
Nature Forward’s Naturally Latinos Conference proudly presents
Perteneciendo: Nuestras Raíces, Nuestra Tierra, (Belonging: Our Roots, Our Earth),
an eBook of essays and beautiful portraits of Latine environmentalists and nature advocates.
“It was a joy and honor to highlight my community and my community’s close connection with nature,” said Perteneciendo co-photographer, illustrator, and book designer Gabriela Paola Franco Peña, who grew up in El Salvador. “In addition, we intend with this book to draw attention to nature areas that all people can easily visit and enjoy in the metro DC area. Because the fact is, everyone deserves access to nature. Everyone belongs. And that’s why we, with funding from the Community Forestry Program, made this book.”
Featured in the book are conservationists, educators, non-profit founders, community organizers, teen leaders, birders, leaders of nature centers, native plant gardeners, as well as staff members of the US Forest Service. Their origins span 15 countries.
For Perteneciendo, the photographers traveled widely, visiting public parks, wetlands sanctuaries, nature centers, a conservation area, a wildlife preserve, a botanical garden, and more. They even visited that most quintessential of DC photo destinations, the National Mall.
Central to the book’s power, say the photographers, are the short first-person essays contributed by each participant. These unique personal stories showcase a range of perspectives.
“We hope readers of the book’s amazing first-person narratives will be able to sense, as Gaby and I did over and over as we worked on the project, that the more perspectives you hear, the more you learn,” said Benjamin Israel, Nature Forward’s staff photographer and Perteneciendo co-photographer. “Environmental work, science education work, wildlife advocacy – all of it is inordinately helped by the inclusion of people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds.”
Perteneciendo is Nature Forward’s second book in a series. The first book, Belonging: The Black Americans in Nature Photography Project, was released to wide acclaim and media attention in 2022. These eBooks serve as companions to Nature Forward’s signature Naturally Latinos and Taking Nature Black conferences which center and celebrate those communities and their experiences in nature.
Nature Forward’s Taking Nature Black conference will be held March 5–8. Registration is now open.


Perteneciendo: Nuestras Raíces, Nuestra Tierra is available in English and Spanish.