Congress is quietly letting Trump bulldoze a butterfly refuge to build a border wall

[TomSea]

Congress is quietly letting Trump bulldoze a butterfly refuge to build a border wall
A wildlife refuge was spared, but 33 miles of new wall that will cut through protected areas in Texas have been funded.
By Eliza Barclay@elizabarclayeliza.barclay@vox.com Updated Mar 29, 2018, 11:36am EDT

A Myscelia ethusa, or Mexican bluewing, photographed at the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, where new sections of the border wall may be built. Jeffrey Glassberg/North American Butterfly Association

To appreciate why birders consider an obscure wildlife refuge on the Texas border to be the premier birding destination in America, you must walk its trails in solitude, either at dusk or at dawn, as the birds emerge from the forest looking for food.

Earlier this month, I was alone on a path, deep in thought, when a plain chachalaca appeared suddenly in the moss-covered tree beside me. I froze as he dropped down into the scrub and the gray morning light revealed his handsome cascade of brown plumage. After a few tentative steps, I joined him in a slow procession, as he plucked insects from the soil and I vicariously enjoyed the feast just 10 feet away.

Tiffany Kersten, an environmental activist who settled here in South Texas after working as a biologist in the refuge, lives for these surprise moments with the birds. “You go out and you never know what you’re going to see,” she told me as we watched ducks play in a lake inside the refuge. “Here in South Texas, every day you have the possibility that you’ll go out birding and you’ll see a bird that has never been seen in the United States before that belongs in Mexico and got lost.

Read more at: https://www.vox.com/2018/3/28/17152644/trump-border-wall-texas-environment-refuge-butterflies

[TomSea]

Loved the big thicket, it had those rare woodpeckers, "Ivory billed"? I can't remember the name.

Anyway, I hope they can fix this problem, unfortunately, from Arizona, we know criminal smugglers, people traffic still comes through protected areas, they exploit it.

Vox leans left I suppose but a good story.

[Elderberry]

Loved the big thicket, it had those rare woodpeckers, "Ivory billed"? I can't remember the name.

Anyway, I hope they can fix this problem, unfortunately, from Arizona, we know criminal smugglers, people traffic still comes through protected areas, they exploit it.

Vox leans left I suppose but a good story.

The Big Thicket is a far cry from the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

The last reported sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the Big Thicket area was May 1971; it is now officially listed as extinct.

[Elderberry]

What the Border Wall will do here:

Eradicate an enormous amount of native habitat, including host plants for butterflies, breeding and feeding areas for wildlife, and lands set aside for conservation of endangered and threatened species-- including avian species that migrate N/S through this area or over-winter, here, in the tip of the Central US Flyway.

2) Create devastating flooding to all property up to 2 miles behind the wall, on the banks of the mighty Rio Grande River, here.

3) Reduce viable range land for wildlife foraging and mating. This will result in greater competition for resources and a smaller gene pool for healthy species reproduction.

More: https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/

[truth_seeker]

Donald "Butterfly Terrorist" Trump wants to destroy Southwest Environment, to stop the harmless migrants--who carry butterfly food with them, so that they help save creatures.

Impeach Trump.

Flake-Mc Muffin 2020

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Why would butterflies not be able to fly over the wall anyway?

Where is the eco-terrorism for the thousands of windmills and solar farms which incinerate and chop up who knows how many birds each and every day?

A wall will keep this from happening

[Sanguine]

Why would butterflies not be able to fly over the wall anyway?

Where is the eco-terrorism for the thousands of windmills and solar farms which incinerate and chop up who knows how many birds each and every day?

A wall will keep this from happening

 

[dfwgator]

Boo frickin' hoo.  The vast majority of the species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct,  life goes on.