“Public lands are truly one of America’s best ideas”

Gabe Vasquez lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico where he serves as a city councilor and is an active community leader and conservationist. He is a hiker, camper, hunter and angler and the founder of the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project which seeks to empower LatinX and Hispanic communities in the Southwest to ensure their history, values and people are reflected in public land management decisions.

Public lands are places where me, my family, and my community can heal and recharge. They are places where we’re all the same: no matter what income, race or color. We run, hike, bike, hunt, camp and fish. Nature treats us all equally.

Three years ago, while hunting for deer in the remote Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico’s bootheel, the biggest black bear I’ve ever seen walked out of an arroyo and straight into our camp. Disregarding our presence, he smelled one of our backpacks and went on his way. Even though he knew we were there, he wasn’t threatened by us, and I have felt a special connection to this place ever since.

But public lands aren’t just out in remote areas. They are also in our communities. Places like Apodaca Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It’s one of the most popular gathering places for families in the city, and it’s a place where you can see picnics, carne asadas, low-rider cruises, soccer games, volleyball games, birthday parties, and even quinceaneras on any given weekend. It’s a place to be with family and build community.

Apodaca Park — along with scores of other parks, hiking trails, and historic sites across New Mexico — was funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Over the last five decades, New Mexico has received more than $320 million from this conservation fund to create and maintain public parks and other natural areas. This week, the U.S. Senate voted to make sure that LWCF would be permanently and fully funded so that we all can continue to enjoy the recreation and solace that our public lands provide. Hopefully, the House will soon follow suit.

I’ve made some of the most important decisions of my life on public lands, in places where I have a chance to slow down and reflect about what I want to do with my life. It is in these places that I feel centered and at peace with the world.

Public lands truly are one of America’s best ideas. They are a place where people can interact with the natural world, where wildlife thrives, and where we can remind ourselves how important it is to take care of these places for future generations. We need to do everything we can to expand our nation’s system of public lands and provide more opportunities for diverse communities to enjoy them.

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So many of our country’s parks and public lands written about in these love notes would not exist but for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Congress is poised to permanently fund it as part of the Great American Outdoors Act. Follow the movement along at #FundLWCF. Learn more here. Better yet, take action here.

Would you like to write about public lands that you cherish? Please email Mary Jo Brooks at brooksm@nwf.org for guidelines.