SALT LAKE CITY — Community groups in Utah are banding together to try and get the message out to members of the Latino community that there are ways to get more involved in the outdoors, whether that be recreation, conservation work or other activities.
“We established a ‘Latino task force’ to help our conservation and education department to sort of figure out where are some spots that we could be improving, what sort of educational projects are more relevant to our Latinx members and how can we become more accessible and welcoming,” said Frances Ngo, who works at the Tracy Aviary as a Conservation Outreach Biologist.
The Tracy Aviary is working to create more inclusive classes and workshops for members of certain communities. Ngo believes that transportation is a potential barrier for some Latinos as well as language. The Aviary has a second campus, the Jordan River Nature Center, which is on Salt Lake City’s west side. Ngo hopes this serves as a better location for some members of the community who live on that side of the Salt Lake Valley.
Other members of Utah’s Latino community believe that transportation may be a contributing factor to what’s hampering a movement of more Latinos getting into the outdoors.
“I love Utah, I love the landscape, I love the mountains, I love the people, the people have been really nice to me personally, I love the outdoors,” said Wendy Juarez, a local business owner and member of Artes de México en Utah. “Sometimes the language can be a barrier, people are learning, I am still learning.”
Wendy is hopeful that more youth help contributes to getting more Latino folks into the outdoors. Recently, a group of students from Kearns helped Sageland Collaborative and GreenLatinos to work on a restoration project in the Oqurrih Mountains outside of Herriman.
“I go out hiking, you know, we all should, it’s very fun, it brings a nice inner peace to me,” said Giovanni Rojas, who is a high school student and member of Latinos in Action in Kearns. He and his classmates helped on the project to clear brush and establish Beaver Dam Analogs in a creek.
“The thing is, sometimes we’re afraid of what people think of us, you know we’re afraid to be judged, we’re afraid to be called out on something that’s actually normal you know,” said Rojas about more Latinos getting involved in outdoor work and recreation. “I really hope this inspires other people, that’s my main goal.”
While transportation can be seen as a barrier, Olivia Juarez of GreenLatinos, helped to gather resources to get the students out of Kearns and into the mountains. She also believes the ‘nature gap’ comes into play in parts of Utah, despite it being a state that has so many public lands.
“It’s truly concerning why there isn’t the opportunities for people of color, also low-income residents are really impacted with the inability to benefit from the natural world on a day to day basis,” said Juarez, who references a study outlining the nature gap concerns in Utah.
In terms of a solution for more Latino access to the outdoors, community groups have been banding together to get more involvement.
