{"id":3281,"date":"2022-07-04T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T18:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svk.dlr.mybluehost.me\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2023-10-01T14:51:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T14:51:49","slug":"southern-region-advisory-council-usfs-y-haf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/southern-region-advisory-council-usfs-y-haf\/","title":{"rendered":"CO joined the Southern Region Advisory Council of the USFS and HAF"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 3, 2021, Conservation Opportunity (CO) was invited to serve on the Southern Region Advisory Council committee of the United States Forest Service<\/a> (USFS) - a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Hispanic Access Foundation<\/a> (HAF), a 501c3 non-profit organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

On November 16, 2021, CO signed the contract for the committee that was created to include Puerto Rico and 10-15 other representatives of marginalized communities in decision-making and project creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Group photo of some of the members who participated in the in-person meeting in Atlanta, GA. Photo by Gullah\/Geechee Nation.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The committee members are members of these organizations: For The Creation Faith Based Alliance<\/a>, Latino Outdoors<\/a>, Conservation Opportunity, Gullah\/Geechee Nation<\/a>, Southern Environmental Law Center<\/a>, Independent consultant on LGBT+ issues, Indigenous Environmental Network<\/a>, Vet Voice Foundation<\/a>, Outdoor Afro<\/a>, Green the Church<\/a>, y AIANTA<\/a> (American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association).<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the initiative, HAF and USFS educated members with the Forest Service's decision-making processes and for them to provide perspective on the funding of projects of the organizing entities for FY 2024 and beyond.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConservation Opportunity's participation in the USFS South Advisory Council.\u00a0<\/span>Hispanic Access Foundation is instrumental in elevating the voices of Latino conservation leaders in Puerto Rico,\u201d said HAF Conservation Program Manager Jessica Godinez.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Fabiola Torres (blue t-shirt) meeting with the group and USFS in the forest. Photo by Hispanic Access Foundation<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFabiola Torres, the founder of CO, brings a refreshing perspective.<\/span> to the board by sharing her experience as a student of HAND<\/a>, Hispanic Access conservation advocate and a strong supporter of our community in Puerto Rico. With Conservation Opportunity on board, the reach of our conservation efforts can extend to Puerto Rico and work to highlight and elevate the work of conservation,\u201d added Godinez.<\/p>\n

The agency and the foundation created educational materials for broader use and developed criteria and metrics for equitable decision-making on projects that involve and benefit marginalized communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The committee met virtually on a regular basis since January, and continued to do so until August for a total of eight times and then attended a face-to-face meeting on June 1, 2022, where they discussed with USFS possible projects to develop in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Hike through Chattahoochee National Forest, Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Conservation Opportunity.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

They met at Chattahoochee National Forest located in Georgia, where they joined with forest managers that included local and national staff from the USFS and a non-profit organization called FIND Outdoors<\/a>. There they discussed directly about projects they wish to carry out in that forest as well as in the USFS in general. Conservation Opportunity had the opportunity to influence nationally how the USFS recreation areas would be shaped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The initiative has a monthly stipend totaling $1,500 paid to CO, who uses it for \u201cadministrative matters, such as the goal of obtaining tax exemption,\u201d according to Fabiola Torres, CO's founder.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On November 3, 2021, Conservation Opportunity (CO) was invited to become part of the Southern Region Advisory Council of the United States Forest Service (USFS) \u2013 a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture \u2013 in collaboration with the Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF), a 501c3 non-profit organization. On November 16, 2021, CO signed the contract for the committee, which was created to include Puerto Rico and 10-15 representatives from marginalized communities in decision-making and project creation. The committee members are part of these organizations: By La Creaci\u00f3n Faith Based Alliance, Latino Outdoors, Conservation Opportunity, Gullah\/Geechee Nation, Southern Environmental Law Center, Independent consultant on LGBT+ issues, Indigenous Environmental Network, Vet Voice Foundation, Outdoor Afro, Green the Church, and AIANTA (American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association). As part of the initiative, HAF and USFS educated the members on the decision-making processes of the Forest Service and for them to contribute a perspective on the funding of project proposals by the organizing entities for fiscal year 2024 onwards. \u201cThe participation of Conservation Opportunity in the USFS South Advisory Council of Hispanic Access Foundation is fundamental to raising the voices of Latino leaders in conservation in Puerto Rico,\u201d said Jessica Godinez, Program Manager of Conservation at HAF. \u201cFabiola Torres, the founder of CO, brings a refreshing perspective to the council by sharing her experience as a student of MANO, a conservation advocate for Hispanic Access, and a strong advocate for our community in Puerto Rico. With Conservation Opportunity on board, the reach of our conservation efforts can extend to Puerto Rico and work to highlight and elevate conservation work,\u201d added Godinez. The agency and the foundation created educational materials for broader use and developed criteria and metrics for making equitable decisions about projects that involve and benefit marginalized communities. The committee met virtually regularly from January, and continued to do so until August for a total of eight times, then held a face-to-face meeting on June 1, 2022, where they discussed potential projects to develop in the future with the USFS. They met at Chattahoochee National Forest located in Georgia, where they joined with forest managers that included local and national USFS staff and a nonprofit organization called FIND Outdoors. There was a direct discussion about projects that they want to carry out in that forest, as is generally the case with USFS. Conservation Opportunity had the opportunity to influence nationally how the USFS recreational areas would be formed. The initiative receives a monthly grant that adds up to $1,500 paid to CO, who uses it for \u201cadministrative issues, such as the goal of achieving the contributory exemption,\u201d explains Fabiola Torres, the founder of CO.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"enableOnePageScrollInPage":false,"onePageScrollCss":"","onePageScrollSpeed":1000,"onePageScrollAnimation":"easeInOutQuad","onePageScrollShowDotNavigation":true,"onePageScrollNavigation":"scaleUp","onePageScrollNavigationPosition":"right","onePageScrollNavigationHorizontal":[],"onePageScrollNavigationVertical":[],"onePageScrollNavigationSpacing":[],"onePageScrollNavigationColor":"#00ff0d","onePageScrollNavigationColorHover":"#00ff0d","onePageScrollNavigationColorActive":"#00ff0d","onePageScrollNavigationIcon":[],"onePageScrollNavigationWidth":[],"onePageScrollNavigationWidthHover":[],"onePageScrollNavigationWidthActive":[],"onePageScrollNavigationHeight":[],"onePageScrollNavigationHeightHover":[],"onePageScrollNavigationHeightActive":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorder":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorderHover":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorderActive":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorderRadius":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorderRadiusHover":[],"onePageScrollNavigationBorderRadiusActive":[],"onePageScrollNavigationTooltipTypography":[],"onePageScrollNavigationTooltipColor":"#ffffff","onePageScrollNavigationTooltipColorHover":"","onePageScrollNavigationTooltipBgColor":"#00ff0d","onePageScrollNavigationTooltipBgColorHover":"","onePageScrollNavigationTooltipPadding":[],"onePageScrollNavigationTooltipPaddingHover":[],"onePageScrollNavigationTooltipBorderRadius":[],"onePageScrollNavigationTooltipBorderRadiusHover":[],"pageSettingsCustomCss":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[197,198,196],"class_list":["post-3281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias","tag-hispanic-access-foundation","tag-national","tag-usfws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3281"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6150,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions\/6150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservationopportunity.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}