NEAR SEARCHLIGHT (KTNV) — As we continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we're introducing you to a local Latina from El Salvador, working to protect landscapes in Southern Nevada.
Channel 13 anchor Kelsey McFarland shows how this local is working to protect our land, while connecting with her culture.
LOVE EVERYTHING
"Bertha, tell me some things that you love about this land," says Kelsey.
"That's hard because I love everything about this land," says Bertha Gutierrez, Program Director for Nevada's Conservation Lands Foundation.
"I love bringing my family here," says Gutierrez.
The nonprofit works to protect and expand America's 37-million acres of national public land.
We're standing in the latest addition, Avi Kwa Ame, also known as Spirit Mountain.
"We are surrounded right now in some of the largest Joshua trees. The most beautiful, continuous, Joshua tree forest in Nevada and in the Mojave Desert," says Gutierrez.
Avi Kwa Ame is sacred to several native tribes.
The 506,000 acres of land, located just outside of Searchlight, is also habitat for the desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoise and Gila monster.
Before it was a designated national monument, Bertha and her team fought to keep large industrial projects away from Avi Kwa Ame.
"I think it was really clear, we need something that will permanently protect this area because we can't keep fighting project after project," says Gutierrez.
FINDING A CONNECTION
After 17 years in El Salvador and 22 years in the states, Bertha has dedicated her career to protecting land in a country she didn't always feel part of.
"Removed from my home and my family and my friends and my community, I was really looking for, how do I find that connection?" says Gutierrez.
While she was in college, she fell in love with the outdoors and found that connection she was looking for, which turned into a passion.
"I spent time in nature by myself and with family and friends. I think that's when I started to reconnect to myself, but also to that place where I like," says Gutierrez.
She goes on to say, "I found that, missing connection in nature by just spending time outside."
Now, Bertha wants to make sure the nation's public lands are available for others to experience for generations to come.
She encourages anyone else struggling to assimilate, to spend time outside.
YOU BELONG
"You belong there. Even if you have issues really finding your place in that community. The land is not going to see you like that," says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez recently became a U.S. citizen. She says she celebrated by immediately registering to vote.
