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By National Park Service Chesapeake Office
Communities throughout the Chesapeake Bay and the country will engage and connect with the great outdoors during Latino Conservation Week (LCW), an initiative of Hispanic Access Foundation, an official National Park Service partner, to support Latino communities getting outdoors and participation in activities that protect our natural resources. From July 16 through July 24, Latino communities, organizations, families and individuals will participate in a variety of activities like hikes, park clean-ups, roundtable discussions, Q&A sessions, film screening, and more.
Find Your Park
(Photo Credit: NPS/Whitney Bronson & Matt Turner.)
Over 8% of the 18 million residents of the Chesapeake watershed are of Hispanic or Latino descent. It’s an expansive community with strong ties to the outdoors – many are avid park users and a number of Latino-based environmental organizations exist throughout the watershed.
National Park Service Chesapeake Office partner, Corazón Latino focuses on culturally relevant campaigns and programs to inform, empower, and mobilize diverse communities around environmental, conservation, education, civic engagement, social justice and health issues through strategic communication and grassroots mobilization tools.
In collaboration, the National Park Service and Corazón Latino are focusing on efforts to advance inclusive access and community stewardship through a number of initiatives such as Latino Conservation Week. Latino Conservation Week helps break down barriers for communities to access public lands and waters and the platform created by this effort raises and highlights the voice of the Latino community in decision-making processes related to outdoor recreation, the future of public lands and welcoming a diverse next generation of stewards.
Here’s how you can be part of this year’s celebration:
- Research and visit a park or place with Latino heritage to learn more about cultures, traditions and relationships with public lands.
- Share the importance of Latino Conservation Week with family and friends and help inspire others to participate in conservation efforts.
- Work with other Latinos in your community to help national parks and other public lands through volunteer programs and individual volunteer projects.
- Go on your social media platforms and share Latino Conservation Week posts for everyone to see and get inspired! Use #LCW2022 #DescubreTuChesapeake #FindYourChesapeake
Sandy Point State Park
(Photo Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program.)
2022 Latino Conservation Week Events in and around the Watershed:
- Tyler Arboretum, July 1-31 at 8am-8pm
- Patterson Park, July 16 at 9am-1pm
- Montgomery Parks LCW Kick-Off Fiesta, July 16 5pm-10pm
- Kids Tree Climbing, July 18 at 10am-12pm
- Ardillas Voladoras, July 23 at 9pm-9:30pm
- Kayak on the Lake, July 19 at 3pm-6pm
- Brownsville Preserve, July 23 at 12pm-2pm
- River Snorkel and Clean-up in Seneca Rocks, July 23-March23 at 1pm-3:30pm
Image credit:
- Turtle Talks (Photo Credit: LatinoConservationWeek.Com)
- Latino Conservation Week (Photo Credit: Corazon Latino)
Lightning Update is a regular communication of the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions of the Partnership or member organizations.
To share a success story, news, or important event, send your information to:
Support for the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership is provided by:
National Park Service Chesapeake
EPA Chesapeake Bay Program
USDA Forest Service
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Virginia Outdoors Foundation
US Fish & Wildlife Service
Chesapeake Conservancy
The Chesapeake Conservation Partnership is co-convened by:
