Our Story
THE PLACE WE PROTECT
A Landscape That Earns Its Own Devotion
At 240,000 acres, Río Grande del Norte is vast — ancient volcanic fields, high desert mesas swept by wind and light, and the river itself cutting its gorge through basalt hundreds of feet deep.
The community this monument serves is just as unique: multigenerational farming and ranching families, Pueblo peoples with deep ties to this land, fishers and hunters, artists drawn by the quality of the light, and newcomers who arrived and couldn't leave. A place this complex, serving a community this layered, needed dedicated stewardship that could hold all of those relationships at once.
A DESIGNATION IS JUST THE BEGINNING
When Río Grande del Norte became a National Monument in 2013, it was a landmark victory — the result of decades of work by the communities, ranchers, anglers, hunters, and conservationists who knew this place intimately. However it quickly became clear that stewardship would play the most critical role in the Monument’s success.
Nick Streit, who had been watching and working in this landscape for years, saw what was needed: a community-rooted organization whose sole purpose was to be a voice for the monument and the people who depend on it.
"If we were going to see the Río Grande del Norte reach its full potential as a living, protected landscape, the community was going to have to have a seat at the table."
— Nick Streit, Executive Director
COMING TOGETHER
The People Who Made It Possible
Friends of the Río Grande del Norte didn't come together in isolation. Senator Martin Heinrich — who had been a driving force behind the monument's creation — pushed hard for the formation of a Friends group, convinced that the landscape he had helped protect deserved ongoing community stewardship. New Mexico Wild provided guidance and fiscal sponsorship in those formative early months. And the Conservation Lands Foundation stepped forward as our first funder, a partnership that continues to this day.
From the beginning, we were held up by people and organizations who understood that protecting a place doesn't end with a presidential proclamation.
HOW WE'VE GROWN
Partnership, and a Program We Didn't Plan For
The most important thing we did in our early years wasn't a project or a campaign — it was building a relationship. The Taos Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management became a genuine partner: not an agency to petition, but a team to work alongside, with trust earned through years of consistent, respectful engagement. That partnership has made nearly everything else possible.
We also found ourselves doing something we hadn't originally envisioned. The Outdoor Academy — our flagship education program, connecting young people from the Taos community to the landscape on their doorstep — grew organically out of listening to what the community needed. It has since become the heart of what we do, and a reminder that the best work often looks different than what you planned.
A TURNING POINT
Becoming Independent, and Learning We Could Survive
The transition to an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit was, by Nick's own account, frightening. The early years of any small organization carry that particular uncertainty — the kind where you genuinely don't know if the next season will come. There were moments where the future of Friends was unclear.
But the community showed up. The mission resonated. And slowly, then steadily, Friends of the Río Grande del Norte found its footing — not because the work was easy, but because enough people cared deeply enough to make it work.
LOOKING FORWARD
Protecting What's Already a Masterpiece
In ten or twenty years, we hope this monument looks largely as it does today. Not because we lack ambition, but because we believe what exists here is already extraordinary. Nature, over millennia, made something worth protecting. Our job is not to improve on it — it's to make sure it's still here.
That means working to heal the parts of the landscape marked by negative impacts. It means keeping access points open and in good condition, so that the people who belong to this place — all of them — can reach it. And it means keeping a seat at the table, so that the communities who have always known and loved this monument have a voice in its future.
We are not caretakers of something fragile. We are stewards of something that has endured for millions of years — and with the right care, will endure for millions more.
Our Outdoor Academy Story
It Started With a Few Students and a Fly-Tying Table
Outdoor Academy began with a simple idea: help local young people experience the Río Grande del Norte and learn to fish.
Nick Streit secured funding to hire local guides, but he still needed students. At the same time, high school teacher Ben Mortensen had started an after-school fly-fishing club. When Nick heard about the club, the two joined forces, and some of the first Outdoor Academy outings grew from that partnership.
In the beginning, the program was small—about six students learning to tie flies in a classroom, practicing their casts on the lawn and occasionally heading outside on weekends. What started as a handful of young people excited about fishing would eventually grow into a year-round program connecting classrooms, public lands and careers.
THE OPPORTUNITY AT HOME
Building a Path Into the Outdoor Economy
Outdoor recreation brings people from across the country to Northern New Mexico for work, yet young people raised here have often been underrepresented in the industry.
Outdoor Academy was created to help change that—not by encouraging students to leave Taos in search of opportunity, but by showing them what is possible close to home.
“Who better to be the guides, land managers, biologists and outdoor professionals working in this community than people who were raised here?”
— Ben Mortensen, Director of Outreach & Outdoor Academy
Local students already carry a connection to this landscape and community. Outdoor Academy helps them recognize the value of that connection, develop professional skills and see a future for themselves caring for the places they know best.
BUILDING THE PATHWAY
From the Classroom to Paid Work
Early partnerships with Taos High School and Taos Pueblo Day School gave Outdoor Academy the opportunity to meet students where they were: in their classrooms. From there, relationships grew through field trips, fishing days and hands-on experiences outside.
Local outfitters helped turn those experiences into practical training and invested their time and expertise in teaching the next generation of guides. As the program expanded, the Bureau of Land Management and Carson National Forest created opportunities for students interested in conservation and land management.
Support from Taos County marked another important step. County funding made it possible to build and sustain multiple years of paid summer internships, completing a pathway from introduction to employment: students could encounter Outdoor Academy at school, develop outdoor skills, attend guide school and move into a paid internship or job.
FINDING THEIR VOICE
More Than Outdoor Skills
The most meaningful changes are not always the easiest to measure.
Students who once felt disconnected from school have found something that genuinely excites them. They have built relationships with mentors, taken on leadership roles, applied to college and begun imagining futures they had not previously considered.
During the Río Grande del Norte Is Not for Sale campaign, students who did not think of themselves as public speakers volunteered to stand outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and tell elected officials why public lands mattered to them. They were not simply learning about advocacy—they were discovering that their experiences and voices carried weight.
Outdoor Academy asks students to try unfamiliar things, take opportunities seriously and recognize what they have to offer. It also reminds them that where they come from matters—and that their connection to Northern New Mexico is a source of knowledge, pride and possibility.
COMING FULL CIRCLE
Students Becoming Mentors
The long-term vision is not simply for students to complete the program. It is for them to return.
Graduates who move into outdoor recreation and conservation can come back as paid mentors, instructors and leaders for the students following behind them. In doing so, they pass along more than technical skills. They offer proof that a young person from this community can build a meaningful career without losing their connection to home.
Each student who returns strengthens a program increasingly shaped by the people it was created to serve.
LOOKING FORWARD
A Model Rooted in Place
We hope Outdoor Academy will continue reaching more schools and become something local students know about, trust and want to join—a clear pathway from the classroom to the outdoors, from learning a skill to earning a paycheck, and from participating in a program to leading it.
Over time, we believe this approach can offer a model for other communities. Not a program to copy exactly, but an idea to adapt: begin with the landscape, traditions and opportunities already present; remove the barriers that keep young people from participating; and give them the tools to build what comes next.
Outdoor Academy began by teaching a few students how to fish. Its future lies in helping a generation recognize that they belong on these lands—and that they can have a voice, a livelihood and a future in caring for them.