We value cross-cultural exchange, as it helps you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you. In summer of 2022 we had the privilege to take a group of first-generation high school students to South Dakota. Thanks to the ongoing support of Dutch Bros. Coffee, these students from the TRIO Upward Bound Program at Colorado State University were able to visit an Indigenous community for the first time.

In 2017 we created TWP Tours to organize unique trips to the countries and communities we work with and give our donors and supporters the opportunity to see first hand the work they make possible and to meet the people benefitting from it.

We are proud to continually receive top marks in various third-party charity assessment organizations. We currently hold a 99% rating on Charity Navigator, with top marks for Accountability and Finance, as well as for Leadership and Adaptability and a platinum rating on Candid / Guidestar, with an in-depth evaluation of our financial metrics over time.

Our partners at Comité Ecológico Aldea de Suyapa (COEAS) in Honduras have been fighting for over 2 decades to protect the Triquilapa Mountain which is a vital source of water and oxygen to the Aldea Suyapa and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. This year we celebrated alongside them the upcoming declaration by the National Congress of Honduras of the Triquilapa and Cantagallo Mountains as a Wildlife Refuge. This is a big win for the sovereignty of the Indios Laborios of the Aldea de Suyapa.Proud that TWP was able to help get them to this point... and grateful that we get to support these efforts daily!

Youth development is a big part of our work here at Trees, Water & People (TWP). In Colorado, we partner with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s (UMUT) local charter school, Kwiyagat Community Academy (KCA), and other local organizations to involve youth in outdoor play and environmental stewardship work.

The community of La Bendición continues to stand out for its strong leadership and capacity for self-management. The most vital part of this community is not only its inhabitants and leadership, but also their beautiful lush forest. With the support of Utz Che’, the community groups (youth group, women’s group, and general assembly) have been a part of forest conservation projects, and its proper management and care for years. This year, in collaboration with TWP, Utz Che’, and Colorado State University, the community participated in their first biodiversity project.

Seb started his first day as an intern for TWP almost 2 decades ago. As he himself recalled, he was sent to lead TWP’s stove work in rural Honduras. In the coming years he would contribute enormously to the advancement of the cookstove program and every other aspect of TWPs projects and operations that he could. In 2017 he became our Executive Director, bringing first-hand experience from his days in Central America, an innovative approach to business and non-profit development, dedication to advancing TWP’s goals and our staff’s quality of life and true passion for the communities we serve. Gracias jefe for your commitment and hard-work through the years!

Five years ago Trees, Water & People ran a campaign - Roots of Migration - speaking to the rise in climate migration out of Central America.

We spoke to the fact that people migrated for three main reasons: 1. Security - including physical violence and sociopolitical violence like corruption, 2. Economic - where people weren't making enough income to live with dignity, and 3. Environmental - where people's land no longer provided for basic needs.

TWP is staffed by a group of dedicated and culturally grounded professionals with diverse backgrounds who get up every day to work for people and the planet, and to help communities manage the natural resources upon which their livelihoods depend. The commitment of our people to our mission makes a difference!

For over 8 years, Chief Henry Red Cloud and tribal community members have planted trees on Oglala Tribal Lands (known as Pine Ridge, South Dakota) to restore areas impacted by wildfires. Since this reforestation effort began, over 160,000 ponderosa pines and other culturally significant species have been planted and distributed in the local community.

Since 2003, TWP has been privileged to work in Pine Ridge, SD on community-centered projects that improve and protect the cultural, environmental and social values of the community. Working alongside Chief Henry Red Cloud, our vision was to co-develop a nonprofit organization that would coordinate, engage and supervise locally driven projects with Tribal members. In 2017, Red Cloud Renewable (RCR), a Native-led and managed nonprofit organization was born of these efforts, to carry on the projects incubated under TWP for years. Today, RCR is running strong independently, with significant autonomy and funding, while still deeply rooted in cultivating the next generation of Native American solar warriors spreading the renewable energy revolution to Indian country.

TWP’s Indigenous Lands Program was launched in 2003, after a realization that Native American communities in the U.S. struggled with some of the same issues we were addressing in Central America. The program was built to support Native American Tribal communities and organizations in the preservation of their lands, natural resources, and cultural lifeways, while meeting acute household energy needs. From its beginnings with the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota, TWP has worked with Tribal communities across the western U.S., supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency, reforestation, and the creation of economic opportunities for local people to conserve and protect their natural resources.

In the early morning, we're preparing for an elk hunt on ancestral lands. Throughout our morning prayer, bull elk bugle in the background, harmoniously marinating with the majestic views. Lingering questions run through my mind. What will be the outcome of indigenous traditions in the future, will it be ancient history, diminished, forgotten? This question has been endured by our ancestors, to the present day, and will certainly be a feat in the future.

It is with joy that we share about the beginning of a pilot collaboration with the Foundation for the Development and Strengthening of Grassroots Organizations (FUNDEBASE) of Guatemala, as part of the goals of the TWP Central American Program to expand into new territories serving the most vulnerable communities in the region.

Earlier this month we had the pleasure of hosting 13 of our partners and community leaders from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at the first Mesoamerican Indigenous People and Local Communities Climate Week, which took place in Panama City.

Back in 2014, I picked up the phone and called a candidate to support TWP’s Central America program. This individual was born and raised in Fort Collins, CO – TWP’s home base – but had been living in Central America after leaving a job with a USAID contractor in the U.S. As soon as he picked up the phone, I tested him by speaking to him in a flurry of Central American Spanish, to see how he would respond. Without missing a beat, he responded with a fluency and panache that made me smile ear to ear. I knew from that instant that I had called the right guy. Lucas Wolf came to TWP during a critical time, and as a master relationship builder, helped set the foundation for the organization’s next generation of leaders. In his three year journey to becoming the Director of the Central America Program, he left an indelible mark on all of us. His passing from heart failure at 36 years old impacted us all in ways we’ll never fully heal from, but inspired us to continue building the program and organization in his memory. - Sebas.

Our partnership with Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo (AAP) in El Salvador has been going strong for over 2 decades. Together, we have developed a grassroots-led conservation program that includes rainwater catchment cisterns, tree nurseries for reforestation and watershed protection work, clean cookstoves, dry-composting latrines, women's entrepreneurship initiatives and forest and spring protection.

Armando Hernandez is the salt of the earth. As founder and director of our partner Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo (AAP), he has been humbly implementing projects with TWP since 2001. One of our favorite places on the planet is AAP’s tree nursery in El Porvenir, El Salvador, where we’ve grown hundreds of thousands of diverse seedlings over the years that today are providing habitat, food, shade, firewood, soil, and lumber to communities throughout the country. Knowing that a partnership between TWP and AAP has resulted in thousands upon thousands of trees that are more than two decades old is gratifying to say the least - especially when considering the human and ecological services that these trees help provide.

Abilio Garcia is a Maestro Fogonero and coordinator for our partner AHDESA in Honduras. He trains other Maestros Fogoneros so that they can have a stable job that they love. “In Honduras it is hard to find a stable job, so when you have one, you take care of it. I love what I do, I love serving people. It's great to see the happiness in someone's face when they are able to bring food home. The technicians who work with us are happy when they get paid for something they love to do.”

At Trees Water and People (TWP) we recognize and value the fundamental role that women have historically played in agriculture, food production, and the development of their communities. To make decisions in these areas they have faced diverse challenges for the enjoyment and equality of rights for a dignified life.