Public Land and Ocean Colectivo 2023 Accomplishments

Since our inception in 2008, GreenLatinos has worked to connect Hispanics, Latinos/as/es, and allies in our climate and conservation movements so we are more emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity, resourced to win our environmental battles, and driven to secure nuestra liberación. To accomplish this mission, the Public Land and Ocean Colectivo de GreenLatinos convenes Latino/a/e, Hispanic, and allied leaders who are actively conserving and restoring the lands and waters of the U.S. and territories.

We believe that we are stronger together and thanks to you we’ve been able to continue building community as we strive for environmental liberation. Below is a sample of some of the things PLOC staff and PLOC members are most proud of to have accomplished in 2023:

“My wife Elba and I, age 70’s, advocated to remove illegally constructed homes in

Puerto Rico’s Bahia de Jobos, a federally protected estuary. In Washington DC, we

met with congressional members and White House staff to seek environmental

justice for the Bahia. 2024? Restoration of Bahia damaged land, water, fauna and wildlife!”

- Antonio Delgado and Elba Vázquez, Patillas, Puerto Rico

“This year I’ve continued to work collaboratively to make the outdoors more diverse and inclusive by engaging under-represented communities and supporting the role of public lands sparking outdoor connections. I have also been working to connect federal dollars to communities that need it the most and working at a state level to create new outdoor opportunity funds and increase funding for existing outdoor equity funds.”

- Gabriel Otero, Director of Equitable Funding Policy (The Wilderness Society)

"I'm proud to have partnered with our gente to help elevate the importance of protecting public lands and open spaces across the United States to combat climate change and minimize the impacts on Tribes, Latino communities, and biodiversity."

- Jazzari Taylor, Policy Advocate (Latino Outdoors)

“I greatly appreciate the opportunity to share. I am proud of two things. The first thing I am proud of this year is witnessing and celebrating Latino Outdoors commemorating its Ten Year anniversary as a community and organization. Additionally, I am also proud of the fact that I continue to see emerging BIPOC leaders in the conservation space and that established leaders continue helping us work towards something greater.”

- Andre Sanchez, Community Engagement & Conservation Policy Manager (CalWild)

The Center for Biological Diversity just wrapped up a film and webinar series about the environmental and climate crises and their impact on reproductive health. Center staff, frontline community representatives and subject matter experts shared their stories related to the harms of our extractive economy but left viewers with individual and systems-level actions to support better governmental policy and push back on corporations involved in fossil fuel extraction, plastic products and industrial agriculture.  (Watch Here)

- Kelley Dennings, Senior Campaigner (Center for Biological Diversity)

We believe that we are stronger together; our conviction is affirmed when we look back at everything that the Public Land and Ocean Colectivo (PLOC) accomplished together in 2023.

• 20 of 30 community advocates at the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Advocacy Days in Washington DC were members of the Public Land and Ocean Colectivo and other GreenLatinos Collectives. We celebrated GreenLatinos’ quinceañera and met with 59 offices in Congress and the presidential administration.

• Of the keynotes, breakout sessions, and recreational outings at the GreenLatinos National Summit, 10 deepend summit participants’ connection with la cultura de land, water, and wildlife conservation.

• 66 organizations endorsed–and 491 individuals signed–the Take Back Cinco de Mayo Declaration. The San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps hosted the first ever in-person Cinco de Mayo Day of Action event–a cleanup in the San Gabriel Mountains. And Latinos In Heritage Conservation joined us in a compelling webinar about the history of  La Batalla de Puebla and debunking myths and stereotypes about 5 de mayo.

• We hosted four encuentros that brought together 151 participants:

• in partnership with CHISPA AZ on the Great Bend of the Gila National Conservation Act;

• to collectively mourn and honor the life of Tortuguita who was murdered by Atlanta State law enforcement in their defense of the Weelaunee Forest from Cop City;

• in partnership with the GreenLatinos Sustainable Communities Colectivo, Communities for a Better Environment, Duwamish River Community Coalition, Climate Resolve, and the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps to highlight the power of nature for urban heat resilience;

• in partnership with Madaly Love and Plantas y Gente to affirm that Nature Is Kin.

• We supported and grew the collective power of the America The Beautiful For All Coalition where public land, ocean, freshwater, wildlife, and urban parks and greenspace leaders work to obtain Justice40, equity, and access to nature by achieving the most ambitious conservation goal in U.S. history.

• Hundreds from the GreenLatinos comunidad acted online to influence their members of Congress: supporting the Transit to Trails Act; opposing the Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023.

• The GreenLatinos comunidad came together for sign-on letters to decision makers for: San Gabriel Mountains National Monument expansion; Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Molok Luyuk expansion; New York State community garden conservation as critical environmental areas; designating Castner Range National Monument; designating Avi Kwa Ame National Monument; supported petition for designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, and; Latino heritage conservation at the National Park Service and equity at the U.S. Department of Interior workforce.

• We got technical and submitted substantive comments to the federal register for: the BLM Public Land Rule; Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; to inform the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration delivery of equitable climate services.

• 64 organizations and over 1,170 individuals have endorsed the Latino Climate Justice Framework which calls for community stewardship for the natural world, language justice, inclusion of migrants in decision making for public lands and all environmental initiatives, and more.

• Media: earned media highlights, social media highlights, reports, blog posts, etc.

• The GreenLatinos Public Land program collaborated with our Water Equity and Ocean program and Climate Justice and Clean Air program to produce a snapshot report on projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (AKA Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) in CA, CO, TX, FL and NY.

• Published 11 PLOC Newsletters!

• Developed the Public Land and Ocean Colectivo listserv for member-to-member connection.

• GreenLatinos supported major conservation winds for conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030 including the:

• Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary proposal by the Biden Administration

• Castner Range National Monument designation

• Avi Kwa Ame National Monument designation

• Dismissal of a lawsuit against the restoration of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments

GreenLatinos formed the Public Land and Ocean Colectivo in 2021 because of the long term dedication that each of you has committed to conserving 30% of lands and waters in their natural state by 2030 since the inception of this global initiative. Remember in 2020 when Senator Udall joined GreenLatinos to speak about the 30x30 Resolution to Save Nature (also championed by then Rep. Deb Haaland)? Nuestra comunidad ha estado dedicada a la salvación del mundo natural porque estamos arraigado en culturas de conservación. Leaders call on GreenLatinos because it is in our heritage–past, present and for future generations–to respect la tierra madre, and we are effective at it.

Thank you for being a part of this colectivo and its incredible accomplishments. We win because we work together for a shared vision–la liberación ambientál, 30x30, and eventually half of all of earth’s lands and waters conserved in their natural state by 2050. La lucha sigue!

Val, Olivia, Maritza, and Pedro: PLOC Staff