Rural migration erodes traditional knowledge and social cohesion, weakening commons regimes. We worked with young Indigenous people from El Condor, an Andean community in Northwest Argentina to examine what drives youth to leave, what encourages them to stay, and how management of a common-pool resource shapes young people’s community engagement. Workshops were held with youth, both in the home community and in La Quiaca, a nearby urban center. Youth migrate because of limited job and educational opportunities, while the desire to stay is motivated by cultural ties, family connections, and to preserve traditions and relationship to the land. Out-migration to a nearby urban centre helps maintain those ties. We also find that the communal management of vicuña, a wild South American camelid of important cultural, economic, and conservation value, offers youth a way to contribute socially and economically to their community. Their continued involvement in this management shows how the commons can provide youth with a connection to community, to their elders, and their identity. For those working to support sustainable CPR use, finding ways to strengthen collective identity and cohesion in a context of increased mobility will be an essential part of securing resilient, rural commons
