SAN DIEGO — A national movement to provide the Latino community a chance to get outdoors near their homes is highlighted this week.

What You Need To Know

  • Latino Conservation Week runs Sept. 14 to Sept. 22 this year

  • LCW was created by the Hispanic Access Foundation

  • The goal is to support the Latino community getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect natural resources

  • The week kicked off in San Diego with a "Wander the Wetlands" event at Kendall Frost Marsh Reserve

Nancy Torres is excited to get a closer look at Kendall Frost Marsh Reserve. It’s usually closed to the public, but the gates are now open.

A “Wander the Wetlands” event kicked off Latino Conservation Week, which was created by the Hispanic Access Foundation to support the Latino community getting into the outdoors and participating in activities to protect natural resources. Torres says she found her love of the outdoors later in life.

“I grew up in the Los Angeles area so it’s very heavily urbanized,” she said. “We had the coast about a 20-minute walk away but it really took I think me being brought out here by other friends who were regularly hiking to really realize the importance that it is about coming out to the outdoors.”

The delicate ecosystem at Kendall Frost represents the last remaining coastal wetland in Mission Bay.

Karina Ornelas is the conservation outreach coordinator for the San Diego Bird Alliance. She has spearheaded and planned their last five Latino Conservation Weeks. Ornelas is also doing endangered species research with the Light-footed Ridgway’s Rail. She hopes by seeing a fellow Latina enjoy a thriving career in conservation, she can inspire others to take the same career path.

“Working with [San Diego Bird Alliance] opened my mind, my eyes and everything, so that’s why I’m trying to tell the Latino community that there’s more to see and that there are careers over there for everyone,” Ornelas said. 

Ornelas is helping visitors connect with the smallest pieces of the marsh. As increased urbanization and habitat alteration lead to a steep decline in wetlands around the world, she hopes to inspire the next generation of people who will take care of it.

“I really want them to take [away] that there are ways that they can recreate and feel connected to nature and that we need to protect them and that there are careers over there for everyone,” Ornelas said.  

Torres brought Jonathan Bravo with her so he could experience his first marsh up close.

“It’s more diverse in terms of wildlife than I expected it to be,” Bravo said. “From far away, it just kind of looks like grassy wetlands. You don’t really imagine all the stuff that you find here, especially the little fishes.”

Torres says she’ll keep bringing her family and friends into the outdoors, to pass on the magic of nature that she has discovered.

“[It's] Super critical to see people who look like you and can inspire you to also pursue that same career,” she said.

Latino Conservation Week runs from Sept. 14 to Sept. 22.