FORESTS FOREVER
Fall 2024 • Trees, Water & People Newsletter
A Letter from Sebastian Africano, Executive Director
Dear TWP family,
What do you see when you look 25 years into the future?
Are ecosystems recovering? Can people feed their families? Are Indigenous communities thriving? Did we prepare our young people to lead us through climate change?
These questions guide the decisions we make at Trees, Water & People (TWP), and ensure that we’re investing our resources toward the best long-term outcomes.
We’ve got to think big when addressing climate, sustainability, migration, and poverty. We need all hands on deck, working together through networks to really make progress.
After 26 years, TWP’s networks are broad, interconnected and resilient. Our work, like the challenges we face, transcends borders, cultures, and latitudes. Every day we find more in common between what we do on Indigenous lands here in the U.S. and in Mesoamerica, where we’ve begun to work with community forest protection groups in Mexico.
Everywhere we go, there are local organizations, youth movements, and leaders ready to work for a better future for their people. They know best, so equipping them to solve local problems is the most effective way we can create lasting change.
We trust our partners to work in their people’s best interests, and they trust us to support their priorities, and not impose ours upon them. Your trust in us, and the donations you make to our work, allows these relationships to flourish and fuels deep-rooted solutions for the communities we serve.
Success in our work happens over generations. There are no shortcuts, and your support matters.
Thanks for looking into the future with us, and trusting us to drive the change we all want to see.
We can’t do it without you,
Sebastian Africano
Executive Director
The New Mesoamerica Program
TWP staff, Red MOCAF team, and members of the “Río de Aguas Buenas” cooperative/ejido in Acolihuia, Puebla
Daniela Bueso, Marlen García Ortíz and Marvin Torres López — TWP’s Mesoamerican Program Team
For years, TWP has been exploring innovative climate resiliency strategies across the Americas. In 2023, we attended our first Climate Week in Panama, where we met exemplary organizations working across Mesoamerica. One of those groups was the Coordinadora de Mujeres Líderes Territoriales de Mesoamerica, an incredible collective of women who introduced us to Red MOCAF —The Mexican Network of Community Forest Organizations.
Red MOCAF’s mission is to “carry out activities aimed at promoting the sustainability of the rural regions of Mexico, which includes improving the living conditions of local Indigenous populations that sustainably use and manage their natural resources.” TWP saw an incredible potential to work with Red MOCAF due to our shared values and priorities and their long-standing history and resilience in their ejido (a section of land owned and operated by local communities, managed through a combination of communal ownership and individual use) amid social and environmental challenges, which are still present to this day.
After a year of site visits, and evaluating community needs, we proudly announce a new partnership in Puebla, Mexico! We are collaborating on this pilot project to restore degraded lands and local forests while empowering women through leadership and economic opportunities. It has been a long- time dream of TWP to build bridges across Mesoamerica, as the shared histories of struggle and resilience of people
in the Americas also define their strength. Our work in Mexico launches a new path for TWP, as we change the Central America Program into the Mesoamerica Program, and we can't wait for you to join us on this journey!
Marlen García Ortíz:
“Having the opportunity to work with Mexican grassroots organizations is so exciting for us because it represents one more step towards achieving our vision and supporting impactful actions on a broader level. We begin this new chapter with a great desire to learn, to create lasting relationships, and to contribute positively to the well-being of our brothers and sisters in Mexico.”Marvin López Torres:
“Expanding our horizons to Mexico not only opens the opportunity for direct collaboration with local populations and organizations in this country but also opens a window to expand our learning and knowledge exchange between all initiatives in the Mesoamerican region and the southwestern region of the United States of America.”
Indigenous Lands Program Team
The Jemez Ranger District of Sante Fe National Forest (SFNF) encompasses roughly 240,000 acres of public lands – ancestral lands of the Native Pueblos within Northern New Mexico. Historically, federal land management agreements for ancestral (public) lands have largely excluded Tribal engagement and expertise, but recent agreements between Trees, Water & People (TWP) and SFNF point towards new possibilities of co-stewardship.
For the past five years, TWP has collaborated with the Tri-Pueblo Coalition (TPC), which includes the Pueblos of Cochiti, Kewa, and Jemez, on post-fire restoration and Tribal-led stewardship within the Jemez Mountain range. TPC began conversations in 2019 with regional partners, alongside TWP, to explore opportunities for collaborating on these efforts across public/private designations. Tribes identified stewardship of the broader landscape – including ancestral lands within SFNF management – as a priority, but lacked administrative capacity and resources to facilitate a federal agreement.
