About SMA

Our Mission

The SMA mission is to advise and support our Mexican partners to advance BioCultural Conservation, Appropriate Development, and Indigenous Rights to land, culture  and natural resources in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico.

The Sierra Madre Alliance, our Mexican partners, and an international advisory team:

• Provide technical and legal services,
• Train local leaders and educate communities,
• Strengthen traditional indigenous organizations,
• Restore watersheds,
• Protect ancient forests and endangered species,
• Research traditional indigenous knowledge and neotropical migratory birds,
• Inform the public about the Sierra,
• Build partnerships among private interests, nongovernmental organizations, and community groups to invest in a sustainable future.

Our Strategy

The strategy of the SMA is to strengthen Mexican and indigenous organizations which share our values and goals. Our principal partner organizations are the Consejo Ecoregional Sierra Tarahumara A.C. and Tierra Nativa A.C. SMA also provides direct support to indigenous leaders involved in defending their lands and developing community conservation and productive projects.

All of our work is done on the basis of participatory planning and involves local people at every stage. Our Environmental and Agrarian Justice Program focuses on resolving complex land and environmental issues, while our BioCultural Conservation Program helps communities plan protected areas and trains indigenous communities in conservation and watershed restoration, creating teams of barefoot biologists who balance traditional indigenous knowledge of the forest with rigorous scientific techniques. Our Community Development Program works to strengthen local organization through projects which restore soils, improve agricultural productivity, and build local enterprises.

All of our work is done on the basis of participatory planning and involves local people at every stage.

Tarahumara and Tepehuan peoples in the regions we serve have suffered cultural and political repression, environmental degradation, and social disintegration at the hands of violent and aggressive logging, narco, and ranching interests. Our strategy provides an integrated approach which empowers and offers hope to local communities. The confidence they gain by restoring their lands and building independent enterprises and organizations will one day enable the indigenous majority of the region to regain control of their most valuable resource: their forests.

Our work focuses in conservation-priority areas in the Sierra, where endangered species and endangered communities both struggle for survival. In the Guadalupe y Calvo and Guachochi in southwestern Chihuahua, SMA, our partners, and Tarahumara communities are protecting the last remnants of old-growth forest in the region. The high incidence of violence, corruption, and impunity complicates our work while strengthening our resolve.

Another conservation priority is the restoration of the watersheds of the major rivers such as the Rio Conchos which irrigate millions of acres in Mexico and Texas. We have begun watershed restoration in eight communities in four municipios in the Sierra. Building partnerships among community, nonprofit, business, and local, state, and federal government is essential to assuring water for future generations.
Our Mexican partners include attorneys, biologists, indigenous community leaders and anthropologists. Our flexible and multidisciplinary approach enables us to respond rapidly to crises as they evolve, while we continue to build long-lasting solutions.