Roberta Salazar of Taos, New Mexico, understands better than most that the future lies in the hands of our children. Ten years ago, Roberta made a personal commitment to ensure that Northern New Mexico kids grow up recognizing the importance of protecting the land and healthy ecosystems that we depend on. She gave up her work as a wildlife biologist for the federal government to devote her time to connecting young people with nature.
After more than a decade and a half working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, Roberta founded Rivers & Birds in 1999 to “teach the next generation of Earth stewards.” To do that, she created the Watershed Learning Project, which involves young public school students, 3000 to date, in this extraordinary nature immersion program. This nine-day course takes fifth-graders out of the classrooms to explore mountains, rivers, forests and watersheds in their communities, “to see first-hand how water connects all life,” Roberta says. Ms. Salazar draws on local resource specialists and community elders to share their expertise and views with the students. “Through this program, we have given children a chance to joyfully explore nature where too often they never would have done so. [Also,] to develop conservation values in a positive, memorable way that will influence them and their families in the future.”
Rio Grande Gorge/Ute Mountain; © NMWA
Even with her busy schedule educating the next generation of conservationists, Roberta Salazar is making time to help protect a piece of her wild backyard. Rivers & Birds joined a collaboration with the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance to help raise community awareness about a proposal to protect the Rio Grande area. Together they have been instrumental in building local support for the measure, introduced by Senator Jeff Bingaman. The Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act would protect some 235,000 acres northwest of Taos as a conservation area, including more than 21,000 acres of wilderness—designating about 13,500 acres of the Ute Mountain area as the Cerro del Yuta wilderness, and 8,000 acres as the San Antonio wilderness.
In addition to meeting with local stakeholders, as part of her work to get community members to focus on the wilderness proposal, Roberta spoke persuasively as part of a panel on a local radio program on the day Senator Bingaman’s legislation was considered and passed by the important Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The bill is now before the full Senate.
John Olivas, Northern Director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, has high praise for Ms. Salazar, saying, "Roberta Salazar is a key player in northern New Mexico conservation efforts around wilderness. As Executive Director for Rivers and Birds, Roberta teaches the next generation how to be Earth stewards through her many youth educational activities. Wild Rivers Recreation Area, in the heart of the proposed Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area, is her classroom for many of these youth activities. With Roberta on our team, I am confident we will see the Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act become a reality and be protected for future generations."
Roberta Salazar’s love of this special place comes through when she talks about the area. "Just as water is a magnet for any creature in a desert, the Rio Grande, within the gorge, is a special draw for me," Roberta explains. "Approximately fifty miles of the upper Rio Grande lies within the proposed Rio Grande del Norte Conservation Area. The Rio Grande Gorge is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful geologic features on Earth. Here, BLM’s Wild and Scenic river area maintains an extraordinary hiking trail system. Some trails descend between 600-800 feet within a mile from the sagebrush plains to the bottom of the gorge."
"The Rio Grande is a critical migratory bird flyway. The sheer cliffs of the upper Rio Grande basalt gorge provide rich raptor nesting habitats for species such as the Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Prairie Falcon, Red-tailed Hawk and Great Horned Owl. Within the canyons of the gorge wander elk, newly reintroduced bighorn sheep and river otters, black bear, mule deer, beaver, mountain lions, bobcat, and fox. The river within the gorge is exquisite for fly fishing. The gorge also contains ancient petroglyphs etched on its dark basalt boulders that reveal the importance of this area to our native ancestors." It’s no wonder that she and the Rivers & Birds staff take hundreds of students on the two-mile round trip hike through the gorge as part of their Watershed Learning Project.
"In Northern New Mexico, we do not have a strong financial economy," Roberta, whose family has deep roots in the area, explains. "Our traditional communities here realize that our wealth is not in dollars, but rather in our close relationship with the land. For hundreds of years, local Native Americans and Hispanic agricultural communities have lived conservatively on the land—honoring, not wasting the Earth. It is important to ensure that we continue to honor this tradition of conservation of our natural landscape so that it can continue to nourish the spirit and well being of future generations of all species in this area."
For her work to protect special wild places and to instill a love of the land in New Mexico’s children, we salute Roberta Salazar as a "Wilderness Hero."
Visit the Rivers & Birds website for more information about their work.
For more information about New Mexico wilderness, visit New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.
