Hispanic Access Celebrates Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Expansion

On May 2, President Biden answered the call of Senator Alex Padilla and Representatives John Garamendi and Mike Thompson, Northern California Tribes, over 300 scientists, local elected officials, and community leaders and expanded the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument to add 13,753 acres of public lands.

Hispanic Access Celebrates San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Expansion

On May 2, President Biden answered the call of Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, and Representative Judy Chu, elected officials, community and tribal leaders, and local residents in the Los Angeles region, and expanded the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument designation to include 109,000 additional acres of public land.

Hispanic Access Welcomes New Corporate Partnership Manager

Hispanic Access is delighted to announce the transition of Margaret Lamphier Meier from Development Associate to Corporate Partnership Manager to establish a portfolio of corporate donors and cultivate, steward, and expand corporate partnerships to further the organization’s missions and achieve fundraising goals.

Hispanic Access Statement on the EPA’s Final Standards to Clean Up the Power Sector, Cutting Carbon and Mercury Pollution, Limiting Coal Ash and Water Pollution from Power Plants

On April 25, 2024 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a suite of four pollution rules that will reduce climate, land and air pollution and protect public health for all communities. In response, Maite Arce, president and CEO of Hispanic Access Foundation, released the following statement:

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.