited about nature never get’s old! In June of 2019, I had the privilege to take a group from Latino Outdoors to Ebey's Landing. My personal highlight was watching 8-year-old Emilio’s reactions throughout the day.
The hike started with us making our way slowly along the Ebey's Prairie trail, occasionally stopping to learn about the plants, animals, and historical Indigenous uses. Puget Sound Stewardship Coordinator Amber Parmenter shared her extensive knowledge of the area.
Shortly after starting our hike, Emilio started jumping and screaming for joy. “Look, Mom!”
Little did we know that he had never seen a bald eagle before. His raw and genuine excitement put a smile on everyone’s face. In the image below, you can actually see his mouth is wide open in disbelief. After doting over the bald eagle for 15 minutes, we continued our hike onto the bluff trail where we were greeted by beautiful ocean views, wildflowers, and more bald eagles. Our hike led us to the beach where the group had some time to freely explore.
"This is the best day ever, I'm never going to forget this day" – Emilio
Partnering with organizations like Latino Outdoors is important. According to Latino Conservation Week “latinos are the largest minority group in America, making up 16.7 percent of the nation’s population…yet only 10 percent of Latinos were engaged in outdoor recreation activities. In simple terms, the future of public lands depends on engaging and welcoming our diverse youth and Latino communities that already deeply care about our environment and feel a moral obligation to take care of it.”
