18 May Trip to El Yunque National Forest

I recently took a trip with my team to visit El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. I traveled with my team, the Diversity, Development and Outreach team out of the National Partnership Office. I was provided with the opportunity to travel so that I could understand how pivotal the partnership work is to the forests. Much of the work being done in the forest could not have been done without the forest partners. It was evident to see that these partnerships are beneficial to both the partners and the forest based on the testimonies heard and examples of work on the ground that I was able to see. I was able to visit some of the sites on the forest that the partners contributed and hear about future work that will be done on the forest. We were able to share resources and get feedback from the forest on what type of resources they would like to see such as more Spanish external resources. I was extremely thankful for this opportunity because it allowed me to see the work visually and how partnerships were used as a mechanism to overcome social and economic barriers. This trip was extremely beneficial, I was able to capture how important this work is and how national decisions can impact forest differently.