Chas Robles (he/him/his) is the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps Director and began with Southwest Conservation Corps in April 2012. He started as a field supervisor, then co-led a Disaster Relief Crew in New York in November 2012 after Hurricane Sandy.
In January 2013, he began as Ancestral Lands Program Coordinator, working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Acoma Pueblo to support existing programs and create new conservation opportunities in Indigenous communities in the Southwest. Chas became the Four Corners Program Director in January 2014 and the Ancestral Lands Program Director in 2015. He has helped direct the growth of the program over the years, including helping Ancestral Lands become recognized as a full-fledged Corps Program of Conservation Legacy, and in 2019, he became the inaugural Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps Director.
Before joining Southwest Conservation Corps , he spent nearly four years with the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) Desert Restoration Corps, working to restore and protect fragile but resilient ecosystems in the Mojave Desert. He also worked in Mount Rainier National Park with the SCA and led high school crews throughout Colorado with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. Chas enjoys biking on trails in the Bosque along the Rio Grande, getting to know New Mexico’s beautiful outdoor spaces, and searching for the perfect bowl of menudo.
