Mariana Ramirez Rodriguez, California Botanic Garden Nursery manager, led assistants through the tour that happened on July 16. She added the garden has two sections for Baja California's plants.
Attendees saw the Acanthogilia gloriosa, a thorny shrub known as 'mala mujer' in Mexico, and Quercus peninsularis, an oak endemic to the state.
Latino Conservation Week: Disfrutando y Conservando Nuestra Tierra is an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation.
During this week, community, non-profit, faith-based, and government organizations and agencies hold events throughout the country. From hiking and camping to community roundtables and film screenings, these activities promote conservation efforts in their community and provide an opportunity for Latinos to show their support for permanently protecting our land, water, and air.
"This initiative of the Hispanic Access Foundation supports the Latinx community in getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect our natural resources," said Gaylon Parsons, interim executive director of Audubon California.
The tour was offered in Spanish to break the language barrier and open the doors for more Latinos to learn about conservation.
"There isn't an opportunity for them to learn in their language so they can understand," mentioned Ramirez Rodriguez.
She added visitors gave positive feedback from the tour and were grateful to listen to Baja California's endemic plants in their first language.
For Ramirez Rodriguez, Latino Conservation Week is an opportunity to create awareness and appreciation of nature among the community.
"I think there is an important connection because a lot of Latinx communities suffer from high temperatures, mostly they live where there's a lot of factories, trucks going by and there's not a lot of greenery," said Ramirez Rodriguez. "It's important to know about climate change and I think it is great to get them outside into areas where they can't easily have access to."