Rio not so grande - Texas - Rio Grande - Brief Article

Sierra, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Reed McManus

Choked by weeds, depleted by drought, and overdrawn by farms and cities, the once-mighty Rio Grande turns into a trickle before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. But Sierra Club activists in south Texas aren't about to give up on the nation's second-longest river. Since 1986, they've been fighting an $80 million proposal to build a gated dam a few miles from the mouth of the river. Though it's being promoted as a way to meet local water needs, opponents of the dam charge that the reservoir will mainly support industrial expansion at the Port of Brownsville. They applaud a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision in November to require a 90-foot-wide wildlife corridor along the river, but were disappointed that the agency reversed an earlier determination that the dam project would damage sabal palm habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge's fan-shaped palms harbor migrating warblers, green jays, and long-billed thrashers, and are part of a wildlife corridor for two endangered wild cats, the ocelot and jaguarundi. Every year, more than 200,000 people come to the Rio Grande valley to watch birds and wildlife, spending $100 million. "The refuge and the ecotourism industry that relies on it are too sensitive for a construction project of this magnitude," says Mary Lou Campbell of the Club's Lower Rio Grande Valley Group.

Attuned to the fact that the area is suffering through a decade-long drought and expecting its population to double by 2020, environmentalists support local efforts to conserve, including reuse of treated wastewater for parks and golf courses.