Latino Outdoors Founder Featured Speaker at UW Berry Center Feb. 26

The founder and director of Latino Outdoors, which focuses on promoting a network of volunteers to support outdoor leadership opportunities for youth and young adults, is the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources Leadership Series speaker.

Jose Gonzales, a conservationist, environmentalist and educator, will discuss “Connecting Cultura and Community with the Outdoors” Thursday, Feb. 26, from 6-8 p.m. in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, Room 138. A reception will follow the presentation. The event is free and open to the public.

Latino Outdoors began with a simple idea: “Where are the Latino-led organizations with conservation and the environment as a primary focus?” The organization serves as a “storytelling platform for defining the ambicultural identity connecting Latino communities and the outdoors.”

The organization is open to all, regardless of ethnicity, according to the Latino Outdoors website. For more information, visit http://latinooutdoors.org/.

Gonzales’ talk will focus on the role of culture and storytelling in community engagement and inclusion. His talk will explain how community residents all have a story to tell in the work they do, especially in the work of conservation, the environment and the outdoors.

His presentation is sponsored by the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and Wyoming EPSCoR, with support from the UW Latina/o Studies Program, the Outdoor Program, UW's Multicultural Association of Student Scientists and MEChA, UW’s student organization.

For more information, call the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at (307) 766-5080 or email haub.school@uwyo.edu.