Olivia Juarez: Spring 2026 Community Practitioner in Residence

We are thrilled to announce the Environmental Humanities Community Practitioner-in-Residence for Spring 2026: Olivia Juarez. 

Olivia Juarez, a lifelong Utahn, serves as the Public Land Program Director for GreenLatinos, a national nonprofit envisioning “a thriving and equitable society where historically overburdened communities and future generations are able to enjoy a renewed and protected ecosystem, liberated from disproportionate environmental injustices.”  Throughout their career, Olivia has worked with many organizations including Latino Outdoors, Utah Coalition of La Raza, and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to nurture Latine leadership in efforts to steward nuestra tierra pública (our public land) and promote joyful access to nature. In recognition of their commitment, Olivia was named one of the National Parks Conservation Association’s “10 Under 40” in 2021 for advancing safe, equitable access to public lands in support of Latino community health. Olivia is also a co-founder of Of Salt and Sand, a storytelling collective exploring “what it means to stay in Utah through economic transition and climate crisis by producing multimedia projects with, by, and for impacted communities.” The organization’s current focus explores what it means to stay in the face of ecological collapse at Great Salt Lake. Of Salt and Sand emerged from Olivia’s recognition that media coverage of climate impacts often excludes the lived experiences of most community members. To address this gap, the organization shares community narratives through the multimedia project Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories. Olivia is a host of the project’s podcast.  

Reflecting on the roots of their advocacy, Olivia shared: 

“I am a Utahn because my great-grandparents came to the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys from small pueblos near Peñasco, New Mexico. In September 2020, my grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at a county campground in the Oquirrhs. There, my great uncle Robert confided, ‘Mijita, we didn’t have much growing up. I never had shoes that fit me. But we ate good. We had the two creeks on either side of us. We had everything we needed from what the forest provided our family.’ This heritage founds my experience as an advocate for the more-than-human world.” 

During their residency, Olivia will focus on publicly accessible storytelling that highlights Hispanic and Latine heritage in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. They plan to conduct historical research, interviews with new and long-time Hispanic and Latine forest visitors, and share their findings through written and audio-visual media.

Save the evening of Thursday, April 2, 2026, to attend the culminating public lecture of their residency and learn more about their incredible environmental justice work.