Forwarding this from the Birding Community E-bulletin:
On Tue, 2017-08-08 at 12:25 -0400, Paul Baicich & Wayne Petersen wrote:
IBA NEWS: THREAT TO SANTA ANA NWR
Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV)
of Texas is currently under an immediate threat from the Trump
Administration's border-wall plans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
its subcontractors have recently been taking soil samples and making
other preparations to build a huge and intrusive 18-foot border-wall
through the north end of the refuge. These preliminary activities have
been occurring at the refuge for months, but nothing was officially
announced until information was leaked last month.
Santa Ana NWR represents 2,088 acres of vital borderland habitat along
the banks of the Rio Grande. The refuge was originally created in 1943
to protect migratory birds, and almost 95% of the property was acquired
through Duck-Stamp/MBFC dollars.
Some 400 bird species have been recorded in the refuge, including
migratory waterfowl, raptors, warblers, and a suite of "South Texas
specialties" that are Mexican in character and barely range into Texas.
Moreover, Santa Ana NWR is an essential part of that intricate network
of natural hotspots in the four-county LRGV that draws an economic
income of over $465 million per year from eco-tourists and birders.
Santa Ana NWR is an American Bird Conservancy-designated Important Bird
Area (IBA) in the Tamaulipan Brushlands of south Texas and is among the
ABC's 500 most important IBAs in the United States. Santa Ana NWR is an
IBA that clearly deserves special consideration.
By initiating the border-wall on federal property at Santa Ana NWR, the
Trump Administration can avoid the logistical and political nightmare of
dealing with private landowners in building a wall through their
backyards. Presently the plan is to build the wall on the levee that
goes through and beyond the north end of the refuge.
In late July, the U.S. House of Representative passed a $788 billion
defense spending bill which included $1.6 billion of funding for a
U.S.-Mexico border wall. The wall funding is intended to be mostly for
Arizona and the LRGV, and it currently meets the Administration's
down-payment budget request. It is likely that plans for the border-wall
will get bogged down in the Senate, but there is already enough current
funding in the pipeline to start the project somewhere on the levee.
If building the border wall through Santa Ana NWR becomes a reality,
nearby properties upriver and downriver will also be at risk. These
would include sections of the associated Lower Rio Grande NWR, and Texas
state properties such as wildlife management areas and the
birder-friendly Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, county lands, and even
private properties along this important wildlife corridor.
If you wish to express concern about this issue to Congress, you can
access a template letter from the National Wildlife Refuge Association
which you can edit at:
http://refugeassociation.org/action/#/87
You can also obtain more details from the Friends of the Migratory
Bird/Duck Stamp at:
http://www.friendsofthestamp.org/santa-ana-nwr-in-jeopardy/
For additional information about worldwide IBA programs, including those
in the U.S., check the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area
program web site at:
www.audubon.org/bird/iba/
You can access all the past E-bulletins on the National Wildlife Refuge
Association (NWRA) website:
http://refugeassociation.org/news/birding-bulletin/ ;
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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