About Margarita Lopez-Pelayo

Margarita Lopez-Pelayo is the California Senior Program Director at the Conservation Lands Foundation.

Margarita brings over 24 years of grassroots community organizing experience within the nonprofit sector and labor movement. She has led multiple coalitions and statewide campaigns, including the expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument with Nature For All.

As an Indigenous two-spirited womyn of color she honors Mother Earth through community self-empowerment and advocacy. Her heart is in advocating for outdoor equity, environmental justice, and public land protection.

She founded Brown Mamas Outdoors as a way to encourage brown mothers and their children to build community in nature. She has visited over 40 national parks and monuments and loves camping and hiking. Her adventurous soul often seeks nature as a form of healing.

Margarita currently lives and honors the ancestral land of the past and current Tongva and Tataviam people. She currently resides in San Fernando Valley, CA. Margarita has Otomi indigenous roots and is the proud mother of an adventurous 9-year-old girl.

Margarita Lopez-Pelayo

California Senior Program Director