We are sharing new Bilingual Resources!

Frederick, Maryland – We’re happy to announce some exciting steps that we’re taking to expand Hispanic forest landowners’ access to educational materials and to enhance outreach to underserved landowners! 

We have published an easy-to-read bilingual booklet about various conservation practices related to forest conservation. With information about 17 different NRCS conservation practices in English and Spanish and illustrations by former mano-Y-ola interns, the booklet is designed to serve as an educational resource for landowners. The booklet, “Our Forest, Our Legacy,” features practices including Wildlife Habitat Planting, Forest Stand Improvement, and Tree/Shrub Establishment. By publishing educational materials in both English and Spanish, we are expanding the opportunities for Hispanic forest landowners to learn about sustainable forestry and agriculture practices and implement them on their lands. 

Additionally, we are proud to partner with the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities and the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation on a project to improve outreach to underserved landowners. In collaboration with participating states in Region 8, the Forest Service’s southern region, we will develop a customizable toolkit to support and enhance these states’ outreach efforts. 

Our new booklet of conservation practices and the toolkit project will further our mission of uplifting and empowering Hispanic forest landowners. 

In “Our Forest, Our Legacy,” landowners can learn about 17 conservation practices, including Tree/Shrub Establishment and Wildlife Habitat Planting.

“Our goal is to empower Hispanic forest landowners with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed decisions about their land,” said Dr. Nolo Martínez, mano-Y-ola Co-President. “By providing resources in both English and Spanish and collaborating with partners dedicated to supporting underserved communities, we are taking significant steps toward creating a more inclusive and sustainable future for all landowners.”

As we dive into the toolkit project, we will continue to publish educational resources in a variety of formats in Spanish and English. From videos to articles and fact sheets to social media posts, creating a diverse array of educational resources for landowners improves their accessibility. We’ll share updates as the toolkit project develops! 

We’ll also be continuing our monthly Hispanic Forest Landowner Spotlight series! Each month, our newsletter features an article that showcases the accomplishments of one of our program participants or partners. In the Spotlight, each landowner tells the unique story of the history behind their land, their long-term goals, and their vision for the future. To date, we’ve featured inspiring landowners, including Manuel Baez of Finca Gaia in Dorado, Puerto Rico, who is planting trees so his children can admire them many years from now, and the Cruz family, who cultivate coffee as part of an agroforestry system in the mountains of western Puerto Rico. 

In this month’s Spotlight (below) we feature two inspiring farmers who cultivate a wide array of crops in Puerto Rico’s mountains.

Hispanic Forest Landowner Spotlight: Connecting to Community 

Nathaniel and Luz specialize in coffee and grow a wide variety of other crops at Finca Calichi.

Finca Calichi/Café de Reyes, the agroecological farm of Luz N. Sierra and Nathaniel Ortiz Albino, offers an excellent model for other farmers to learn from, explains mYo Chief Agronomist in Puerto Rico Heriberto Martínez Méndez, who has worked closely with the couple as part of the Hispanic Forest Landowners Outreach (HFLO) Program. They have participated in all seven of the monthly forestry outreach workshops we’ve hosted in Puerto Rico this year, from bat conservation to fruit tree grafting and sustainable tourism!  

Additionally, Luz and Nathaniel participate in our Climate Smart Program, which is in collaboration with Victus Puerto Rico, Inc. They are planting breadfruit trees at Finca Calichi as part of this program. 

In the language of the Taíno, who inhabited Puerto Rico before colonization, calichi means “mountain spring.” Café de Reyes pays homage to Nathaniel’s father, Reyes Ortiz, who first began growing coffee on the land that Nathaniel and Luz now cultivate. 

Finca Calichi cultivates their produce using agroecological methods.

The pair have been farming their land for more than a decade. They now have several beehives and grow a wide variety of crops, including coffee, vanilla, cacao, medicinal plants, oranges, and plantains. They plan their crops so that they will have produce available to harvest throughout the year. Currently, they specialize in coffee grown without any pesticides or herbicides and have already won awards for it! Nathaniel explained that this natural approach to farming has brought them success. 

“You need to plant because you love the earth, to cultivate and protect it, that’s when you can achieve what you want,” he said. “Treat farms the way our elders used to. Protect the forests that they have, the shade, the birds.” 

Their agricultural journey has had its share of obstacles, but Nathaniel and Luz have been persistent and found creative ways to move forward. For example, after Hurricane Maria damaged the farm in 2017, Nathaniel adapted his growing practices, avoiding planting crops in the areas that had been most severely affected. 

Nathaniel and Luz currently cultivate approximately 3 acres of land, demonstrating that farms can be successful at any size. Nathaniel, who is 42, shares his story and offers encouragement, support, and motivation to people of all ages who are interested in starting to farm.

“When you have a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of determination, a lot of love, you can do it. And above all, respect,” Nathaniel said. “It’s never too late.”

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Join us for our 6th Annual Hispanic Farmers and Agricultural Professionals Symposium! We’ll be hosting weekly webinars through mid-October highlighting women farmers' accomplishments, young leaders in agriculture and conservation, and more. For more information about the Symposium and to register, click here: https://www.latinofarmersusa.com/annual-hispanic-symposia