While conversations continued, the 2022 Cerro Pelado wildfire spread across Tribal and ancestral (public) lands and burnt nearly 37,000 acres within SFNF, further deepening Tribes’ pull to steward across management boundaries. In the same year, the Tri-Pueblo Coalition became a grantee of the Network for Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund, which supported them in laying the groundwork for a future agreement. TWP acted as a liaison between TPC and SFNF to reduce the administrative burden upon Tribal partners, and worked to ensure an agreement would meet the needs of all involved. After more than a year of discussing, developing, and building out an agreement, the vision became a reality.
On July 24th, 2024, TWP signed two agreements with the Santa Fe National Forest, formally establishing Tribes’ access to co-stewardship of ancestral lands within the Jemez Ranger District.
One is a non-cash, cost-share agreement which formalizes partnership between TWP and SFNF to work collaboratively on critical post-fire restoration and climate resiliency projects in the area. The other will allocate $125,000 in Indian Youth Service Corps funds from the Forest Service, awarded to TWP and the TPC through a competitive process in April 2024. These funds will be used by TWP, alongside Tribal partners, to plan and implement reforestation activities with Native youth from TPC communities and the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps.
TWP’s unique role as a nonprofit convener of these agreements provides a win-win for SFNF, Tribes, and landscapes. The agreements contribute to SFNF’s efforts towards Tribal collaboration and strengthen their capacity to carry out restoration activities, informed by Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK), within disturbed landscapes.
For TWP, though, the north star of these efforts is restoration of the Tri-Pueblo Coalition’s access to steward their ancestral lands. The agreements facilitate direct Tribal involvement in SFNF management decisions and position TWP to support Tribes in organizing and funding stewardship activities. The collaboration will allow TWP and TPC to scale up their restoration efforts and expand their reach to more Native American Pueblo communities in New Mexico.
Ultimately, agreements like these can be a crucial foundation for reintegrating TEK in management of ancestral (public) lands upon which we all depend. Engaging TEK, though, is not only about connecting knowledge to landscapes – it’s about connecting people.
“My hope is that this is just the beginning of what could be a very long-term, healthy collaborative that truly integrates different knowledge systems, communities, and dynamics to build out a more sustainable approach to stewardship and conservation work. The goal is to rehabilitate and restore these landscapes, but also to reconnect the people to the land.” — James Calabaza, Indigenous Lands Program Director
The restoration and protection of critical landscapes will require a diversity of knowledges, a commitment to honest collaboration, and a willingness to listen. Though so many of us now define landscapes by boundaries, we believe healthy relationships can help us work within, and across them. We see these agreements as a model, and a beginning.
Catalyzing New Opportunities in Santa Fe National Forest
MAQUI Tocando Tierra
Reportado por Armando Hernández, director ejecutivo de Arboles y Agua para el Pueblo (AAP)
Cuando nuestros socios dicen que el cielo es el límite, a menudo no lo dicen literalmente.
Pero de los cientos de miles de árboles sembrados por nuestro socio en El Salvador, Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo (AAP), uno ha alcanzado nuevas alturas.
A principios de abril, el director ejecutivo de la AAP, Armando Hernández, recibió una llamada inusual de la Embajada de Estados Unidos en El Salvador. Frank Rubio, un conocido astronauta estadounidense de ascendencia salvadoreña, estaba de visita en el país y necesitaba ayuda para plantar unas semillas muy especiales.
Rubio había regresado recientemente de una estancia de 371 días a bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional. Pero no estaba solo: el astronauta iba acompañado de 16 semillas de Maquilishuat — el árbol nacional de El Salvador, que significa “cinco hojas” en Náhuat — y esperaba que germinaran en su país de origen.
Armando advirtió que era poco probable que las semillas germinaran con éxito dada su larga estancia fuera del planeta. Pero, como en la mayoría de las hazañas en las que intervienen árboles, y sueños, estaba dispuesto a intentarlo. El 12 de abril, AAP y Rubio plantaron las 16 semillas en bolsas de sustrato, junto con 4 semillas Maquilishuat frescas para comparar, y les encontraron un lugar seguro en su vivero.
El 2 de mayo, sólo habían germinado las 4 semillas frescas.
El 23 de mayo, sin embargo, había una más. Después de pasar más de un año en el espacio, una sola Maquilishuat echaba raíces en la Tierra.
