Subtropical jungles filled with the calls of migratory birds and brilliant flashes of butterfly wings. Thornscrub patrolled by indigo snakes and ocelots. Gulf Coast marshes where seabirds wheel and alligators scull beneath the boardwalks. In a state that prizes its slices of wilderness, the Rio Grande Valley stands supreme. The region sits at the crossroads of continent-spanning flyways and North American and Latin American faunas providing a patchwork of ecosystems and the winding border river that binds them all.
It is also an ecosystem under threat from the vast forces of agricultural and real estate development. “When I began working here in 2016, we had 5% left of our native thornscrub,” says Stephanie Lopez, interim executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission.
