Celebrating Latino Conservation Week!
By: Oscar Hernandez, USFWS
Latino Conservation Week is a nationwide annual event that takes place in July. Coordinated by the Hispanic Access Foundation, the event aims to highlight the work Latinos have contributed to conservation. Not only that, the weeklong celebration also spreads awareness on climate change and the impacts environmental justice can have on Latino communities.
To observe Latino Conservation Week, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge staff, led by our Latinx Liaison Oscar Hernandez, organized a festival curated to our local Latino communities. Festivities included cultural performances, traditional foods, live animal presentations, and craft stations amongst a variety of exciting activities that would welcome both repeat and new visitors to the refuge. However, due to COVID-19, the event was postponed to 2021.
These unforeseen circumstances motivated the team at Minnesota Valley to invent a creative alternative – our first-ever virtual event. During the week of July 20th through 24th, a wide array of digital content was shared through our Facebook page and refuge website. Content ranged from a downloadable Nature Journal for kids, to collaborative video tutorials with our partners, to interviews with local Latino youth. In addition to our online efforts, together with partners ArtStart and Oxboro Library, the refuge was able to provide 60 free, creative art kits to families in our community as part of this celebration. For the five days we posted, we aimed to bring something new that a variety of viewers could enjoy. Each piece had a unique purpose and together they worked to represent many different aspects of being a Latino in the outdoors.
Minnesota Valley’s Latino Conservation Week was a success. Although this festival has passed, you can still experience it by following this link.
