World Wildlife Fund

Join WWF’s Cathy Plume for an insider account of how WWF is conserving this place. Meet local people whose eco-businesses are the hope of this desert. Experience nighttime border crossings, a day on horseback and the culture of the Southwest. Learn what WWF and partners are doing to keep water flowing through the Rio Grande – while also meeting the needs of the five million people who call this desert home. 

Part 1: Arrival in Chihuahua | Part 2: Goals and Ghouls | Part 3: Thirsty Rivers | Part 4: Hermelinda's Story | Part 5: Señor Vallina's Vision | Part 6: Bighorn Sightings | Part 7: Starry Night | Part 8: Coffee and Congress | Part 9: Re-thinking Water | Part 10: Conserving Together

Part 4: Hermelinda’s Story

Hermelina Gutierrez is working within her community to create sustainable livelihoods and protect her desert home.
© WWF/Cathy Plume

That afternoon we’re off to visit Hermelinda Gutierrez, a local woman with a conservation vision.  She lives on an ejido – a communal holding of some 65,500 acres.  This seems like a vast amount of land for the 40 or so people in her community. Then I’m reminded that the carrying capacity of this desert environment is approximately 75 acres per cow.  It takes a lot of land to support human existence out here.

Hermelinda is determined to maintain this desert environment.  She’s seen a lot of the area’s wildlife (bighorn sheep, mule deer and whitetail deer) die off and be killed over the years to ensure more fodder for cattle.  She wants some parts of this desert to remain in their native state. 

I’m sharing a canoe with a teammate, and we manage to navigate the river with only one paddle between us.
© WWF

One of her favorite projects is an ecotourism business focused on Peguís Canyon.  She’s working with her community to establish an UMA – a wildlife management area – on a portion of the ejido’s lands.  No grazing will be allowed on this UMA and with help from WWF she hopes to reestablish some of the native wildlife. While she barbecues cabrito (goat) for our lunch, we take off in canoes to see the canyon from the Peguís River.  The water district is holding water upstream during irrigation season and the river is so shallow that we occasionally have to get out to pull the canoe through the sand.  I’m glad I’m wearing my quick-drying pants.  Soon the smell of Hermelinda’s barbeque winds its way up the canyon.  It’s time for lunch.

Not surprisingly, the food is delicious.  I’m trying to maintain my vegetarian diet and am happy to see that there’s enough other food – and that no one is watching what I’m eating too carefully.  I manage to pass on the cabrito without offending anyone. 

When Odales grows up, will she be able to live in a healthy Chihuahuan Desert? WWF is working to ensure the future of this place.
© WWF/Cathy Plume

Post lunch, I head off to the hammocks hanging under the mesquite trees.  I join Odales, a perky five year old with beautiful green eyes, and her mom. Odales was born in the U.S. and is a U.S. citizen while her parents are Mexican. Like many people in this area, the family travels back and forth across the border regularly and they even lived in the U.S. for a while. Right now, they enjoy living in Mexico on the same ejido where Hermelinda resides. They support Hermelinda’s idea of establishing an ecotourism business here and feel that it can provide some income for other ejido residents. 

Part 1: Arrival in Chihuahua | Part 2: Goals and Ghouls | Part 3: Thirsty Rivers | Part 4: Hermelinda's Story | Part 5: Señor Vallina's Vision | Part 6: Bighorn Sightings | Part 7: Starry Night | Part 8: Coffee and Congress | Part 9: Re-thinking Water | Part 10: Conserving Together