Border wall through refuge threatens to close paths for wildlife in the Valley
ALAMO — Meandering along a dirt trail through thick stands of mesquite near the Rio Grande, I sense movement in the brush beside the trail just ahead. As I get closer, I spot a rabbit, a cottontail that finally acknowledges my presence when I get maybe 10 yards away. The little creature glances up with big brown eyes and then goes back to nibbling green leaves on a fallen branch.
Maybe the cottontail is slow to respond because it’s young, or because it’s lucky enough to inhabit a wildlife refuge, one of the most biologically diverse in America. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, just a few miles from roaring Houston-style freeways, endless strip centers and subdivisions spreading amoeba-like through what used to be citrus orchards and cotton fields are 2,088 federally protected acres in a bend of the river. The refuge protects not only cottontail rabbits but also Texas tortoises, wolves, coyotes, javelinas, armadillos, bobcats, more than 300 butterfly species and the endangered jaguarundi and ocelot.
The creatures inhabit the oldest piece of old-growth forest on the Rio Grande, woodlands that include venerable moss-draped ebony trees, flowering huisache and towering sabol palms, along with the ubiquitous mesquite. Animals are drawn to refuge wetlands resembling the tropics and open fields scattered like giant postage stamps among the forested areas. Created by the federal government in 1943 for the protection of migratory birds, this riparian corridor is