Hispanic Access Foundation Joins As Inaugural Member of National Initiative to Preserve and Reconnect 100,000 Miles of Rivers and Streams

Hispanic Access Foundation is proud to join the Biden-Harris Administration as an inaugural member of "The America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge", a partnership to conserve and restore America’s rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands and set a new national goal of protecting, restoring, and reconnecting 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams.

Hispanic Access’ Statement on Bill Introduction to Designate Chuckwalla National Monument

Today, Senator Alex Padilla announced a bill to designate the Chuckwalla National Monument in California and protect approximately 660,000 acres of public lands. In addition, Senator Padilla and Representative Raul Ruiz, M.D. sent a joint letter to President Biden urging him to use the Antiquities Act to designate the proposed monument. In response, Maite Arce, president and CEO of Hispanic Access Foundation, released the following statement:

Hispanic Access Foundation Welcomes New Conservation Director

Hispanic Access is thrilled to announce the addition of Melissa Morris as the new Conservation Director, who will shape the program’s vision, lead the program team, and steer the program toward becoming a model of excellence in the conservation and environmental space.

Hispanic Access Statement on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, announced on behalf of the EPA the awardees for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $20 billion program that will direct funding to projects that will reduce pollution, lower energy costs for families across the United States, and create good-quality jobs — all while catalyzing an unprecedented wave of private sector investment. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is part of the Justice40 Initiative, which sets the goal of 40% of federal climate benefits going to disadvantaged communities.

The winding roads of career development

It is hard to envision what your professional career would look like these days, with so many options to explore, with the many angles you can dive into, and with the lots of challenges that arise on the way.

The Beauty in the Flames

The month of March went by a lot quicker than expected! We are already a few weeks into spring and that’s wild to think about sometimes. Although, if you live in a northern state, winter is fighting for revenge. The weather has gone from clear and sunny with slightly warmer weather to gray with an odd mix of snow and then rain. The weather could not decide on what to do. Work-wise it has been a lot of planning in March. More and more field trips are being added to our calendars as well as events with partners! Once about mid-April hits, the activities at the refuge will spike. 

One plan was a large highlight for me. I was able to witness a prescribed/controlled burn on the Refuge on April 4th. A controlled/ prescribed burn is an intentionally set fire used for habitat restoration or management. (To clarify, prescribed and controlled can be used interchangeably for this type of process.) Restoration or management could include helping to remove invasive species, setting back succession for wildlife, or even helping native plants to grow better! 

Fire on a large scale is often seen as threatening and dangerous, but that is not always the case. Fire if left to roam can become very dangerous and cause death, destruction, and displacement. When used for the habitat it can prove a very crucial tool. Fire at first looks ugly on the land but this gives opportunity for a fresh start. In some ecosystems, it is imperative to have a fire go through the area to help with seed dispersal of plants, kill insects that damage trees, kill blights and disease, and fertilize the soil! When used for the right purposes and managed correctly, it is quite a spectacle to observe.

Puerto Rico, Here I Come- All about my first experience in Puerto Rico with the SPTF/UCF Team!

Hola Todos! This past month has been filled with so much highlights that it's hard to even know where to start. I mean, it's only right that I start off by giving credit to the amazing team I am apart of, The State, Private, and Tribal Forestry Unit at the IITF.

Attending a Cocoa Symposium

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of attending the Cocoa Symposium, organized by our colleagues from the Caribbean Climate Hub. People who attended the event were from a wide range of sectors, including non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, farmers, entrepreneurs, and many others. The invited speakers were as diverse as the audience and the topics were focused mainly on the effects of climate change on cocoa and how can farmers adapt to the new challenging climate conditions.