Commentary: When Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made the campaign promise to create a New Mexico Office of Outdoor Recreation, it was received positively by the majority of New Mexicans.
After all, with 23 million acres of federal public lands and 9 million acres of state trust lands, New Mexico stands to capitalize from a coordinated economic development effort that invites residents and visitors alike to enjoy our state’s forests, rivers, lakes, mountains, grasslands and deserts. This is the type of economic activity that lessens our state’s reliance on oil and gas and promotes a wiser use of our natural resources.
This opportunity to create an Office of Outdoor Recreation also gave an intersectional group of organizers and community leaders across the state a chance to envision a new and more fair economy, one that is inevitably tied to our natural resources, wildlife, public lands and water.
States like Colorado, Oregon and Washington have been awash in outdoor recreation-related tourism for many years, and each has encountered its own unique set of benefits, opportunities and challenges from increased visitation. Wealthy tourists flock there to ski, hike and camp.
The difference between New Mexico and those other Western states is that we’re among the poorest states in the nation. While we may be public land rich, we rank at the bottom of nearly every marker when it comes to child wellbeing. That’s why Nuestra Tierra, along with organizers across the state representing a multitude of interests and organizations ranging from social justice, environmental justice, immigrant rights and LGBTQ organizations, came together to support the creation of the first-of-its-kind Outdoor Equity Fund.
With the momentum of the creation of the Office of Outdoor Recreation, people of color across New Mexico came together to ask Lujan Grisham to also support the creation of a public-private fund that would help underserved, low-income youth across the state have the same opportunities to learn and play outside as the visitors we would be seeking to attract from out of state. Proudly, the governor supported this effort.
However, this program did not ultimately receive the financial investment needed to match the vision behind the Outdoor Equity Fund and the communities who created it. New Mexico’s youth need the support of their elected officials, and they deserve to have healthy experiences to enjoy and learn from the outdoors. Despite having the worst outcomes for youth almost anywhere in the country, New Mexico has a great opportunity to lead by example, to support and create new ways of putting its children and minority communities first.
Many state elected leaders have publicly lauded the creation of the Outdoor Equity Fund, but they haven’t yet made it a priority to invest in this program. We can during this year’s budget-year legislative session. Our youth of color have for too long been an afterthought when it comes to conversations about equity, investment and outdoor recreation.
This is why we ask the state Legislature to make good on its promise to create a successful program that provides microgrants to rural, urban and Native American communities with meaningful opportunities to engage low-income youth in the outdoors. These youth are the future and stewards of our state. They are the next caretakers of our land, air, water and natural resources. But they’ll be missing out on opportunities to learn and play outside and develop careers in environmental and conservation fields if we don’t give them the same opportunities that we’re now selling to wealthy out-of-state tourists with six-figure bank accounts.
We need public investment in our youth. We need public dollars in the Outdoor Equity Fund. We ask our governor and state Legislature to make good on their promise to lift up the youth of our state.
Norma Chairez and Brenda Gallegos are from Las Cruces and serve as board members for the Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project.