En julio, el arbolito especial había alcanzado una altura de 40 cm, casi listo para un hogar permanente. Pero antes necesitaba un nombre. La embajada estadounidense, junto con la AAP, recibió innumerables sugerencias a través de las redes sociales, pero una destacó — MAQUI.
El 9 de agosto, AAP entregó a MAQUI en un lugar cuidadosamente elegido en el parque del museo para niños TIN MARIN. En presencia de funcionarios de la embajada, la prensa y una multitud de salvadoreños emocionados, MAQUI por fin tocó el suelo.
Frank Rubio envió un vídeo para conmemorar el momento:
“Este proyecto no sólo demuestra la capacidad de la ciencia para superar fronteras, sino que también nos recuerda de nuestras raíces y la importancia de preservar nuestro patrimonio natural, incluso en los confines del espacio.”
TWP Staff Retreat 2024
Zoe Bashkin, Indigenous Lands Resource Coordinator
On August 12–14, the TWP team gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for an annual staff retreat.
Our staff has grown to 18 diverse individuals, representing eight countries and five Tribal nations, and the retreat offered much-needed space to connect, reflect, and renew the relationships that hold TWP together.
Santa Fe has become a second home for TWP, and a first home for some of our staff. The retreat began with connection to the histories, communities, and leaders that define our work and our presence here. We had the opportunity to explore Bandelier National Monument, established on land inhabited by Indigenous peoples, and learn more about local histories from Tribal partners. We were also honored to attend the Feast Day at Santa Clara Pueblo and share a meal with local leaders.
While many of us work closely with communities, others work behind the scenes. Connecting to the heart of what we do – the people and the places – never fails to remind us all what our daily contributions can add up to.
“This retreat brought us together and connected us deeply to our purpose as an organization.” — Henry Mouton, TWP Operations Director
We also used our time together to connect across programs and exchange teachings and strategies. As individuals, we often must focus on the day-to-day details; as a team, we were able to highlight the common threads of our programs and reaffirm the broader story of TWP’s work, and our own stories within it.
With staff members based in Colorado, New Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, we don’t often get the chance to be together. As we’ve learned from the communities we serve, however, some of the deepest connections and brightest insights develop over a cup of coffee or a breakfast of baleadas. We’ve found the same to be true within our own team.
Strong relationships help us do our work better – with expanded knowledge, deeper trust, and undoubtedly, a whole lot more laughter.
Partners For A Sustainable Planet
COFFEE LIBRE
Coffee Libre is dedicated to building a community around coffee lovers, encouraging them to connect with the lives of the farmers who grow their coffee. By highlighting coffee’s role in uniting people, Coffee Libre reminds its customers to appreciate the livelihoods and cultures behind each cup. Since 2023, the company has partnered with us to fund clean cookstoves, helping reduce household smoke in Honduran communities.
Visit their website: en.coffeelibre.kr
SMARTPRESS
In alignment with their comprehensive sustainability and social responsibility strategy, Smartpress and The Bernard Group’s contributions have been instrumental in sustaining our continuous reforestation endeavors in Pine Ridge, South Dakota since 2012. This includes nurturing native seedlings in Colorado, planting thousands of trees, and providing the essential funding for restoration activities.
Visit their website: smartpress.com
Your business can be a force for good, Trees Water & People can help:
• Offset your carbon emissions
• Meet your sustainability goals
• Position your socially responsible brand
• Improve lives while restoring ecosystems
Together, we can leave a better world for future generations.
To learn more about our Corporate Partners program visit twp.org/partners or contact:
Hellen Castro
Development and Outreach Manager
Hellen@twp.org
Sela Mumuli
Carbon Program Manager
Sela@twp.org
Heal the Planet Beyond Your Lifetime
Join The Canopy — A Planned Giving Program
The problems that we work on at Trees, Water & People (TWP) are centuries in the making and will likely outlive all of us.
We design our programs with future generations in mind. If the problems will outlive us, the solutions must as well.
The Canopy helps you commit some of the assets you’ve built over time to TWP’s mission of improving lives for those who will care for the earth after us.
We’ve built something special together over decades, and we’ve got decades more work to do.
Scan this QR code to schedule time with Sebastian to talk about your vision for people and the planet through TWP’s Canopy.
There are many tax-friendly incentives to donate to charities like TWP in 2024. Some of these incentives stem from past tax laws, while others have been long-standing.