Connections Made for Landscapes and Communities

Written by Lily Bruce

The partners of the 2-3-2 are no strangers to nearly insurmountable challenges. Almost ten years ago, some folks met at a bar in Chama to discuss the increasing wildfire crisis, and how to coordinate forest restoration across state lines and the Continental Divide. Some other folks met at a conference in Denver, around that same time, to dream about a collaborative group in the southwest that would work across state lines, across US Forest Service Boundaries. And so the first few droplets of the 2-3-2 clung together, gathering into a trickle of meetings, and eventually swelling to the broad and robust partnership that brought 90 people together at our first Full Partnership meeting of 2025.  

At this moment, the challenges we face are complicated by changes to federal direction. Twenty-five to thirty percent of USFS personnel across our four national forests were terminated, with more cuts impending. Many of our NGO partners find their federal agreements on hold or under scrutiny. Leading up to the recent 2-3-2 Full Partnership Meeting, many partners felt not only weakened in their capacity but also in their spirit. 

On February 28th, at Ghost Ranch, we woke up to a relative moment of quiet, probably because of the bad cell service and limited Wi-Fi. Walking into the sunlight meeting room felt like peeking out from under the rubble. And we each saw that we were not alone. This year, we were not only joined by the partners of the 2-3-2 but also by Rio Chama Congreso, helping us reconnect conversations about forest and water management. The recent surge of fear and confusion is daunting, but it is no match for our quiet determination, which is fueled not by hatred but by love—love for these five million acres, these four forests, three rivers, and two watersheds.  

The 2-3-2 has never faced a “disturbance” like this, but our partnership is inherently adaptive and resilient. Our partners have diverse strengths and expertise, and this gives us greater flexibility. I know we will persevere. We will comfort each other and lift each other up. We will call each other up, because less capacity demands even more coordination, to leverage our existing projects even further.  

I do not deny that the world we work in has changed dramatically. But I know that our power lies in our shared goals, our principled engagement, and our capacity for joint action. Much of our work aligns with this administration’s priorities. We aim to protect rural communities from wildfires and agricultural communities from drought. We are actively seeking opportunities to bolster the rural economies on our landscape. These are not things that we started doing to align ourselves with the current administration. These have been priorities of the 2-3-2 Partnership all along. 

Tell your supervisor, your funders, and our policymakers that the 2-3-2 Partnership creates benefits for people on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the state line, and both sides of the continental divide. 

If they ask you how, invite them to join our Socioeconomic Working Group, where we are supporting local community colleges in developing a practical forestry curriculum. Invite them to join the Conservation Finance Subcommittee, where we are pursuing opportunities to engage private industry in paying for restoration. Invite them to join the Monitoring Committee, where we are using tested and novel methods to measure and understand our collective impact. And invite them to the next 2-3-2 Full Partnership meeting on May 22 in Pagosa Springs. Our commitments to the forests, waters, wildlife, and most potently, people of this landscape continue.