Rio Reforestation at La Casita West

On Saturday, October 18, the Refuge sponsored the 23rd Annual Rio Reforestation event. This is one of the largest public outreach events sponsored by the South Texas Refuge Complex. The purpose of this event is to educate the public about the Refuge and habitat restoration, and give a positive view of the refuge and the work done. This years reforestation was on the La Casita West tract, near Rio Grande City, about 1 1/2 hours west of Santa Ana NWR.

Kurt and Virginia were section leaders. We were each responsible for ten 450 yard long rows to plant. A total of 565 high school, college aged youth along with families helped put almost 16,000 plants into the fertile ground. Over 95% of Lower Rio Grande Valley habitats have been lost due to agriculture.

We arrived in the fog at 7am.

By 8am the fog cleared and the volunteer planters arrived.

Section leaders taught proper planting technique.

After introduction, they continued on their own.

Each crate contained a mix of 21 species of seedlings of trees, brushes, cactus and flowering plants that will one day grow up and become a forest for wildlife habitat. 

A hotdog lunch cooked by the fire crew was provided.

This was a very successful event. Everyone was happy knowing they had helped create a new block of thornscrub habitat that will help many wildlife species including ocelots, hawks, Texas indigo snakes, butterflies and songbirds.