Over the past several months, Trees, Water & People (TWP) took on the challenge of stepping back to define our priorities, both for internal clarity, as well as to share with our more than 2,000 individual supporters and dozens of foundations and corporate partners.

At Trees, Water & People (TWP), we unequivocally celebrate the autonomy of Tribes within the United States, and advocate for Native sovereignty in decisions that affect their territories, cultures, and communities. There are 574 Federally recognized Tribes in our country, each with rich histories, traditions, and governance structures that deserve our respect and attention.

In 2023, Trees, Water & People (TWP) will celebrate 25 years of creating environmental, social, and economic impact for frontline communities most affected by climate change.

Have you heard of helicopter research? It basically means researchers from wealthy countries conduct studies in lower-income countries, collect samples, analyze and publish findings with minimal involvement from local experts, and offer no benefits or report-back information for communities. This is also called neocolonial, parachute, or parasitic research and can be found across scientific disciplines. As a multi-disciplinary researcher in Epidemiology and Anthropology, I cringe to write this. It is familiar both within my own experiences and what I know from colleagues.

On October 13, 2022, second graders from Kwiyagat Community Academy (KCA) in Towaoc, Colorado, participated in a planting event in the Mancos Canyon on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation.

At Trees, Water & People (TWP) we work hard to constantly improve our organization, and make sure we’re doing our best to honor the communities we serve, our staff and partners, and you, our donors.

Maximizing the benefit of your donation is always top of mind for TWP - we want to make sure every dollar goes as far as possible toward creating a healthy planet and society.

Happy Indigenous People’s Day! At Trees, Water & People (TWP) we are privileged to work and live alongside the brave and proud Indigenous Peoples in the Americas. We honor them as first stewards and caretakers of these lands. The resilience of these Peoples have contributed to the greater good of our society and help shape the fight towards equity and justice.

Conventional conservation often portrays stewards and land managers working together to conserve, protect and/or restore critical landscapes for the survival of our planet. But underneath the macroscopic lens of conservation, women, more specifically Native American women, are rarely recognized for their achievements and dedication in the world of conservation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequalities and vulnerabilities experienced by indigenous, rural and “campesino” communities. Girls and women are the populations that have faced most of the challenges. The confinement and the economic crisis impacted the worsening violence, greater care work responsibilities and a decrease in women's income, which was already precarious and unequal before the pandemic.

After years of planting tree seedlings every spring, this year, Trees, Water & People and partners will be conducting fall plantings in New Mexico, Colorado, and South Dakota, to test whether survival rates are higher as we head into winter, versus into the hot dry months of summer.

Homemakers Dilcia Martinez, Lucia Flores and Brenda Servellon along with stove builder Avilio Garcia discuss the benefits and progression of the Justa Stove.

Maestra Fogonera - Inclusion and Women Empowerment

It is hard to imagine that 5 years ago today, Trees, Water & People faced its darkest moment in history, losing Lucas “El Lobo” Wolf, our incredibly adored colleague and friend.

Welcome Humble Bundle: An impactful investment in transformational change

It’s motivating to welcome a new corporate partner that puts their trust in our work and our approach. This year we are thrilled to have charity-focused digital retailer and publisher Humble Bundle join our community of businesses committed to giving back to people and the planet.

Help us make an impact!

We know the profound impact of travel – particularly interculturally-focused travel – on young people. It can literally change the course of their lives and careers. However, this kind of life-changing experience is usually outside the means of students from lower-income backgrounds.

On May 23rd, Executive Director Sebastian Africano and Indigenous Lands Program Director James Calabaza attended a full day workshop for grantees of the New Mexico Foundation, who awarded us a grant for our work on water resilience for Puebloan communities.

This past weekend (May 15th), the TWP Staff, TWP Board and some incredible volunteers planted 300 Ponderosa pine in Monument Gulch. The Monument Gulch/Poudre River watershed was extremely impacted by the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire.

Every fire season is an existential crisis for our friends in the Aldea de Suyapa, Honduras. Since 1987, a volunteer group of community members have organized to protect their centuries-old communal forest from firewood poachers, land grabbers, and the expanding agricultural frontier.

Window into Honduras through Field Visit: Strengthening Partnerships across Country Lines

Earlier this month, I had the great privilege of traveling with my colleagues to Honduras, the home of Trees, Water & People’s flagship clean cookstove program, and the birthplace of the Justa stove. Along our route from Tegucigalpa to Copan, we met stove builders and users, and my once abstract understanding of TWP’s work in Honduras came to life.

Winter is a quiet time of year for communities working on reforestation initiatives, including our partners at Santo Domingo Pueblo and the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, but winter is a critical time for our nursery partners and the baby seedlings that will be planted in the coming months.