Southern Arizona celebrates Latino Conservation Week

For Tucson families, Latino Conservation Week offered more than a reason to spend time outdoors. It highlighted public lands as places tied to community, family memory, cultural history and everyday well-being, while drawing attention to the threats facing Ironwood Forest National Monument. Tucson and Phoenix conservation organizations opened the 12th annual observance at the monument on Sept. 12, bringing Latino environmental advocates to a landscape just northwest of the city.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors proclaimed Latino Conservation Week on Sept. 10. The national initiative was created by the Hispanic Access Foundation to encourage Latino communities to experience the outdoors, recognize their cultural connections to nature and participate in protecting public lands. This year’s theme, “Rooted in Nature, Thriving in Community,” reflected the organizers’ effort to make conservation both a celebration and a shared responsibility.

Eleven environmental organizations from Tucson and Phoenix joined in planning activities throughout the week. The schedule included a Fuga Bike Ride, a Green Drink Mixer at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art, a dance party at Slow Body Beer CO., a hike in Tucson Mountain Park, a mushroom identification outing and service project on Mount Lemmon, and the Sunnyside Foundation Burrito Run at Mission Manor Park. The range of events gave families and residents different ways to connect with the outdoors, whether through recreation, education, service or social gatherings.

The kickoff took place at Ironwood Forest National Monument, about 25 miles northwest of Tucson and near Marana. The monument protects approximately 190,000 acres of Sonoran Desert, including endangered species, the ironwood trees that give the area its name and three archaeological districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its landscape also preserves layers of Tohono O’odham, Hohokam and Spanish history, making it both an ecological refuge and a site of cultural significance.

For Cassandra Becerra, Arizona program manager for Mountain Mamas, caring for the environment is closely connected to family tradition. Becerra, who is from Mexico and has spent most of her life in Tucson, said Latino communities have long learned from their families to respect and protect the land. She described the event as a chance for advocates to pause from their work and celebrate, while still recognizing the urgent issues facing the places they seek to preserve.

Those issues include a proposal by mining company ASARCO involving 11,000 acres of Ironwood Forest, according to Becerra. She also pointed to reductions in federal funding and staffing, as well as a proposed reversal of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, as potential dangers to the monument and other public lands. The gathering was intended to emphasize that Latino residents should have a voice in decisions affecting the places where they live, work, recreate and build family connections.

The morning began with a news conference where speakers discussed the monument’s importance. The participants happened to be all women, and Friends of Ironwood Forest then led a short hike. Hot morning temperatures forced the group to cut the hike short. Later, storm clouds moved in and temperatures fell, while Becerra and three other people dealt with a flat tire. During the storm, Becerra found a jagged pottery fragment in the soil. She left it where it was, describing it as a possible remnant of Native history and a reminder of why archaeological and cultural resources at Ironwood Forest need protection.

Azucena Bravo, a Tucson mother, school psychologist and founder of Mini Poderosas, has made a similar connection between outdoor access and family life. After growing up in Nogales, where being outside was a normal part of childhood, Bravo said becoming a mother and working with girls helped her better understand the value of public spaces. She hikes Tumamoc Hill with her 7-year-old twins, where they see wildlife, and uses those outings to teach them that public lands are part of their home and must be cared for.

Bravo described Latino Conservation Week as an invitation to Latino families who may not previously have had the opportunity, encouragement or exposure to explore outdoor spaces. She cited a nearly 12 percent increase in Hispanic participation in outdoor recreation in 2024 and argued that walking, visiting a park and exploring a trail are important investments in health and community, not luxuries. She also encouraged residents to contact members of Congress about protecting national monuments and providing adequate support for parks and public land agencies.

The concerns extend beyond Ironwood Forest. Bravo noted that places including Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon, protect history, wildlife and cultural connections. She cited polling showing that 89 percent of Western voters oppose removing existing national monument protections. At the same time, she pointed to a 2025 directive from the administration, supported by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, ordering a review of certain monuments after an “energy emergency” declaration. She also referenced reports that more than 130 national park projects worth at least $25 million had been blocked, and said Arizona experienced a 16 percent loss in its public lands workforce in 2025. For Tucson residents, the week’s message was that enjoying these places and speaking up for their future are inseparable parts of conservation.